Reps. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., and Jamie Raskin, D-Md., are proposing a bill to stop billionaire Elon Musk’s efforts to dismantle the federal government in its tracks.
The ‘‘Nobody Elected Elon Musk Act’’ is the latest push from Democratic lawmakers to rein in DOGE, the Trump administration cost-cutting scheme that has set its sights on USAID and the Treasury Department.
Musk’s front-seat role within the administration – parodied by a Time Magazine cover that the president seemed less than impressed with – has attracted major condemnation from elected officials and some setbacks from federal courts. Stansbury and Raskin’s bill would make the world’s richest man personally liable for his department’s dismantling of federal services.
Outside of Congress, federal workers, blue states and student groups have all filed lawsuits seeking to block the unelected billionaire’s goons from accessing the nation’s most sensitive data. A federal judge restrained the department’s unvetted lackeys from accessing payment systems on Saturday morning, emphasizing security and privacy risks.
On a Friday call, Stansbury estimated that Musk’s illegal activities would trigger “millions of dollars in damages.” She said the act proposal would make sure “the American taxpayers are not left on the hook for that liability… [and instead] the liability squarely falls on Elon Musk and those responsible for it.”
The bill is one of many from Hill Democrats aimed at firing back at the billionaire. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wisc., proposed a bill to axe Musk’s lucrative federal contracts at SpaceX earlier this week, while Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi filed legislation to protect taxpayer data from Musk’s reach.
