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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is not letting up on Elon Musk. Sen. Sanders tried to get Republicans on the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee to investigate DOGE and subpoena Musk.
Sen. Sanders said in part:
I think everybody on this committee and the people of America understand who is running the government, and it’s not going to be the Secretary of Labor. It’s not going to be the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. With all due respect to President Trump’s nominees, the person who is running the government right now is Elon Musk.
Mr. Musk has taken it upon himself, with the support of President Trump, to virtually dismantle the United States government. Yesterday, shockingly – and I speak as the former chairman of the Veterans Committee – it is outrageous and beyond belief that while veterans put their lives on the line to defend our country, yesterday, we heard that 80,000 employees at the V.A. are going to be terminated.
Virtually all Americans understand how important Social Security is to the well-being of our seniors. Yesterday, we learned they are on their way to get rid of half of Social Security employees, at a time when Social Security is now grossly understaffed. Mr. Musk has ordered HHS, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Education to fire employees, hand over confidential and sensitive data and defy judicial orders.
Mr. Chairman, if we are serious about exercising our constitutional responsibilities, which I hope all of us are, it is critical for our committee to hear from the person who is in fact in charge of the federal government.
Yesterday, it was reported that Mr. Musk met with Republican senators, at a private meeting for 90 minutes, and plans to do the same with Republican members of the House. That’s fine.
The Washington Post reported Mr. Musk gave his cell phone number to Republican senators and promised to communicate more effectively with congressional Republicans. That’s fine.
But you know what? My constituents in Vermont and constituents all over this country want to know what the hell is going on with the federal government right now. And it’s not going to be the next Deputy Secretary of Labor who is going to tell them.
So if we are serious, Mr. Chairman, about our oversight responsibilities, we must find out what is going on in the federal government. And the way we do that is bringing Mr. Musk before this committee.
Therefore, Mr. Chairman, I would like to make a motion.
I move that pursuant to its authority under Rules 25 and 26 of the Standing Rules of the Senate, and Rule 17 of the Rules of Procedure of the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hereby authorizes an investigation into the actions of the United States DOGE Service at agencies within the committee’s jurisdiction, and pursuant to the same authority, authorizes the chairman to subpoena Mr. Elon Musk for testimony regarding those actions.
Senate Republicans weren’t about to investigate Musk and DOGE, but it is important that the Senate Democratic Caucus keeps trying. There is never a bad way to bring up the fact that what Musk and his DOGE are doing is illegal/.
Sanders was right. It doesn’t matter who is running these agencies because the real person in charge is Elon Musk. It is Musk who needs to be stopped, but Senate Republicans won’t do anything until Musk’s actions start causing them political damage.
What is your opinion of Sen. Sanders trying to get an investigation of DOGE and a subpoena of Musk? Join the conversation in the comments below.
