'Out of order!' House GOP panel shoots down Democrats' call to subpoena Elon Musk over DOGE
WASHINGTON – House Democrats tried and failed Wednesday to bring billionaire Trump ally Elon Musk in to testify about what his young acolytes are doing as they burrow deep inside the Treasury Department and other federal government agencies.
Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-Va., the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, introduced the motion at a hearing on “Rightsizing Government," but the motion was tabled by the committee's Republican majority in a party line vote.
It was the latest effort by congressional Democrats to fight what they say is Musk’s takeover of federal computer systems as an unpaid advisor to President Donald Trump. His just-created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been tasked with finding ways to cut spending and regulations, but critics have decried that effort as being unsupervised, and potentially dangerous to information security.
“President Trump and Elon Musk are using a wrecking ball to systematically dismember our government piece by piece,” Connolly said. "We in Congress have a constitutional duty to uphold the laws that we created."
Behind him, a staffer held up budget charts purportedly showing some of the proposed cuts that Musk and Trump have ordered up.
Connolly noted that committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., had said in his own opening statement that he wanted to “find some common ground with our Democrat colleagues to ensure the federal government more efficiently and effectively serves the American people.”
That, Comer said, including working closely with Musk – the Tesla CEO, SpaceX founder and owner of the X social media platform – and his team at DOGE.
In that spirt, Connolly said, the committee has an obligation to ask Musk what, exactly, he is doing on behalf of the American public in deploying his DOGE troops throughout federal agencies like Treasury, the Office of Personnel Management and the United States Agency for International Development, which just placed virtually all of its 10,000 employees worldwide on administrative leave.
The Trump administration has warned federal employees that they could be furloughed if they do not accept a buyout offer that expires Thursday, according to an email obtained Wednesday by Paste BN.
As the hearing was underway, the Wall Street Journal reported that Musk’s DOGE representatives had gained access to Medicare and Medicaid payment systems, which Paste BN later confirmed.
“Who is this unelected billionaire that he can attempt to dismantle federal agencies, fire people, transfer them, offer them early retirement and have sweeping reform, changes to agencies without any congressional review, oversight or concurrence?” Connolly demanded.
But when Connolly formally moved to subpoena Musk Republicans responded quickly to shut down Connolly’s effort. Some Democrats loudly voiced their support for it, but Comer began using his chairman’s gavel to quiet them.
“Mr. Chairman, I think it’s outrageous that this committee will not even entertain a motion… to bring him in front of the OVERSIGHT committee?” Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-New Mexico said, amid interruptions by a chorus of unidentified Republicans.
"This is demagoguery,” one Republican yelled. “This is out of order!"
“Out of order. Out of order,” several other Republicans began saying in unison.
“You’re out of order,” Comer himself then said.
After a brief argument with Stansbury, Comer approved a Republican motion to table Connolly’s motion. A roll call was taken and the Republicans won the vote 20 to 19.
“The ayes have it and the motion fails. And I might add, Mr. Ranking Member, you all could have invited Mr. Musk to be your minority witness,” Comer said. But, instead, he said, the Democrats "chose to have a college professor" as their minority witness.
The Congressional Research Service, the independent research arm of Congress, notes that invited witnesses do not have to appear if asked – but that committees and subcommittees may “subpoena reluctant witnesses” to appear, as Connolly attempted.
Musk could not be reached for comment. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. about whether Musk should testify before Congress.
Musk has recently posted on X that his DOGE workers are highly trained, well-qualified and working at the federal agencies with the tacit approval of Trump and the White House.
“Time to confess: Media reports saying that @DOGE has some of world’s best software engineers are in fact true,” Musk wrote in a Monday afternoon @X post.
And on Wednesday mid-morning, in response to an X post from Stansbury, Musk tweeted a photo illustration of himself in black leather jacket, Terminator shades and a huge gold chain sitting at a table behind a D.O.G.E. placard and the words, "Can I help you?"
Connolly later posted on Musk’s platform, X, that he had wanted Musk “to appear before the Oversight Committee to answer for his unlawful takeover of agencies across the government.”
“Republicans blocked my motion without allowing any debate,” Connolly tweeted. “They will stop at nothing to cover up Elon Musk's lawlessness.”