Hakeem Jeffries Warns of Funding Showdown to Block Trump’s Budget Order and Musk’s Treasury Takeover
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
WASHINGTON – House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) is warning that Democrats may use the looming March 14 government funding deadline to counter President Donald Trump’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) directive, which halts the release of funds for critical government programs.
In a Dear Colleague letter unveiled Monday, Jeffries laid out the Democratic strategy, which also takes aim at tech mogul Elon Musk’s reported control over the Treasury Department’s payment system—an acquisition that, if true, would give him oversight of the federal government’s entire spending infrastructure.
“I have made clear to House Republican leadership that any effort to steal taxpayer money from the American people, end Medicaid as we know it, or defund programs important to everyday Americans, as contemplated by the illegal White House Office of Management and Budget order, must be choked off in the upcoming government spending bill, if not sooner,” Jeffries said.
Beyond budgetary concerns, Jeffries also vowed to introduce legislation aimed at preventing unauthorized access to the Treasury Department’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service, a system containing sensitive personal and financial information related to Social Security, Medicare recipients, taxpayers, nonprofits, businesses, and federal contractors.
“At my direction, legislation will be introduced shortly to prevent unlawful access to the Department of Treasury Bureau of the Fiscal Service payment system that contains highly confidential and personal information related to Social Security and Medicare recipients, taxpayers, households, nonprofits, businesses and federal contractors,” Jeffries stated.
Reports indicate that Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) task force has assumed control of Treasury payment systems through a group of software engineers aged 19 to 24. Musk himself has reportedly boasted about “deleting” sections of the civil service, including the team responsible for rolling out the IRS Direct File tax system—a new service designed to allow taxpayers to bypass private, for-profit tax filing firms.
In response to the growing scrutiny, Trump’s acting federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., issued a memo cautioning against interference with Musk’s team. The directive suggested that any attempt to impede their work could result in criminal sanctions, a move widely interpreted as a warning to journalists and online activists who have circulated the names of Musk’s engineers.
As tensions escalate, the Democratic strategy to challenge Trump’s OMB order and Musk’s influence over federal financial systems sets the stage for a high-stakes battle ahead of the March 14 funding deadline.
