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Some Republican senators have begun voicing muted alarm over Elon Musk’s aggressive intrusion into the US federal government, which has triggered Democrat accusations of a coup.
Musk has provoked opposition outrage after forcing access to the government’s payments and personnel system for his self-styled “department of government efficiency”(Doge), a body established by Donald Trump ostensibly to target waste and save money but which lacks congressional authority or oversight.
In his most brazen act, the multibillionaire Tesla and SpaceX entrepreneur has gutted and claimed to have abolished USAid, the foreign assistance agency that employs thousands and can supposedly only be closed by an act of Congress.
He and his team – which includes people as young as 19 – have also gained entry to the federal payments system, which shows the spending of trillions of dollars of government money. Critics say this gives Musk the power to cancel or slash public spending, while protecting lucrative contracts his companies have with the government.
While no Republican figure has explicitly denounced Musk, several have questioned his legal authority to shut a government agency. Others say they would restrain him if he oversteps his authority – though Democrats insist he already has.
“The president is suggesting that [Musk] has authorisation. I think there is more than some question,” Lisa Murkowski, a Republicans senator for Alaska known as a moderate, told the Hill.
Susan Collins of Maine, another Republican senator considered moderate and who is chair of the Senate appropriations committee – which oversees USAid’s funding – said it was “a very legitimate question” to ask if Musk had authority to close the agency.
“There is a requirement in the law for 15 days’ notice of any reorganisation. We clearly did not get that. We got the letter yesterday,” she said.
“[The law] also calls for a detailed explanation of any reorganisations, renaming of bureaus, shifting of centres — and again, we have not received that.”
Thom Tillis, a senator for North Carolina, said shutting down a federal body such as USAid would violate the constitution. “It would be helpful” if Trump or Musk sought congressional approval before ordering such drastic changes, he said.
“At some point, it’s going to require congressional action to have staying power,” he told Semafor, while praising Musk for “coming up with good ideas”.
“I can see things where Musk could go too far. We could say, ‘Great idea. It doesn’t work in a public institution.’”
Musk has called USAid “evil” and “a criminal organisation” while bragging that he had been “feeding [it] to the wood chipper”. Meanwhile, the new secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has announced that he is now the agency’s acting director pending its takeover by the state department.
John Thune, the Republican leader in the Senate, insisted that Musk had not closed the agency but merely paused operations to examine its spending. “I don’t think they’re closing an agency, but I do think they have the right to review funding and how those decisions are made and what priorities are being funded,” he said.
While scepticism about foreign aid is widespread in GOP circles, some argued that abandoning the field entirely would surrender US soft power to China.
“I have felt for a long time that USAid is our way to combat the Belt and Road initiative, which is China’s effort to really gain influence around the world, including Africa, South America and the western hemisphere,” said Roger Wicker, a Republican senator for Mississippi. “We need an aid program to match the Chinese effort.”
Underpinning Republican disquiet is Congress’s jealously guarded “power of the purse”, the authority given by the US constitution to the Senate and House of Representatives to control budget and spending decisions. Trump has indicated his intention to challenge this by asserting the right to impound congressionally authorised funds – an approach Musk’s actions graphically illustrate.
“We do have to really make sure that the spending and the appropriation and the power of the purse remains with the House and Senate,” said Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican senator for West Virginia. “Any encroachment on that, I think we should, as a body, stand up and resist.”
Democrats have gone much further, accusing Musk of provoking a “constitutional crisis”.
Chuck Schumer, the party’s leader in the Senate, vowed to introduce legislation to prevent “unlawful meddling” by Musk and his Doge cohorts in the country’s payment system.
“Whatever Doge is doing, it is certainly not what democracy looks like, or has ever looked like in the grand history of this country, because democracy does not work in the shadows, democracy does not skirt the rule of law,” he said in a Senate floor speech.
