Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.) sparred Wednesday over Elon Musk and his allies on the Division of Authorities Effectivity’s (DOGE) reported entry to a delicate federal cost system on the Treasury Division.
“If any of your institutions suddenly let somebody into your payment system that had no background in banking, that had no understanding of money flows, that suddenly gets an ability without any screening to look at all of your customers personal banking information, I believe that would cause reputational risk,” Warner mentioned to a gaggle of financial institution executives showing at a Senate Banking Committee listening to.
“That’s exactly what’s happening in the United States Treasury at this moment in time,” he continued.
A prime Treasury official, David Lebryk, retired final week after clashing with Musk allies as they sought entry to the Treasury system referred to as the Fiscal Service that handles 90 p.c of federal funds, sparking outcry from Democrats.
“Come on, guys, this is about the full faith and credit of the United States,” Warner added. “It is about our reputation in the world.”
Scott, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, pushed again on Warner’s feedback, studying from a Treasury letter responding to the issues Tuesday. The division mentioned {that a} overview of the funds system is underway, emphasizing that employees members may have “read-only” entry to the knowledge.
Employees are working with Tom Krause, the CEO of Cloud Software program Group who the Treasury letter described as an “expert/consultant” employed as a “special government employee.”
Warner pressed Scott on Tuesday whether or not he knew the id and safety clearance standing of the people engaged on the Treasury cost system.
“Do you know the identity of these individuals?” Warner mentioned. “Mr. Krause is a known quantity, and he’s got security clearance. The other individuals, who’ve been reported in the press, do they have security clearance? Do you want that individual without a security clearance to have access to all that information.”
Scott advised that comparable questions existed beneath the earlier administration.
“Under the Biden administration, we had no clue who was doing what most of the time,” he mentioned.
