Source : NEW INDIAN EXPRESS NEWS
DOGE’s large-scale slashings have been met with dozens of lawsuits. DOGE’s attempts to access sensitive government information, including Social Security data, has similarly met resistance in court. And Democrats this week unveiled an online tracker tallying the federal funds approved by Congress that DOGE has blocked, setting up a constitutional struggle between two branches of government.
Musk wouldn’t offer examples of anything he’d do differently, though DOGE is nowhere near its original savings goal and has overstated its progress.
DOGE had sought to cut spending by $1 trillion. Musk estimates he’s cut $160 billion so far and acknowledged it would be hard to get anywhere close to $1 trillion.
“It’s sort of, how much pain is the Cabinet and the Congress willing to take?” Musk said. “It can be done, but it requires dealing with a lot of complaints.”
Musk didn’t detail any of those complaints and said he has a good relationship with President Donald Trump’s Cabinet. But when asked about clashes with certain members, particularly Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Musk said, “at times, there will be some disagreements with the Cabinet.”
He defended DOGE’s attempts to access Americans’ personal data, dismissing concerns about a potential “surveillance state” by quipping, “Don’t we already have a surveillance state?” He said DOGE needs to access the systems in its hunt for fraud, and said, “There has to be some way to reconcile the improper payments.”ranches of government.
He said DOGE has referred cases of suspected fraud to the Justice Department, though he offered few details, including how many referrals were made. Antonio Gracias, a Musk investor working for DOGE, pointed to the indictment last week of an Iraqi man living in New York on charges he illegally voted in the 2020 election. U.S. prosecutors said DOGE assisted in the investigation.
Musk acknowledged there were some instances in which they had to restore the jobs of government workers who, in his words, were “accidently let go,” like “some people that were doing important regulatory work or taking care of national parks.”
SOURCE :- NEW INDIAN EXPRESS
