Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has signed off on a plan to give access to the payment system to a team led by Tom Krause, the CEO of Cloud Software Group, who is now working for the Treasury Department and serves as a liaison to Musk’s DOGE group that operates out of the United States Digital Service. One person familiar with the effort said Krause’s role will be subject to safeguards that would not allow any ability to make changes to the system and that no one outside Treasury would have access [except Marko —lambert].
Lambert here: I think “operates out of the United States Digital Service” is wrong, excusably, given “United States DOGE Service” and “United States DOGE Service Temporary Organization” which seem almost delierately obfuscatory.
Confusion over who will be granted access to Treasury’s payments rails — as well as whether their responsibilities could allow them to cut off payments — has opened a new front in the political fight over Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. Another person familiar with the situation said Treasury officials were extremely displeased with the situation.
Democrats have criticized efforts by Trump political appointees and Musk’s DOGE to assert more control over a federal payments system that has long been run by nonpolitical career employees.
The Government Accountability Office estimated last year that the federal government could be losing between $233 billion and $521 billion each year due to fraud.
Federal agencies reported $236 billion in improper payments in the 2024 fiscal year. The bulk came from Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, pandemic relief loans to small businesses, Treasury’s earned income tax credit and Social Security payments.
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