Beth Van Duyne Asks Dems: ‘Has Anyone Actually Invited’ Elon Musk To Talk About DOGE?

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During Wednesday’s House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-TX) discussed the Democrat request that Elon Musk testifies about DOGE.

Transcript

00:00Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

00:06Democrats keep criticizing Republicans for not bringing Elon Musk as a witness to speak

00:10about Doge's work.

00:12If my Democrat colleagues want to bring Mr. Musk in for witness so badly, why don't they

00:18invite him to appear as a witness?

00:21Democrats are allowed to invite anyone as a witness who can answer their questions about

00:25Doge.

00:26Has anybody actually invited him?

00:29We have not seen any of that.

00:31During the Oversight Subcommittee's hearing on February 11th, Democrats invited Nina Olson

00:37as a witness.

00:38You had an opportunity.

00:39You chose Nina Olson as a witness.

00:42And you asked her several questions about Doge having access to taxpayer information.

00:48Republicans invited Christine Kochilek, a managing director for a financial management

00:52insurance team at GAO's office.

00:55She was there specifically for the purpose of answering questions related to access to

00:59Treasury's payment systems.

01:01And when I asked her directly, has any proof been shown about these threats, you know what

01:06she said?

01:07None.

01:08No.

01:09And yet we continue to hear all of these unsubstantiated charges being thrown out, even though my

01:15colleagues know they're not correct.

01:18They're complete lies.

01:20Democrats are always able to invite whoever they want for a witness hearing.

01:24They just haven't done it.

01:26And Democrats have expressed outrage over the access to taxpayer information that Doge

01:30employees have.

01:32First off, a few weeks ago, the Treasury Department and the White House signed a memorandum of

01:36understanding that prohibits Doge from accessing personal taxpayer data.

01:42They know this, and yet we've spent over an hour and 45 minutes listening to charges that

01:48they know again are lies.

01:50Second, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration has released data on just

01:56how many individuals have already had access to sensitive information within the IRS.

02:01As of July 2023, over 91,000 business entitlement access request system users, 91,000, including

02:115,000 contractors, had access to at least one sensitive IRS system.

02:17Where's the outrage?

02:18Why are we just now hearing about this?

02:20All these unelected bureaucrats that have access to sensitive information, including

02:255,000 contractors, you're saying shouldn't.

02:28And yet, because Elon Musk has unmasked all of this waste, fraud, and abuse, now you're

02:33bringing it up.

02:34Even worse, Tijta found that over a dozen contractors with unfavorable background investigations

02:42retained their access to at least one sensitive IRS system because the IRS did not take action

02:49to suspend or disable the contractors from the IRS system as required.

02:54Where was the outrage then?

02:56So if Democrats were serious about protecting taxpayer information, they would have raised

03:00concerns about this report and articles that ProPublica and the New York Times published

03:04using illegally obtained taxpayer information to publish stories attacking President Trump

03:11and other Americans who had their data stolen.

03:14Instead of raising concerns then, Democrats chose to weaponize the disclosure of taxpayer

03:19information, including President Trump's, to attack him and other Americans for political

03:25gain.

03:26So stop with the gaslighting and protecting the waste, fraud, and abuse that is being

03:30uncovered and stand up for your constituents and protect their financial futures.

03:35With that, I yield.

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