NYT: Musk's team gained access to the US payment system to control spending

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessen granted access to several representatives of the Department of Efficiency in Government (DOGE), led by entrepreneur Elon Musk, to the federal payment system to monitor and limit government spending. This was reported by The New York Times (NYT) citing sources.♨️♨️♨️♨️♨️

According to NYT, in 2023, this system processed information on payments totaling more than $5 trillion.

"This system could provide the [US President Donald] Trump's administration with another mechanism to attempt to unilaterally limit the expenditure of funds approved by Congress for specific purposes," the article states.

The publication notes that it is still unclear whether Musk's team has blocked any payments after gaining access to the system.

On Friday, January 31, Senator Ron Wyden from Oregon stated that Musk's access to the system could lead to a conflict of interest. "These payment systems process over a billion payments a year."