On Wednesday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) argued that there isn’t a massive bureaucracy that has more power than elected officials because the bureaucrats “are under the control of the president of the United States, and they’re under the control of the various departments in which they are assigned. The president was elected. Our job in Congress is to pass the laws that govern their actions. It is all very constitutional.”
In a clip played during the segment, DOGE employee Elon Musk said, “We have this unelected, fourth, unconstitutional branch of government, which is the bureaucracy, which has, in a lot of ways, currently, more power than any elected representative. And this is not something that people want. And it’s not — it does not match the will of the people. So, it’s just something we’ve got to fix.”
Smith responded, “I think part of the role is to be honest with the American people. And what Elon Musk just said there is just flat a lie. It is the executive branch of the government. Those bureaucrats that he’s talking about are under the control of the president of the United States, and they’re under the control of the various departments in which they are assigned. The president was elected. Our job in Congress is to pass the laws that govern their actions. It is all very constitutional. And if President Trump disagrees with where they’re spending money or disagrees with those departments, then he can follow the law and pass legislation to change it. Or, in some cases, he has control over the agencies. He can’t just unilaterally block programs that Congress has passed. Congress has control of the purse. I think even people who aren’t constitutional scholars understand that.”
Smith continued, “So, he is disregarding Congress. In some cases, he’s disregarding the courts. The courts have issued orders blocking them from cutting off any domestic programs. Those domestic programs are still being cut off. So, what Elon Musk is doing is he’s disregarding the Constitution and ignoring the legislative branch and ignoring the judicial branch, and that’s not transparent and it’s not legal. Again, if we want to have a debate about, going forward, what should we spend on USAID? I think there are some programs in USAID that probably don’t make sense. Fine. Let’s talk about those. But you can’t just come in and ignore the law and wipe out programs that have been passed by Congress. That’s what they’re doing, and they’re not doing it transparently.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
