On Tuesday night in his speech to Congress, President Trump talked about how “the days of rule by unelected bureaucrats are over.”
This was a pretty ironic statement given how over the last several weeks the Department of Government Efficiency — also known as DOGE — has been making massive spending cuts to various agencies throughout the federal government and laying off thousands of workers. Oh, and all of this is happening at the hands of * checks notes * Elon Musk — an unelected, private citizen who didn’t go through any vetting process. I’m sure you can see the irony now.
President Trump’s speech was filled with a laundry list of cuts that Musk’s DOGE has made and he praised Musk for the work the office had done.
Reducing government waste is something that many Americans agree on, but Trump and Musk have their sights set on cutting essential programs that millions of Americans depend on. Some of the items on the chopping block? Funding for cancer research, disaster relief for events such as wildfires, and protections against predatory banks and credit card companies. All of these decisions were made with what feels like very little consideration for the harms they’ll cause to everyday Americans across the country.
And, to be clear, this isn’t a debate about the merits of government spending or the role of government in our society. In fact, the conversation isn’t partisan at all. It’s constitutional. The fact is, Elon Musk has positioned himself as the final authority on hiring, spending, and government operations — without input from elected lawmakers. This isn’t governance. This is a direct assault on democratic accountability and the separation of powers that protects the rights and freedoms of all Americans.
The Framers of our Constitution established three distinct branches of government, each serving as a check on the others. They understood that unchecked power, no matter its source, poses a fundamental threat to our democratic system. They wanted to keep the branches of government in line and ensure that one branch didn’t become too powerful. But it’s stunning (in a bad way) how this system feels so fragile and under threat at the moment.
Members of Issue One’s ReFormers Caucus recently penned a letter to Congress about the examples of executive overreach and unchecked power we’ve witnessed over the past six weeks. Something they wrote stuck with me:
“Article I of the Constitution places Congress at the center of our democracy for a profound reason. The legislative branch was designed to be the primary voice of the people, containing all political viewpoints, not just one. This is why the Constitution grants Congress specific and immutable powers, including the power of the purse — a vital check on executive authority.”
Our government isn’t beholden to one voice, or just the voices of the ultra wealthy. It’s designed to be the voice of all of us. We didn’t elect Elon Musk to carry out functions that Congress should be doing. We elected our representatives in Congress to act on our behalf and with our best interests in mind.
If you’re as worried as I am about DOGE’s overreach and the current fragility of our system of checks and balances, go to CheckTheExec.org to join Issue One as we call on Congress to uphold their constitutional authority.
It’s not ironic. It’s deliberately false and malicious. Just more of the same MO. Sugar coating again?