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#DavidLebryk, who served in nonpolitical roles at #Treasury for several decades, is expected to leave the agency soon. #Trump named Lebryk as acting secretary upon taking office last week. Lebryk had a dispute w/ #ElonMusk’s surrogates over access to the payment system the #US government uses to disburse trillions of dollars every year….

Officials affiliated w/ #ElonMusk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” #DOGE have been asking since after the election for access to the system… — requests that were reiterated more recently, including after #Trump’s inauguration.

…When #ScottBessent was confirmed as #treasury secretary on Monday, #DavidLebryk ceased to be the acting agency head.

Typically only a small number of career ofcls control #Treasury’s payment systems. Run by the Bureau of #Fiscal Service, the sensitive systems control the flow of >$6T annually to #households, #businesses & more nationwide. …Hundreds of millions of people across the country rely on the systems, which…distribute #SocialSecurity & #Medicare benefits, #salaries for federal personnel, payments to govt #contractors & #grant recipients & #TaxRefunds, among tens of thousands of other functions.

The clash reflects an intensifying battle between #ElonMusk & #FederalAgencies as the #Trump admin nears the conclusion of its second week. #Musk has sought to exert sweeping control over the inner workings of the #USgovernment, installing longtime surrogates at several agencies, including the Office of Personnel Management, which essentially handles federal HR, & the General Services Admin, which manages #RealEstate. (Musk was seen on Thurs visiting #GSA….)

#ElonMusk’s Department of Government Efficiency, originally conceived as a nongovernmental panel, has since replaced the US Digital Service.

The #ExecutiveOrder #Trump signed creating #DOGE also instructed all #FederalAgencies to ensure it has “full & prompt access to all unclassified agency records, software systems, & IT systems,” which would appear to include the #Treasury payment systems.

…the possibility that *govt officials* [#Trump & #ElonMusk] might try to use the federal payments system—which essentially functions as the nation’s “checking book”—to enact a political agenda is unprecedented, said Mark Mazur, who served in senior #treasury roles during the Obama & Biden admins.

“This is a mechanical job—they pay #SocialSecurity benefits, they pay #vendors, whatever. It’s not one where there’s a role for nonmechanical things, at least from the career standpoint,” Mazur said.

“Your whole job is to pay the #bills as they’re due. It’s never been used in a way to execute a partisan agenda. …You have to really put bad intentions in place for that to be the case,” Mazur said.

In the 2023 fiscal year, the payment systems processed nearly 1.3B payments, accounting for about $5.4T, nearly 97% made electronically, according to the #Treasury Dept. Every payment was made on time.

@Nonilex
I expect a hold on paying tax refunds. They don't need to do anything challengeable. Just drag their feet. People counting on that Earned Income Childcare Credit to get out of debt that caught up with them toward the end of 2024 will just wait, and wait, and wait. Official policy has always been you can't ask for status for 6 months. All they need to do is flag every one of them "for review" and it will take years to get through them all.