Sanders: ‘What Musk is doing is illegal’

[TroglocratsRdumb]

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5130245-sanders-musk-doge-oligarchy/

by Sarah Fortinsky - 02/06/25
[snippet]
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Wednesday some of the bold steps that billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has taken to tackle waste in the federal government are “illegal.”
“Nothing wrong with looking for waste in the kinds of bureaucracy that exist. I think we can do a whole lot to get rid of the waste, the fraud, the excessive bureaucracy that exists in government — especially, by the way, in the Defense Department,” Sanders said Wednesday on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360.”
“What is wrong right now is one simple reality: What Musk is doing is illegal and unconstitutional,” Sanders added.
“You cannot go into an agency like USAID and essentially fire everybody and get rid of that agency,” Sanders said. “That’s an agency that was created by Congress.”
“They want to get rid of USAID? Fine. Come to the Congress. Make your case,” he continued. “You can’t do it unilaterally.”
“You tell me whether or not we are living in an oligarchy,” Sanders said. “And I think the function of government under Trump, under Elon Musk, will not be to serve ordinary people, but to make the very richest people in this country even richer.”

Comment:
Trump is not "firing everyone" and "getting rid of USAID"
Trump is using his executive authority to reform USAID.
The president has an obligation to protect the Taxpayer's money from the being wasted, stolen and abused.
This might be going to the courts.

 

[TheGreatSatan]

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5130245-sanders-musk-doge-oligarchy/

by Sarah Fortinsky - 02/06/25
[snippet]
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Wednesday some of the bold steps that billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has taken to tackle waste in the federal government are “illegal.”
“Nothing wrong with looking for waste in the kinds of bureaucracy that exist. I think we can do a whole lot to get rid of the waste, the fraud, the excessive bureaucracy that exists in government — especially, by the way, in the Defense Department,” Sanders said Wednesday on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360.”
“What is wrong right now is one simple reality: What Musk is doing is illegal and unconstitutional,” Sanders added.
“You cannot go into an agency like USAID and essentially fire everybody and get rid of that agency,” Sanders said. “That’s an agency that was created by Congress.”
“They want to get rid of USAID? Fine. Come to the Congress. Make your case,” he continued. “You can’t do it unilaterally.”
“You tell me whether or not we are living in an oligarchy,” Sanders said. “And I think the function of government under Trump, under Elon Musk, will not be to serve ordinary people, but to make the very richest people in this country even richer.”

Comment:
Trump is not "firing everyone" and "getting rid of USAID"
Trump is using his executive authority to reform USAID.
The president has an obligation to protect the Taxpayer's money from the being wasted, stolen and abused.
This might be going to the courts.

^^^ This post was brought to you by... USAID! propagandizing Americans for decades.

 

[TroglocratsRdumb]

This is what Trump is saying about USAID reform
The president has an obligation to protect the Taxpayer's money from the being wasted, stolen and abused.

At USAID, Waste and Abuse Runs Deep

For decades, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been unaccountable to taxpayers as it funnels massive sums of money to the

www.whitehouse.gov

For decades, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been unaccountable to taxpayers as it funnels massive sums of money to the ridiculous — and, in many cases, malicious — pet projects of entrenched bureaucrats, with next-to-no oversight.

Here are only a few examples of the WASTE and ABUSE:

• $1.5 million to “advance diversity equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities”
• $70,000 for production of a “DEI musical” in Ireland
• $2.5 million for electric vehicles for Vietnam
• $47,000 for a “transgender opera” in Colombia
• $32,000 for a “transgender comic book” in Peru
• $2 million for sex changes and “LGBT activism” in Guatemala
• $6 million to fund tourism in Egypt
• Hundreds of thousands of dollars for a non-profit linked to designated terrorist organizations — even AFTER an inspector general launched an investigation
• Millions to EcoHealth Alliance — which was involved in research at the Wuhan lab
• “Hundreds of thousands of meals that went to al Qaeda-affiliated fighters in Syria”
• Funding to print “personalized” contraceptives birth control devices in developing countries
• Hundreds of millions of dollars to fund “irrigation canals, farming equipment, and even fertilizer used to support the unprecedented poppy cultivation and heroin production in Afghanistan,” benefiting the Taliban

The list literally goes on and on — and it has all been happening for decades.

Under President Trump, the waste, fraud, and abuse ENDS NOW.

 

[Thunk]

What Musk is doing is illegal and unconstitutional,” Sanders added.

Yo bernie...state the statute number or article that is in breach!

If you can't...sit down and shut up! You are going to prison...DEAL WITH IT!

 

[excalibur]

Thomas Jefferson did many of the same things 200+ years ago.

Bernie Sanders is a lying commie.

 

[1srelluc]

Trump, through Musk is just avoiding the red tape.

 

[toobfreak]

Trump is not "firing everyone" and "getting rid of USAID"
Trump is using his executive authority to reform USAID.
The president has an obligation to protect the Taxpayer's money from the being wasted, stolen and abused.

If USAID is being used clandestinely to fund programs against the best interests of the USA or not authorized by or audited by our government to finance our enemies or to launder money back to democrats surreptitiously, then Trump has every right to to close the place down, change it, or do something. And if it is being protected by corrupt judges and politicians part of that corruption, he has every reason to do something about them too.

 

[Missouri_Mike]

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5130245-sanders-musk-doge-oligarchy/

by Sarah Fortinsky - 02/06/25
[snippet]
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Wednesday some of the bold steps that billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has taken to tackle waste in the federal government are “illegal.”
“Nothing wrong with looking for waste in the kinds of bureaucracy that exist. I think we can do a whole lot to get rid of the waste, the fraud, the excessive bureaucracy that exists in government — especially, by the way, in the Defense Department,” Sanders said Wednesday on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360.”
“What is wrong right now is one simple reality: What Musk is doing is illegal and unconstitutional,” Sanders added.
“You cannot go into an agency like USAID and essentially fire everybody and get rid of that agency,” Sanders said. “That’s an agency that was created by Congress.”
“They want to get rid of USAID? Fine. Come to the Congress. Make your case,” he continued. “You can’t do it unilaterally.”
“You tell me whether or not we are living in an oligarchy,” Sanders said. “And I think the function of government under Trump, under Elon Musk, will not be to serve ordinary people, but to make the very richest people in this country even richer.”

Comment:
Trump is not "firing everyone" and "getting rid of USAID"
Trump is using his executive authority to reform USAID.
The president has an obligation to protect the Taxpayer's money from the being wasted, stolen and abused.
This might be going to the courts.

You notice their primary concern isn’t the tax payers. It’s protecting the beaucracy first. Little more than casual mention of the tax payers.

 

[kyzr]

USAID isn't dead, it was moved under Rubio at the state Department, keeping about 300 employees.

Bernie is wrong, as usual.

 

[wamose]

So Bernie thinks it's illegal to catch criminal politicians robbing the American taxpayer blind. Too fucking bad. We're going to want every stolen penny back too, even if it bankrupts every one of those robber barons and their families. I'd bet Bernie personally got some of that easy money too. We want 100% restitution.

 

[Lesh]

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5130245-sanders-musk-doge-oligarchy/

by Sarah Fortinsky - 02/06/25
[snippet]
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Wednesday some of the bold steps that billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has taken to tackle waste in the federal government are “illegal.”
“Nothing wrong with looking for waste in the kinds of bureaucracy that exist. I think we can do a whole lot to get rid of the waste, the fraud, the excessive bureaucracy that exists in government — especially, by the way, in the Defense Department,” Sanders said Wednesday on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360.”
“What is wrong right now is one simple reality: What Musk is doing is illegal and unconstitutional,” Sanders added.
“You cannot go into an agency like USAID and essentially fire everybody and get rid of that agency,” Sanders said. “That’s an agency that was created by Congress.”
“They want to get rid of USAID? Fine. Come to the Congress. Make your case,” he continued. “You can’t do it unilaterally.”
“You tell me whether or not we are living in an oligarchy,” Sanders said. “And I think the function of government under Trump, under Elon Musk, will not be to serve ordinary people, but to make the very richest people in this country even richer.”

Comment:
Trump is not "firing everyone" and "getting rid of USAID"
Trump is using his executive authority to reform USAID.
The president has an obligation to protect the Taxpayer's money from the being wasted, stolen and abused.
This might be going to the courts.

Sanders is correct. Elmo is GUTTING an agency created by Congress. The Executive can not do that.

This agency had 4,000 employees. Elmo has cut it to less than 300.

 

[Lesh]

So Bernie thinks it's illegal to catch criminal politicians robbing the American taxpayer blind. Too fucking bad. We're going to want every stolen penny back too, even if it bankrupts every one of those robber barons and their families. I'd bet Bernie personally got some of that easy money too. We want 100% restitution.

None of that is true. It’s all Elmo propaganda

 

[Edgetho]

USAID isn't dead, it was moved under Rubio at the state Department, keeping about 300 employees.

Bernie is wrong, as usual.

Bernie is also either lying or disgustingly stupid -- USAID was created by an EO from JFK.

dimocraps aren't just scum, they're stupid as well. Unapologetically stupid. I mean, slack-jawed, drooling stupid. In another time, most of them would have been left to die immediately after birth. Go Ask The Spartans

 

[Sherlock Holmes]

Musk is an idiot, totally out of his depth pretending to be a manager.

A competent manager would have assessed these and other factors and risks and then planned a path to reduction and increased efficiency, Musk - like Trump - has no management skills he's just showing off because Trump gave him power, so we see inexcusable idiocy like this.

Musk doesn't plan because he has no idea how to plan and nor does Trump, these men are idiots and only fool idiots unfortunately the United States has a hell of a lot of idiots.

This is the cost of Musk and Trump's decision making, half a billion dollars of tax payers money simply lost, thrown away by fools.

By the way trumpanzees, don't bother trying to "explain" how this is someone else's fault, how this waste is the fault of the democrats, I will simply ignore you, your all fools anyway.

Nearly $500m of food aid at risk of spoilage after Trump USAid cuts

US government auditors find cuts have ‘degraded USAid’s ability to distribute and safeguard humanitarian assistance’

www.theguardian.com

 

[Seymour Flops]

Sanders is correct. Elmo is GUTTING an agency created by Congress.

Nope.

International Aid in the 1960s: An Agency is Born​

In 1961, President Kennedy signed the Foreign Assistance Act into law and created USAID by executive order. Once USAID got to work, international development assistance opportunities grew tremendously. The time during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations became known as the “decade of development.”

USAID History | Archive - U.S. Agency for International Development

When the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was created, it brought together several existing foreign assistance organizations and programs. Until then, there had never been a single agency charged with foreign economic development, so with the passage of the Foreign...

2012-2017.usaid.gov

The Executive can not do that.

"Gut?" An imprecise term, at best.

The president can eliminate by executive order any agency created by a previous president by executive order.

If USAID were an agency created by congress, (which it is not) the president could still take exective action to stop and investigate wasteful and abusive practices.

You know . . . like this:

Chairman Mast Exposes Outrageous USAID and State Department Grants - Committee on Foreign Affairs

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast released the following video exposing radical, far-left grants issued by the State Department and United States Agency for International Development under the Biden administration. WATCH HERE Democrats and...

foreignaffairs.house.gov

(From Congress!)

$15 million for condoms to the Taliban through USAID.

$446,700 to promote the expansion of atheism in Nepal through the State Department.

$1 million to boost French-speaking LGBTQ groups in West and Central Africa through the State Department.

$14 million in cash vouchers for migrants at the southern border through the State Department.

$20,600 for a drag show in Ecuador through the State Department.

$47,020 for a transgender opera in Colombia through the State Department.

$32,000 for an LGBTQ-centered comic book in Peru through the State Department.

$55,750 for a climate change presentation warning about the impact of climate change in Argentina to be led by female and LGBT journalists through the StateDepartment.

$3,315,446 for “being LGBTQ in the Caribbean” through USAID.

$7,071.58 for a BIPOC speaker series in Canada through the State Department.

$80,000 for an LGBTQ community center in Bratislava, Slovakia through the State Department.

$3.2 million to help Tunisian migrants readjust to life in Tunisia after deportation through the State Department.

$16,500 to foster a “united and equal queer-feminist discourse in Albanian society” through the State Department.

$10,000 to pressure Lithuanian corporations to promote “DEI values” through the State Department.

$8,000 to promote DEI among LGBTQ groups in Cyprus through the State Department.

$1.5 million to promote job opportunities for LGBTQ individuals in Serbia through USAID.

$70,884 to create a U.S.-Irish musical to promote DEI in Ireland through the State Department.

$39,652 to host seminars at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on gender identity and racial equality through the State Department.

$2.5 million to build electric vehicle charging stations in Vietnam’s largest cities through USAID.

$425,622 to help Indonesian coffee companies become more climate and gender friendly through USAID.

This agency had 4,000 employees. Elmo has cut it to less than 300.

Sounds about right for now. More cuts to come if those three hundred do not demonstrate their value to the taxpayers of the United States.

How many of the 3,700 being cut were "working from home?"

 

[justoffal]

Musk is an idiot, totally out of his depth pretending to be a manager.

A competent manager would have assessed these and other factors and risks and then planned a path to reduction and increased efficiency, Musk - like Trump - has no management skills he's just showing off because Trump gave him power, so we see inexcusable idiocy like this.

Musk doesn't plan because he has no idea how to plan and nor does Trump, these men are idiots and only fool idiots unfortunately the United States has a hell of a lot of idiots.

This is the cost of Musk and Trump's decision making, half a billion dollars of tax payers money simply lost, thrown away by fools.

By the way trumpanzees, don't bother trying to "explain" how this is someone else's fault, how this waste is the fault of the democrats, I will simply ignore you, your all fools anyway.

View attachment 1077133

Nearly $500m of food aid at risk of spoilage after Trump USAid cuts

US government auditors find cuts have ‘degraded USAid’s ability to distribute and safeguard humanitarian assistance’

www.theguardian.com

Send it to North Carolina it won't spoil

 

[scruffy]

Sanders is correct. Elmo is GUTTING an agency created by Congress. The Executive can not do that.

Yes, he can.

This agency had 4,000 employees. Elmo has cut it to less than 300.

That is perfectly legal.

The agency will continue as part of the State Department, which was its original charter as specified by Congress.

 

[Rawley]

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5130245-sanders-musk-doge-oligarchy/

by Sarah Fortinsky - 02/06/25
[snippet]
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Wednesday some of the bold steps that billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has taken to tackle waste in the federal government are “illegal.”
“Nothing wrong with looking for waste in the kinds of bureaucracy that exist. I think we can do a whole lot to get rid of the waste, the fraud, the excessive bureaucracy that exists in government — especially, by the way, in the Defense Department,” Sanders said Wednesday on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360.”
“What is wrong right now is one simple reality: What Musk is doing is illegal and unconstitutional,” Sanders added.
“You cannot go into an agency like USAID and essentially fire everybody and get rid of that agency,” Sanders said. “That’s an agency that was created by Congress.”
“They want to get rid of USAID? Fine. Come to the Congress. Make your case,” he continued. “You can’t do it unilaterally.”
“You tell me whether or not we are living in an oligarchy,” Sanders said. “And I think the function of government under Trump, under Elon Musk, will not be to serve ordinary people, but to make the very richest people in this country even richer.”

Comment:
Trump is not "firing everyone" and "getting rid of USAID"
Trump is using his executive authority to reform USAID.
The president has an obligation to protect the Taxpayer's money from the being wasted, stolen and abused.
This might be going to the courts.

USAID was actually created by and Executive Order of President Kennedy, not by Congress

Records of the Agency for International Development (RG 286)

On November 3, 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed the Foreign Assistance Act reorganizing the structure of U.S. foreign assistance programs. By executive order, he created a new agency, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The records transferred to the National...

www.archives.gov

 

[Rawley]

Sanders is correct. Elmo is GUTTING an agency created by Congress. The Executive can not do that.

It was not created by Congress, it was created by Executive Order

Records of the Agency for International Development (RG 286)

On November 3, 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed the Foreign Assistance Act reorganizing the structure of U.S. foreign assistance programs. By executive order, he created a new agency, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The records transferred to the National...

www.archives.gov

 

[justoffal]

Yes, he can.



That is perfectly legal.

The agency will continue as part of the State Department, which was its original charter as specified by Congress.

Only now it will cease to be a money supply for terrorists..... George Soro's pet projects..... And a slush fund for American Congress critters

Trump and Musk had both better stop traveling around in Pope cages.