During a House Financial Services Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Al Green (D-TX) discussed his disapproval for Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency’s cuts to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
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00:00The chair now recognizes the ranking member of the subcommittee, the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Green, for four minutes for an opening statement.
00:08Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the witness for appearing, and I will add for the record, I have great respect for this witness and will enjoy hearing his testimony.
00:18Mr. Chairman, I have received a memo dated April 3rd, 2025.
00:24This is from the majority, and I'll read in part what it says.
00:30It says, this hearing will underscore the critical need for congressional oversight and review by the Department of Government Oversight and Efficiency, DOGE, to ensure transparency, accountability, and operational effectiveness within the agency.
00:48I regret to inform my colleagues first that DOGE is not a department. It is not.
00:55DOGE is an entity that replaced another entity that was created by President Barack Obama.
01:04It's an administrative agency at best.
01:09DOGE, which is headed by a temporary employee, Mr. Elon Musk, temporary because he's there for about 130 days, and then he'll be gone.
01:21DOGE is a temporary entity, not a department.
01:26Some things bear repeating.
01:28And I say this because it's important for us to note that the person who is heading DOGE has not been elected, has not been vetted.
01:38And for Republicans to now decide that they are going to turn the review of certain practices within the department, the Housing and Urban Development Department, turn it over to a person who is unvetted, a person who has not been elected, is unthinkable.
02:01So, this hearing should be about whether we should allow DOGE to be involved with our government.
02:09The hearing should be about whether or not DOGE has the authority to do much of what it's doing.
02:16The stock market is in turmoil.
02:19People are very much concerned about what's happening to them in this country.
02:23Economic uncertainty is pervasive.
02:25And we have a jester with a chainsaw cutting jobs.
02:30And we find ourselves today, this very powerful committee, the powerful Financial Services Committee, with oversight authority in this subcommittee,
02:40this powerful committee is allowing its very responsibility to be usurped, or, in fact, we are abdicating, abdication of the power of the committee to an unelected, unvetted, temporary employee.
03:02Now, why are we doing it?
03:04Friends, I regret to inform you of something more.
03:07Because there is fear of Elon Musk.
03:13People are afraid of him.
03:16They're afraid to take him on.
03:17They're afraid to ask him to come before this body, this august body, and give testimony.
03:24He should be in that seat.
03:26He's the person who's going to make the cuts.
03:28He's the person who has demonstrated that he has power beyond that which Congress has accorded him.
03:35He should be here.
03:36But we don't have the courage to have him sit in that seat and allow us to ask him questions.
03:43Mr. Musk is, at best, a wannabe president who serves with a wannabe dictator who believes that he has the power and the authority to literally control not only the executive branch, but also the legislative branch, as well as the judiciary.
04:04We, at some point, have to draw a line in the dirt and say to Mr. Musk, no more.
04:13You can't do this.
04:15You can't just willy-nilly, arbitrarily, and capriciously cut jobs.
04:19You have to do studies.
04:20You have to get some insight.
04:21And I'd like to ask, Mr. Chairman, at this time, that, without objection, my memorandum from the majority be placed in the record.
04:30Without objection.
04:32I yield back.
04:33Chairman.