Amid his quest to trim $2 trillion from the federal budget, Elon Musk has set his sights on the Department of Veterans Affairs — but not, of course, the military that necessitates such post-service care.
In a statement to Military.com, a VA spokesperson confirmed that one of the young men working for Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been sent there, and has been granted access to the department's computer systems.
"The DOGE employee will be solely focused on improving VA performance and efficiency and will not have access to veterans' or VA beneficiaries' data," the department's press secretary Pete Kasperowicz told the website, in what seems to be an attempt to soften the optics.
It remains unknown which of the "DOGE boys" working for Musk's government takeover office has been granted access to VA computers. As Kasperowicz explained, the DOGE worker is focused in part on "identifying wasteful contracts," though it's hard to imagine anything happening at the VA costing nearly as much as the $466.3 billion taxpayer dollars the United States spent on defense contracting in 2023.
The news comes after a Democratic senator warned that one of Musk's youthful flunkies had been seen traipsing into the VA's Washington headquarters — a sighting that followed the office's alarming infiltration of the Treasury.
"We should all be deeply concerned about what it could mean to give Elon Musk and his cronies free rein at VA," Sen. Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat, warned in a statement. "I am already hearing that DOGE may have barged into VA today."
"Musk and his associates already have the personal financial information of every veteran receiving disability or education benefits because of their illegal data mining at the Department of Treasury," wrote Murray, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee. "Will they now look at private health records of veterans? What else will they do that could put the health and safety of our veterans at risk?"
Though it now seems like ancient history amid Musk and Donald Trump's blitz-like attacks on government as we know it, this news also comes after the VA rapidly abolished its entire diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) program following the president's executive order requiring all DEI initiatives be shuttered.
In a statement, the historically racist department bragged that the roughly 60 DEI employees at the VA who are now on paid leave make a combined $8 million in annual salary. Needless to say, it'll take an impossible number of tiny cuts like that to get anywhere near the needle-moving savings Musk has promised.
If Musk and his DOGE lackeys do try to cut benefits for veterans, though, they may find themselves in a heck of a fight — perhaps even with some of Musk's former supporters.
More on the DOGE disaster: Young DOGE Engineer Now Has Access to The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Which Warns Americans When Hurricanes are Forming
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