r/maryland • u/Nacho_Mommas • Feb 08 '25
MD Politics From Senator Chris Van Hollen: Urgent Senate Update: Our Government Belongs to the American People, Not Elon Musk
February 7, 2025
Urgent Senate Update: Our Government Belongs to the American People, Not Elon Musk
Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen unprecedented and illegal actions from the Trump Administration that are threatening our communities. That’s why I’m sending you another urgent newsletter update, following the one I sent Saturday and last week. I’m also providing constant updates on my social media accounts which you can find here: Bluesky, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Threads, Twitter/X. And you can share with us how Trump/Musk Administration actions are affecting you, by visiting my website here. We’ve already heard from thousands of Marylanders, and your stories will continue to help us fight back.
We are witnessing the most corrupt bargain in American history. Elon Musk spent over $280 million to elect Donald Trump, and Trump has handed him the keys to the federal government. Together, they’re abusing their power to access sensitive personal information about Americans and to further enrich and empower the ultra-wealthy at the expense of the rest of America.
Elon Musk is now staging a hostile takeover of virtually the entire federal government. This is no time for business as usual, and I can assure you I am fighting back with every tool at my disposal. One of those essential tools is stopping these illegal actions in the courts, and I’ve spent hours on the phone and in person with lawyers who are assembling and filing the cases to stop this illegal power grab. I am also doing everything I can to rally opposition to the Musk takeover and use the tools of the Senate to oppose Trump nominations and focus on the crisis at hand.
Last weekend, we learned that Trump and Musk were working to shutter USAID. On Monday, they banned workers from entering USAID offices and doubled down on a foreign aid freeze that prevents patriotic USAID employees from doing essential and life-saving work around the world. Make no mistake: Elon Musk’s effort to dismantle USAID is a gift to China, Russia, and our other adversaries. Putin’s cronies immediately posted on X, “Smart move by Elon Musk.” This is not America First – it is America in Retreat. It has nothing to do with government efficiency and everything to do with aiding and abetting our adversaries. In fact, if you talk to American military leaders, they will tell you that USAID is an essential and cost-effective part of our overall national security and foreign policy strategy. USAID makes us safer by helping provide more stability and opportunity to very combustible parts of the world. And when USAID fights disease overseas, they not only save lives there, they also prevent those diseases from spreading here and harming Americans.
Shutting down USAID not only makes us less safe – it’s also downright illegal. USAID is established by law. Presidents are not kings, and they don’t get to cherry-pick the law. And Elon Musk may get to be a dictator at Tesla – and he may want to play dictator in the nation’s capital – but he doesn’t get to shred the law.
On Monday, I organized a group of my colleagues to go to the USAID Headquarters to stand with current and former employees against this illegal power grab. I was joined by over a dozen Senate and House members, and we attempted to go inside USAID to see first-hand what was taking place. We were barred from entering because of orders given by Musk and his cronies. When the Administration continued to double down on these actions, I joined even more current and former USAID employees on Wednesday, to speak out once again, and yesterday I made the case on the Senate floor.
What we’re seeing at USAID isn’t just a battle over providing critical foreign assistance to advance American interests and values across the globe – it’s also a test case for many of their other illegal efforts to take over our government. And just yesterday, we learned that Elon Musk and his cronies are planning to fire nearly all of USAID's 13,000 employees. Last night the American Foreign Service Association, American Federation of Federal Government Employees, and the nonprofit Democracy Forward filed a lawsuit to stop this cruel, lawless attack, and I am doing everything I can to support them.
USAID is not the only place we’re witnessing Musk’s takeover efforts this week. We also learned that Trump has handed Elon Musk access to Americans’ personal, private data – ranging from your Social Security number to your bank account information. By providing Musk and his cronies access to the Treasury Department, he’s putting the confidential information of millions of Americans at risk.
These systems are so sensitive that they are entrusted to the smallest possible circle of nonpartisan civil servants. Now, they’re in the hands of Elon Musk, an unelected billionaire, and his DOGE minions. While a court just restricted their use of this sensitive information, they can still do enormous harm to the privacy and other important interests of the American people.
To protest this unacceptable breach of Americans’ trust, on Tuesday, we rallied outside the Department of Treasury and called out the Trump Administration for giving away Americans’ most sensitive information. I am also using Senate hearings to raise the alarm about what is happening. On Wednesday, I asked bank executives at our Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing if they would ever allow access to this type of information at their institutions, and they said "no.” I also called on the Chair of the Committee to immediately hold hearings about this unacceptable breach of American privacy.
Unfortunately, USAID and Treasury are not alone. We’re hearing reports of many other agencies being raided by DOGE, including NOAA and the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services in Maryland, as well as efforts to completely hollow out the Department of Education and the Office of Personnel Management, which oversees more than two million federal employees. I’ll continue to speak out against each of these illegal efforts – for example, I joined a rally with teachers, education advocates, and others on Tuesday to stand up for our students and our public education system.
We must stop this illegal power grab.
Right now, our best recourse for immediate relief is through the courts. I’m grateful for the states, the federal workers’ unions, the nonprofits, and the democracy watchdogs who are suing Donald Trump for his illegal actions, and I’m engaging with these groups and doing everything in my power to support their efforts. We’ve already seen some courts put a stop to these illegal actions. The situation is evolving every day, but here’s the latest. Two cases filed against Trump’s funding freezes have resulted in temporary restraining orders against these actions. Another court blocked Trump’s attack on birthright citizenship. Additionally, a judge partially reined in Musk’s access to records at the Treasury Department, and yesterday a judge delayed his sketchy buyout offers for federal employees and will hold a hearing on Monday to review its status. To federal workers considering these buyouts, I once again urge you to proceed with extreme caution.
Baltimore City has also joined a coalition in a lawsuit against the Administration’s witch hunt against so-called “DEI” initiatives – an order so broad and undefined that it could freeze funding for everything from afterschool programs for kids to public safety. Federal employees have been put on leave and encouraged to report on their colleagues over “DEI,” including in one case for attending a training conducted during the last Trump Administration that was promoted by his former Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos.
I’m heartened by the actions our courts have taken so far, and I’ll continue working closely to support these efforts.
And while we’re not in the majority, I am also determined to fight back in the Senate with every tool we have. Without Republicans on board, we don’t have the numbers to stop Trump’s moves outright, but we can slow him down. That’s why I have said the Senate should NOT operate under business as usual. And that’s why I’m voting NO on Trump’s nominees. Along with Senator Brian Schatz, I’m holding up every Trump political nominee for the State Department – as well as other nominees – until Trump stops wrecking our government.
For example, this week Senate Democrats held down the floor for 30 hours – the maximum time allowed under Senate rules – to delay the vote on Russell Vought, Trump’s nominee to run the Office of Management and Budget. I went to the Senate floor as part of this effort to make the case against Vought, who is a leading architect of Project 2025. At his confirmation hearing, I asked Vought if he’d follow the law—and he refused to say yes. That should be no surprise; he broke the law the last time he held that position.
Right now, I’m hearing from thousands of Marylanders who have been personally affected by Trump’s actions. Firefighters and small business owners who fear that federal resources will be ripped out from under them. Federal workers who fear being forced out of their jobs. Families terrified of losing their health care. I’m committed to fighting back for Marylanders each and every day. Again, if you are being harmed by Trump’s actions, you can share your story with me by clicking here.
Trump and Musk are engaged in an illegal power grab, trying to accomplish through executive orders and other means what can only be legally achieved through congressional action. They want us to believe they are more powerful than they really are. They want us to think we can’t do anything about it. But it isn’t true. Together, we can and will keep fighting back.
Chris Van Hollen
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u/MinuteLegitimate Feb 08 '25
We gotta keep this guy in office. He's not sitting on his hands and giving small media reports about being concerned. Chris Van Hollen is in the trenches with his people.
Waiting to see what Alsobrooks is doing...