The Goat Pen

hedge wrote: ↑Fri Jan 31, 2025 1:43 pm What could go wrong?

Senior U.S. official to exit after rift with Musk allies over payment system​

A top Treasury career staffer is expected to depart. Surrogates of Musk’s DOGE effort had sought access to sensitive payment systems.

The highest-ranking career official at the Treasury Department is departing after a clash with allies of billionaire Elon Musk over access to sensitive payment systems, according to three people with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private talks.

David A. Lebryk, who served in nonpolitical roles at Treasury for several decades, is expected to leave the agency soon, the people said. President Donald Trump named Lebryk as acting secretary upon taking office last week. Lebryk had a dispute with Musk’s surrogates over access to the payment system the U.S. government uses to disburse trillions of dollars every year, the people said. The exact nature of the disagreement was not immediately clear, they said.

Officials affiliated with Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” have been asking since after the election for access to the system, the people said — requests that were reiterated more recently, including after Trump’s inauguration.

Still, the possibility that government officials 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 and Biden administrations.

“This is a mechanical job — they pay Social Security benefits, they pay vendors, whatever. It’s not one where there’s a role for nonmechanical things, at least from the career standpoint. Your whole job is to pay the bills as they’re due,” Mazur said. “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.”

In the 2023 fiscal year, the payment systems processed nearly 1.3 billion payments, accounting for about $5.4 trillion, nearly 97 percent made electronically, according to the Treasury Department. Every payment was made on time.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business ... t-systems/

hedge wrote: ↑Fri Jan 31, 2025 2:06 pm "Utah sells food products to Hong Kong"

Cryptic. I never thought of Utah as an agricultural state. What kind of food are they producing and in such quantities that Hong Kong is their largest foreign importer across all goods and services? And why does little ol' Hong Kong have such a (ahem) yen for these food products while the rest of the world eschews them?

hedge wrote: ↑Fri Jan 31, 2025 2:03 pm "so a group dedicated to cutting government waste and spending wants to look at ::::checking notes:::: America's checkbook, and its a bad thing"

They don't need access to the mechanical means by which the government satisfies its statutory obligations, which has literally zero to do with government waste and spending. Those are legislative issues..

aTm wrote: ↑Fri Jan 31, 2025 1:16 pm What is Utah sending to Hong Kong?

aTm wrote: ↑Sat Feb 01, 2025 10:29 am It is really weird to see the progressives in the Senate seething trying to destroy progressives and liberals appointed by a Republican. Politicians dont believe in their bullshit policies they’re just on a team.

eCat wrote: ↑Sat Feb 01, 2025 9:24 am This is a mechanical job — they pay Social Security benefits, they pay vendors, whatever. It’s not one where there’s a role for nonmechanical things, at least from the career standpoint. Your whole job is to pay the bills as they’re due,” Mazur said. “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.”