Washington, D.C. (February 11, 2025)—Today, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust, led Subcommittee Democrats in calling out Republicans for holding a hearing on the “administrative state” as Elon Musk takes a wrecking ball to the federal government’s ability to deliver for the American people.
The hearing included testimony from: Stephen I. Vladeck, Williams Sesquicentennial Professor of Federal Courts, Georgetown Law; Dr. Patrick McLaughlin, Director of Policy Analytics, Mercatus Center at George Mason University; Rick Smith, CEO, Axon Enterprise; and Magatte Wade, Entrepreneur, Director, Center for African Prosperity at Atlas Network.
Subcommittee Democrats made clear that Republicans are working to undermine the rule of law and interfere with a functioning federal government.
- Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler said: “The Republican majorities in the House and Senate stand aside and do nothing to stop the Trump Administration’s incursions on congressional authority. The courts have begun to step in and block some of these unlawful actions, but not content merely to undermine congressional authority in the face of these court decisions, senior administration officials have now tried to question the legitimacy of the courts themselves. For example, in response to a court order blocking Elon Musk from accessing sensitive Treasury Department data, Musk said that the judge who made the ruling ‘needs to be impeached now.’ Vice President JD Vance stated that, ‘Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.’ President Trump said, ‘No judge should frankly be allowed to make that kind of decision. It’s a disgrace.’ And now these vague threats to judicial independence have seemingly crossed the line into actual defiance of a court order.”
- Rep. Lou Correa said: “Back home, my neighbors in Orange County, they don’t really care about the details of regulation. All they want to know is, is our water safe to drink? Are cars safe to drive? Are medications safe to take? And are children safe at school? And of course, is the air they breathe, is it clean and safe? […] The Supreme Court, when it comes to regulations, have made things worse. And Members of Congress are willing to go along with the president, essentially giving up more of our express authority to the president. Are there cases of overregulation? Absolutely. But full-on deregulation is not the answer. It’ll probably create more havoc, uncertainty for businesses, and the peril to the health and safety of many Americans.”
Subcommittee Democrats explained how Donald Trump and Shadow-President Elon Musk have unleashed the largest data breach in our country’s history.
- Ranking Member Jamie Raskin asked Professor Vladeck: “We’re reading reports that Musk has fed Americans’ data, private data, into AI models, and he’s also making a bid for another company in artificial intelligence, just going ahead and doing his business while he’s purporting to do the business of the American people. What dangers are posed by the feeding of our data into an AI system, if that were to happen?” Professor Vladeck explained, “I think the most obvious dangers are the possibility that this data will become accessible not just to our government operations but to our enemies overseas and they’ll use that for malicious purposes.”
- Ranking Member Raskin said: “[Musk] and his mutant teenage racist computer hackers have taken possession of financial payment systems at the United States Department of Treasury, meaning data access to the private financial records of every American citizen. Every Member of Congress. Every federal prosecutor. Every regulator who’s supposed to be looking at what his business does. Every private lawyer and every federal judge who they’re now calling for the impeachment of, because they dare to speak up for the rule of law. What could go wrong with this situation?”
Subcommittee Democrats highlighted how House Republicans don’t care if the government doesn’t work for you so long as it keeps working for Trump’s billionaire buddies.
- Rep. Chuy García said: “What people want is for corporations to be held accountable, not for their Medicaid benefits to disappear, then used to fund tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy. What my constituents want is for their civil rights and liberties to be respected, not Elon Musk’s teenage fanboys prying into their personal information. What their actions prove is that DOGE isn’t about efficiency of the administrative state or for the American people. Instead, it’s about allowing corporations to abuse workers with fewer rules and ripping off consumers with more impunity than they already do.”
- Ranking Member Nadler said: “As we speak, Elon Musk and his band of near-teenaged accomplices are systematically working their way through the executive branch, knocking down agency after agency, while undermining the rule of law and shredding the Constitution along the way. […] While we witness these incursions on the rule of law and the Constitution, my Republican colleagues do nothing. […] Now, they aid and abet shadow-president Musk while he bulldozes his way through the administrative state untethered to any congressional statute or authorization.”
