The Blubber

Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) introduced the Eliminate Looting of Our Nation by Mitigating Unethical State Kleptocracy (ELON MUSK) Act on Wednesday, a bill aimed at banning special government employees from securing federal contracts.

“Elon Musk gets over $20 billion in contracts from the U.S. government and bought himself a new role in the government, where he can funnel even more money to himself. Enough,” Pocan wrote on X, the social media platform owned by Musk.

“My new bill, the ELON MUSK Act, will end this grift!”

The proposal comes as Democrats push back on Musk’s increasing influence in the federal government, particularly his access to sensitive citizen data through his role in overseeing the Treasury Department’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). DOGE was established to cut wasteful spending but has drawn criticism for Musk’s involvement.

Pocan has been especially vocal about Musk’s federal contracts through companies like SpaceX and Starlink, which he says have received substantial but undisclosed sums of government funding.

“@ElonMusk is ripping us off, and like millions of Americans, I’m pissed,” Pocan wrote in another post on X.
“I’m taking action by introducing the ELON MUSK Act to stop grifters like him from getting richer while looting our tax dollars.”

Other prominent Democrats in the Senate are also expressing concern about the new administration’s reforms under Musk’s leadership.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, sent a letter Tuesday urging the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s decision to grant Musk and other DOGE officials access to sensitive government payment systems.

“It remains unclear why these individuals were granted such extensive access, what they can do with this information, and what safeguards are in place to ensure compliance with the Privacy Act, 26 U.S.C. 6103, and other statutes protecting the sensitive personal data of millions of Americans,” Warren and Wyden wrote, raising additional concerns about Musk’s ties to China.