'Nothing less than stealing': Lawmaker hammers Trump's 'unchecked billionaire buddy' Musk

Tom Boggioni

Feb. 12, 2025, noon

Coming hours after billionaire Elon Musk held court before reporters in the Oval Office as Donald Trump sat passively by, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) took to the pages on the New York Times to draw a line in the sand from her position as the ranking member on the House Appropriations Committee.

With Trump giving free rein to what DeLauro called his "unchecked billionaire buddy" and his team of DOGE operatives, the Democratic lawmaker pointed out in no way should Congress cede its authority to decide how and where to fund government operations and called the impoundment of funds currently underway "nothing less than stealing."

"What all these tactics to get around Congress have in common is simple: They are undemocratic," she wrote for the Times.

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"When he cannot achieve unilateral spending cuts by intimidating congressional Republicans with his billionaire allies, Mr. Trump also wants to use a process known as impoundment to steal funds intended to help American families and businesses," she continued. "Let me be clear that nowhere does the Constitution give the president unilateral power to impound funds appropriated by Congress. Not only would such a power be a direct challenge to the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, but would run contrary to rulings from the Supreme Court, the Department of Justice and the Government Accountability Office."

Writing that Musk is engaging in a "self-serving crusade as a blue-ribbon commission, but it has no legal authority and aims to substitute the will of a rich few for the will of the people," she added, "Amid the chaos of a Trump presidency, the Constitution must be our bedrock," and called on her colleagues to remember they control the "power of the purse" and that "the courts must uphold the plain text of our founding document."

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