Senate Budget Committee Chairman Susan Collins (R Maine) has given billionaire businessman Elon Musk the power “a lot more than I think is appropriate”; It said it reflects Capitol Hill's growing unrest over masks' aggressive approach to cutting government funding.
Collins has seriously questioned the wisdom of empowering Musk to cut down programs approved and funded by Congress.
“It's undoubtedly apparent that the president has empowered Elon Musk to go far beyond what I think is appropriate,” she told reporters.
Collins is the author of the Best Energy Storage Technology (Best) Act, written to support energy storage research and development. It could be repaid to pay the tax package, and Collins said he was particularly concerned when asked.
“So I'm worried if the Trump administration is taking back the money specifically allocated for a specific purpose,” she said when asked about the best practices.
Collins noted that former President Biden pushed the boundaries of enforcement and redirected the funds allocated by Congress.
“Now I'm stressing that this president is not the first to do that. Remember, President Biden has diverted funds that should have been used to build a wall on the tropical border. Instead, we used it for environmental reviews,” she said.
Collins said Musk and his team did not provide prior notice to Congress about plans to freeze activities at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
“The law requires a 15-day notice of reorganization. We obviously didn't get it. We received the letter yesterday,” she told the Oka on Wednesday.
Collins said the law “supposes a detailed explanation of the reorganization, the renaming of the department, the changes to the centre and not receiving it again.”
She said she would talk to fellow appropriations committee members “about our next steps.”
Collins said whether Musk has the authority to close USAID is “a very legitimate question.”
