Tag: outlines

  • Elon Musk outlines ‘super obvious’ changes DOGE and Treasury have agreed to make

    Elon Musk outlines ‘super obvious’ changes DOGE and Treasury have agreed to make

    Billionaire Elon Musk outlined a list of “super obvious” changes that his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) plans to make at the U.S. Treasury Department this weekend.

    Musk says officials at the treasury are working to make the government’s books more simple to audit, as well as more accountability for where funds are going. The changes also require treasury employees to more frequently update the congressional “do not pay” list, which highlights fraudsters and illegal fronts.

    “Nobody in Treasury management cared enough before. I do want to credit the working level people in Treasury who have wanted to do this for many years, but have been stopped by prior management,” Musk said.

    “Everything at Treasury was geared towards complain[t] minimization. People [who] receive money don’t complain, but people who don’t receive money (especially fraudsters) complain very loudly, so the fraud was allowed to continue,” he added.

    USAID HAS ‘DEMONSTRATED PATTERN OF OBSTRUCTIONISM,’ CLAIMS TOP DOGE REPUBLICAN IN LETTER TO RUBIO

    “The above super obvious and necessary changes are being implemented by existing, long-time career government employees, not anyone from DOGE,” Musk added.

    “It is ridiculous that these changes didn’t exist already! Yesterday, I was told that there are currently over $100B/year of entitlements payments to individuals with no SSN or even a temporary ID number,” he continued. “If accurate, this is extremely suspicious. When I asked if anyone at Treasury had a rough guess for what percentage of that number is unequivocal and obvious fraud, the consensus in the room was about half, so $50B/year or $1B/week!! This is utterly insane and must be addressed immediately.”

    ELON MUSK’S DOGE MAKES ANOTHER HIRING PUSH

    Billionaire Elon Musk’s DOGE is targeting the Treasury Department. (Kenny Holston-Pool/Getty Images)

    Musk’s tirade toward the treasury department comes just after a federal judge blocked DOGE’s ability to access treasury department systems. The Tesla CEO condemned the ruling as “insane” this weekend.

    ‘VIPER’S NEST’: USAID ACCUSED OF CORRUPTION, MISMANAGEMENT LONG BEFORE TRUMP ADMIN TOOK AIM

    The Friday lawsuit, which was filed by 19 Democratic attorneys general, claimed Musk’s team violated the law by being given “full access” to the Treasury’s payment systems. The systems include information about Americans’ Social Security, Medicare and veterans’ benefits, tax refund information and more.

    The lawsuit was filed in New York by the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James, who wrote that President Donald Trump “does not have the power to give away Americans’ private information to anyone he chooses, and he cannot cut federal payments approved by Congress.”

    US-POLITICS-TRUMP-DEPARTURE

    A federal judge intervened to block DOGE from accessing treasury department systems. (ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)

    U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has expressed support for Musk and DOGE in the past, recently saying that the U.S. “doesn’t have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem.”

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    “At the Treasury, our payment system is not being touched,” Bessent said in a “Kudlow” interview on Wednesday. “We process 1.3 billion payments a year. There is a study being done — can we have more accountability, more accuracy, more traceability that the money is going where it is?”

  • Energy Sec. Wright outlines Day 1 priorities: Refilling SPR, promoting ‘energy addition, not subtraction’

    Energy Sec. Wright outlines Day 1 priorities: Refilling SPR, promoting ‘energy addition, not subtraction’

    Energy Secretary Chris Wright has outlined eight “Day 1 Priorities” he aims to accomplish, several of which he laid out in his inaugural address at the Energy Department headquarters Wednesday. 

    Wright, the CEO of Colorado oilfield services company Liberty Energy, said he will prioritize refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), modernizing the U.S. nuclear stockpile, streamlining federal permitting for energy development, and abiding by the mantra: “Advance energy addition, not subtraction.”

    In his remarks at the department’s building near Pierre L’Enfant Plaza in Washington, D.C., Wright spoke about his childhood love of science and how that focus led him to pursue work in the field.

    Wright said he met President Donald Trump about a year ago, and the two businessmen connected over their support for unleashing American energy prowess and highlighting how U.S. energy dominance positively affects many other aspects of life.

    CHRIS WRIGHT CONFIRMED SECRETARY OF ENERGY

    President Donald Trump and Energy Secretary Chris Wright (AP/Getty)

    Wright said Trump had a “simple vision” that “energy is good and that we need more” of it, particularly domestically-sourced.

    “So we just connected. And he asked me, ‘Would you be secretary of energy?’ And I said, ‘Boy, if I’m asked to serve my country, I don’t have to think about that one.’”

    He called the Energy Department the gem of the American government and said he has long been entranced by contemporary advancements in the field, from German chemist Otto Hahn splitting the atom in 1938 to Adm. Hyman Rickover creating the first nuclear-powered machines in submarines.

    “I want to better energize our country, strengthen our country, advance science… and get the politics out of all of this.”

    “Energy is not political: it is the basic infrastructure that allows us to live great lives, to allow whatever our dream is, whatever our vision is,” he said.

    TOP SENATE REPUBLICAN HITS BACK AS DEM CALLS FOUL ON TRUMP CONFIRMATION HEARINGS

    Wright added that there is no such thing as clean or dirty energy, and that in reality, there is “no free lunch” when it comes to the byproducts of the production process: “It’s about tradeoffs.”

    Other “day one” priorities Wright has outlined include a return to “regular order” on liquefied natural gas exports.

    Wright has been a longtime advocate of hydraulic fracturing – famously going as far as drinking fracking fluid to prove environmentalist critics wrong about its effect on nature.

    Pennsylvania and North Dakota are epicenters of fracking, while New York retains the subterranean resources to do so but is under a statewide ban.

    Wright has also pledged to strengthen the power grid’s reliability and security.

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    There have been blackouts occasionally in recent years from overtaxed grid areas, notably in California around 2001. 

    There have also been security threats to energy transmission, including from a Catonsville, Maryland, woman who conspired to destroy the region’s power grid.

    Then-FBI Director Christopher Wray said Sarah Beth Clendaniel “plotted to disable the power grid around the entire Baltimore region” in 2018, after becoming acquainted with a Florida man who espoused White supremacist “accelerationist” ideologies.

    Under Wright’s tenure, the Energy Department also plans to promote home appliance affordability and choice – a break from the Biden administration’s efforts to restrict usage of gas stoves.

    Former President Joe Biden also spent part of the nation’s SPR in what critics called a bid to assuage energy price spikes for political purposes. Wright said he would promote the refilling of the SPR, as well as modernize the U.S. nuclear stockpile, Fox News has learned.

  • Trump outlines tax cuts, tells World Economic Forum ‘make your product in America’

    Trump outlines tax cuts, tells World Economic Forum ‘make your product in America’

    President Donald Trump on Thursday delivered remarks virtually to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in which he discussed how his tax plans will look to incentivize companies to make products in America or face tariffs.

    “To further unleash our economy, our majorities in the House and Senate, which we also took along with the presidency, are going to pass the largest tax cut in American history, including massive tax cuts for workers and families and big tax cuts for domestic producers and manufacturers,” Trump said. 

    Portions of the original Trump tax cuts – including the lower tax rates for individuals as well as the expanded standard deduction and child tax credit – are due to expire at the end of 2025 if they’re not extended. Trump said, “We’re working with the Democrats on getting an extension of the original Trump tax cuts, as you probably know by just reading any paper.”

    “My message to every business in the world is very simple: come make your product in America and we will give you among the lowest taxes of any nation on earth. We’re bringing them down very substantially, even from the original Trump tax cuts,” the president said.

    TRUMP DRAWS BIG INVESTMENTS IN U.S.A. SINCE ELECTION WIN

    President Donald Trump outlined his tax plans in a speech to the World Economic Forum and urged companies to make products in America to avoid tariffs. (Scott Olson/Getty Images / Getty Images)

    “But if you don’t make your product in America, which is your prerogative, then very simply you will have to pay a tariff,” he said. “Differing amounts, but a tariff, which will direct hundreds of billions of dollars and even trillions of dollars into our treasury to strengthen our economy and pay down debt.”

    Trump campaigned on an across-the-board tariff on all imports in the 10% to 20% range, along with a 60% levy on goods from China. 

    Since taking office, he indicated he’s planning to start with a 10% tariff on China, plus 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico that could begin as early as Feb. 1.

    JAMIE DIMON SAYS TARIFFS CAN BE POSITIVE FOR NATIONAL SECURITY, EVEN IF INFLATIONARY: ‘GET OVER IT’

    Trump speaks with SoftBank CEO

    U.S. President-elect Donald Trump delivers remarks next to Chairman and CEO of SoftBank Masayoshi Son, at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., on Monday, Dec. 16. (Reuters/Brian Snyder / Reuters)

    “Under the Trump administration, there will be no better place on earth to create jobs, build factories, or grow a company than right here in the good old USA,” the president told the Davos audience.

    Trump went on to cite several recent investment announcements as signs of growing business optimism about the U.S. economy, including several investment deals he helped facilitate.

    SAUDI PRINCE EYES $600B INVESTMENT IN US OVER NEXT 4 YEARS: REPORT

    President Donald Trump and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

    Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman shakes hands with U.S. President Donald Trump, at the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019. (Bandar Algaloud/Courtesy of Saudi Royal Court/Handout via REUTERS/File photo / Reuters Photos)

    “SoftBank has announced between a $100 and $200 billion investment in the U.S. economy because of the election result, and just two days ago, Oracle, SoftBank and OpenAI announced a $500 billion investment in AI infrastructure,” he said.

    “Other companies likewise have announced billions and billions and billions adding up to trillions of investment in America,” Trump continued. Among those other deals is a $20 billion investment by UAE-based firm DAMAC, which is planning to build data centers in the Sun Belt and Midwest.

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    “And it’s also reported today in the papers that Saudi Arabia will be investing at least $600 billion in America, but I’ll be asking the crown prince – who’s a fantastic guy – to round it out to around $1 trillion,” the president said. “I think they’ll do that because we’ve been very good to them.”