Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) responded sharply to a statement made by Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), after Kennedy told people who had a problem with the Elon Musk-led purge of the federal workforce to “call somebody who cares.”
The MAGA lawmaker has no time, he says, for those citizens who are opposed to and complain about the cost-cutting and service-cancelling that the Musk, Twitter-style, plans to impose — with President Trump’s blessing — on the government.
Kennedy taunted “his friends who are upset” about Musk’s methods — more machete than scalpel — and about his goal of gutting foreign aid and other programs that many Americans, including Lee and her constituents, consider valuable — even essential.
In her response to Kennedy’s “tough luck” warning, Lee wrote: “He said to ‘call someone who cares?’ Well, I do. And so do the folks flooding our office with calls. Because gutting USAID puts lives in danger, and coming for the Department of Education next—that’s a direct attack on our kids.”
He said to “call someone who cares?” Well, I do. And so do the folks flooding our office with calls. Because gutting USAID puts lives in danger, and coming for the Department of Education next—that’s a direct attack on our kids. https://t.co/3WGigBEoNw
— Rep. Summer Lee (@RepSummerLee) February 4, 2025
Lee’s assertion that the Trump Musk maneuvers represent a “direct attack on our kids” addresses Kennedy’s prediction, as he further warned “with respect” that the public had “better get used to this.”
The Senator added “It’s USAID today. It’s gonna be the Department of Education tomorrow.” (When Kennedy says “tomorrow” he may not be speaking figuratively; there are reports that Trump has already prepared an executive order to dismantle the Education Department.)
Lee and Kennedy are battling over a great divide, as Trump’s second term in office began with a flurry of executive orders aimed at utterly redefining how the U.S. government functions — altering everything from military protocol to America’s foreign engagements and alliances to traditional power of Congress to control the nation’s purse strings.
(To achieve the latter, Trump attempted to freeze billions in spending that had already been appropriated by the legislative branch, a move that was stalled by a judge at least temporarily.)
Trump’s approach to cutting federal spending and the federal workforce is ostensibly based on two main goals: 1) a re-prioritizing of spending based on an “America First” agenda, purportedly making efficiency gains in the process and 2) to rid the government of perceived enemies, including nonpolitical civil servants that Trump and his DOGE partner Musk deride as “deep state” operatives.
Musk said over the weekend that USAID, one of his top targets, is “run by a bunch of radical lunatics, and we’re getting them out.” He has also been granted access to the U.S. Treasury’s payment system.
That access was framed by Lee as another power grab by the unelected billionaire that the Congresswoman says her constituents are “rightfully outraged” about.
“PA-12 residents are rightfully outraged. Giving Elon Musk access to the Treasury’s payment system threatens Social Security, Medicare & the financial stability of Americans,” she wrote. “Our gov’t should serve the people—not an unelected billionaire using it as his own personal playground.”
PA-12 residents are rightfully outraged. Giving Elon Musk access to the Treasury’s payment system threatens Social Security, Medicare & the financial stability of Americans.
Our gov’t should serve the people—not an unelected billionaire using it as his own personal playground.
— Rep. Summer Lee (@RepSummerLee) February 3, 2025
A MAGA commenter on Lee’s post responded in favor of an assault on the status quo, asserting Musk’s purge is justified if one believes, as she does, that Congress has done an irresponsible job allocating funds. “So do you think the way you all have abused our tax money is serving the people?” the commenter asks, adding “The pork that is unlawfully added to bills all the time to benefit lobbyists and airfield interest groups is ok?”
Not everybody agrees with Musk and Trump that USAID — or American foreign aid in general — is part of a radical lunatic fringe that provides little value. The not very radical or left-leaning bishops who run the global aid concern called Catholic Relief Services reacted to Trump’s initial order to freeze spending by instructing their constituents to tell lawmakers they are “deeply concerned about the administration’s recent decision to stop work on almost all U.S. foreign assistance programs.”
The bishops said such a blocking of American foreign aid “will be detrimental to millions of our sisters and brothers who need access to lifesaving humanitarian, health, and development assistance.”
[NOTE: And that plea by the Catholic bishops to object to Musk’s machinations came before the DOGE chief said that he and Trump planned to shut down USAID, which last year distributed $476 million to Catholic Relief Services.]