Colorado’s congressional Democrats criticized Elon Musk’s efforts to gut the U.S. government’s foreign aid agency and access sensitive federal data in recent days, calling the efforts by the “unelected billionaire” unlawful and pledging to take action to curb it.
“These actions are dangerous, reckless and unlawful,” U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse of Lafayette said in a statement, “and I believe we must utilize every legislative tool available to investigate, prevent and oppose these efforts.”
But U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Republican and longtime supporter of President Donald Trump, praised Musk’s work to hobble the United States Agency for International Development. Created by President John F. Kennedy and later reaffirmed as an agency and funded by Congress, it has now been placed under the authority of the U.S. State Department.
The agency, colloquially known as USAID, has been targeted by Musk and a small group of allies from Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which Trump created via an executive order to cut government spending.
USAID, which accounts for less than 1% of the federal budget, provides aid overseas to fund education and fight starvation and disease. Staff members — as well as federal lawmakers — have been barred from entering the agency’s building, programs have been shut down and thousands more employees have been laid off.
Trump has accused the agency of fraud, without providing any evidence.
“President Trump campaigned on aggressively cutting wasteful government spending that doesn’t benefit Americans, and we’re seeing that play out now with President Trump directing Elon Musk and the DOGE initiative to investigate federal spending in a safe, legal manner that also respects the privacy of Americans,” Boebert, who represents the Eastern Plains and Douglas County, said in statement to The Denver Post.
“I’ve worked for years to convince members of Congress to take a closer look at where our taxpayer dollars are going, as well as whether we truly need the gargantuan federal workforce we currently have,” she said, “so I’m glad we are finally seeing some progress when it comes to finding out how our money is being spent.”
Democrats, who are in the minority in both chambers of Congress, have been less enthusiastic about Musk’s seemingly unchecked gutting of a federal agency.
U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, who represents Aurora and several southern Denver suburbs in Congress, told reporters at a local event Monday that Trump didn’t have the authority to shutter USAID.
“(Congress) created it, we mandated it,” he said. “We have funded it. So a president has the authority to change policies within congressionally created agencies, but the president does not have the authority to destroy or dismantle agencies that have been created by Congress. That would be a violation of the law and usurping congressional power. So that goes into the category of things that we’re going to be pushing very hard on when I go to Washington.”
Neguse, who represents northern Colorado and is the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House, echoed Crow. In a statement, he said that Trump “does not have the authority to eliminate statutorily authorized agencies, impound funds lawfully appropriated by the Congress, or to give unfettered access to core government financial payment and personnel systems to his billionaire campaign donors.” He was referring to the access that Musk and his staff have gained to sensitive U.S. Treasury information.
U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, who represents Denver, told its City Council during a meeting Monday morning that Musk’s efforts regarding USAID and the U.S. Treasury Department — where the billionaire has reportedly gained access to Social Security and Medicare customer information — should “be blocked by legal action.”
“I can’t sugarcoat how bad the situation really is,” DeGette told Denver councilmembers. Later, in a statement issued by her office, she said Trump was “letting Elon Musk run rampant.”
U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen, who represents central Colorado’s 7th Congressional District, wrote on X that Musk was acting as “an unelected billionaire.”
“This is an unprecedented abuse of power by a dangerous, unelected and unhinged person,” she said in a follow-up statement sent by her office. “Nobody voted for Elon Musk, and neither he nor anyone he deputizes have any business anywhere near sensitive personal information about Americans or federal workers.”
Pettersen noted that the U.S. Constitution “gives spending authority to the people’s representatives in the U.S. House.” She added: “I’ll do everything I can in Congress to fight back against this illegal, unprecedented, and reckless abuse of power he has neither earned nor been authorized to have.”
Musk’s team, whose involvement similarly has not received congressional approval, has sought to access secure areas and information within federal agencies, prompting a senior Treasury Department official to resign in recent days, according to the Washington Post.
Crow said Musk and his staff’s efforts pose “very real national security concerns.”
U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat, wrote on X that the reported “meddling in important Treasury payment systems is incredibly dangerous and risks severe damage to our country and economy.” He said he would seek answers “alongside my colleagues on the Senate Finance Committee.”
A spokesman for U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd, a freshman Republican who represents the Western Slope and Pueblo, said Trump “is within his constitutional prerogative to ask an individual or individuals to assist in recommending policy and personnel changes to the government.”
The office’s statement added: “Congressman Hurd is looking forward to engaging with the President and his team to cut through the government’s red tape and unleash American innovation.”
The office of U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, did not respond to a request for comment. Nor did the offices of Republican freshmen U.S. Reps. Jeff Crank of Colorado Springs and Gabe Evans of Fort Lupton.
Staff writers Elliott Wenzler and John Aguilar contributed to this story.
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