Republicans on the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday voted to block Democrats’ attempt to subpoena SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk to testify before Congress amid growing scrutiny over his role as an unelected “special government employee” leading the U.S. DOGE Service and its impacts on federal agencies.
Minutes after the committee’s hearing on “Reducing Waste in Government” began, several Democrats sparred with Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-K.Y.) over calling Musk to testify. After a shouting match ensued, the committee voted 20–19 against a motion that would compel Musk to appear before the committee on his roles in the Trump administration.
After the motion failed, Comer chastised his colleagues on the left and said they could have called Musk as a minority witness instead of a college professor, triggering a response from committee ranking member Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.).
“From our point of view, given the prominence Mr. Musk has been given by President Trump in this administration, sweeping unprecedented powers ... he is not a minority witness,” Connolly said.
“He ought to be a full committee witness because of the prominence and the role he’s playing and subject to the oversight and scrutiny of this committee.”
Recently, Musk has sent staff to several federal agencies to investigate databases at the Treasury Department and the Office of Personnel Management. He also spearheaded a program offering buyouts for federal employees, who would receive eight months of pay and benefits if they left their jobs.
Musk’s growing influence on the federal government, which grants sizable contracts to his aerospace company SpaceX, is coming under fire from Republicans and Democrats as President Donald Trump enters his third week back in office.
Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), both members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, recently voiced concerns about Musk’s authority in the new administration.
Murkowski has questioned whether Trump’s authorization of Musk as a special government employee is enough to give the CEO power to override Congress’s funding directives.
Collins noted that Musk and other senior administration officials must give Congress advance notice before closing or reorganizing federal agencies.
In December 2024, Trump’s former adviser Steve Bannon said on his “War Room” podcast that Musk should “sit in the back and study” in his roles in the federal government, calling the CEO a “new covert.”
“Don’t come up and go to the pulpit in your first week here and start lecturing people about the way things are going to be,” Bannon said.
Conservative activist Laura Loomer accused Musk of demonetizing and unverifying portions of her accounts on the CEO’s social media platform X after debating with him over H-1B visas.
Other Republicans, including Comer, have defended Musk’s role and efforts to “downsize government,” saying “real innovation isn’t clean and tidy.”
However, Democrats are not convinced and are growing increasingly worried about Musk’s power as an unelected government employee.
Musk has a “puzzling role for many people, certainly on this side of the aisle, and I think for some on yours,” Connolly told the committee on Wednesday.
“Who is this unelected billionaire that can attempt to dismantle federal agencies, fire people, transfer them, offer them early retirement, and have sweeping changes to agencies without any congressional review, oversight, or concurrence?” he asked before calling for the subpoena.
