Mother Jones illustration; Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto/AP
Republicans scrambled on Wednesday to thwart a Democratic effort to subpoena Elon Musk, literally rushing into a hearing to prevent the world’s richest man from providing answers about his dismantling of the federal bureaucracy.
After House Oversight Committee chair Rep. James Comer lauded the work of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and its frontman, calling Musk “one of the most successful entrepreneurs ever,” Democrats tried to subpoena Musk to explain his government overhaul for himself. Due to Republican committee member absences, the Democrats nearly pulled it off.
“Republicans ran to the hearing room to protect Mr. Musk to stop him from having to testify before the American people on his outrageous efforts to eviscerate government programs.”
“Who is this unelected billionaire that he 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?” ranking member Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) asked. “Therefore Mr. Chairman, given his prominence and his importance, I move that the committee subpoena Elon Musk as a witness at the earliest possible moment.”
Republicans control the House chamber and, therefore, its committees. House Oversight Committee chair Comer sought to use this power to table the motion.
“Out of order. Out of order. Out of Order,” Comer shouted.
Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) responded passionately: “Yes, let’s have order in this country… Elon Musk is out of order.”
Democrats requested a recorded vote on the motion to table the Musk subpoena. At the time, there were several more Democratic committee members present than there were Republicans.
The vote began several minutes after it was requested. The video feed of the hearing shows Republican committee members rushing to enter the hearing room. At least 7 Republicans voted after the initial round of voting had ended. Oversight committee Republicans were ultimately successful in tabling the motion for Musk to be subpoenaed, 20-19. Had the motion to table failed, Democrats would have been able to debate the subpoena and then call for a vote on it.
“Ranking Member Connolly moved to subpoena the unelected billionaire currently rifling through Americans’ private data while attacking our government agency by agency,” a Democratic committee spokesperson said in a statement to Mother Jones. “Republicans ran to the hearing room to protect Mr. Musk to stop him from having to testify before the American people on his outrageous efforts to eviscerate government programs and services and chase out federal workers.”
