At today's House DOGE Committee hearing, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) confronted witness Daniel Turner about a past tweet.
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00:00from California. Thank you Madam Chair. We're obviously here for another hearing
00:04which is literally nothing to do with government efficiency. This committee of
00:09course has talked about fencing, we've gone after foreign aid, and now we're
00:13going after community nonprofits which actually help and support people. And our
00:18committee is doing all of this without ever once getting testimony from Elon
00:21Musk, the head of Doge, of which of course this committee is now named from,
00:25and of course is now apparently leaving the White House as well. Now every
00:29Democrat on this subcommittee voted to subpoena Elon Musk to come here and
00:33testify and be accountable to Congress, but that was blocked by our Republican
00:37colleagues which of course in of itself is irresponsible and outrageous. And you
00:43would think that Republicans on this committee would want Elon Musk to
00:46testify just as much as we do. Now all our Republican colleagues might also want
00:52to ask Elon Musk about this message which he actually just posted yesterday. Now
00:58I'm gonna read this message Elon Musk posted. It says, I'm sorry but I just can't
01:03stand it anymore. This massive outrageous pork filled congressional spending bill is a
01:08disgusting abomination. And I'll emphasize shame on those who voted for it. You know you
01:15did wrong, you know it. Now this was actually just yesterday he actually posted this. It's pretty rough if
01:23you ask me and on top of that I would have printed it out, but just 20 minutes ago he posted another
01:29message that says, call your senator, call your congressman. Bankrupting America is not okay. Kill the bill.
01:37And of course we know the only people who voted for this bill are actually House
01:42Republicans, including every Republican in this room. All these Republicans here on
01:48this committee, they all voted for this bill that now Elon Musk is saying should
01:53be killed and is saying is awful. I actually agree with Elon Musk on this. It takes
01:57health care away from 13 million Americans. It cuts food for veterans and
02:01seniors all to finance of course huge tax breaks for the wealthy. Now it's also
02:07interesting because the Chairwoman Green I understand now regrets voting for this
02:12bill as she mentioned yesterday. Is that correct Chairwoman Green? Are you
02:19yielding me time? No, I'm just asking if you are you, I think you say now you regret
02:23voting for the bill. Is that correct? The bill actually destroys what you guys
02:27voted for for the past four years and I'm proud that to have voted for that
02:31bill to fund border security to deport all these illegals you guys let in the
02:37country. Actually Chairman, yesterday you actually said that you regret actually
02:40voting for the bill. You posted after Elon's tweet that you didn't know certain
02:44provisions were in it and that you would have voted no if you had known and so
02:47obviously you didn't do a thorough review of the bill and I'm not surprised of
02:51course that Republicans in this Congress are now going back and forth on the
02:55bill. They voted for the bill, now they want to oppose it. We don't know what to
02:59actually believe and for instance this is the same thing that's happening with
03:02other big programs like Social Security which we know Elon Musk and Doge have
03:06actually talked and attacked constantly over and over again. We know how badly
03:10already customer service has been hurt, people are waiting in long lines at
03:13Social Security offices all because of these Doge efforts. Now again Chairwoman
03:18Green invited to testify today one of our witnesses and I think it's important to
03:22note this. Mr. Turner, you're one of our witnesses today an expert on economics and
03:27a bunch of other things. Mr. Turner, you were invited to testify as an expert on
03:31government spending. This is your post, is this correct? Did you post this sir?
03:35Yes sir. Okay you called Social Security Ponzi scheme. 100 percent. Which we know
03:40Elon Musk has also done. I'm glad you admitted it. Social Security is a
03:44government-sponsored Ponzi scheme as you said. What about the second part though
03:50sir? I should be able to keep a hundred percent of my money and not watch
03:55government waste it giving nine billion dollars. Mr. Thank you sir, this is my time sir.
03:57Thank you sir, my time. Mr. Giving nine billion dollars to climate groups. Mr. Sir,
04:00reclining my time Madam Chairwoman. Thank you. Thank you sir. A Ponzi scheme and so I think it's
04:04interesting of course as one of our Republican witnesses is calling Social Security a
04:08Ponzi scheme and that's a person that we should be taking advice from here today. Without
04:13Social Security 22 million people would be pushed into poverty. That includes
04:18over 16 million seniors and nearly 1 million children and in fact Elon Musk has
04:22also said and agreed with you sir that this is a Ponzi scheme. I think it's
04:26ironic that you are one of our witnesses talking about efficiency when you but you
04:31want to attack the single best program that we have to support people not just
04:36out of poverty but across this country to uplift them to ensure they can afford a
04:39decent life. We and this committee need to work every single day not just
04:43protect Social Security but to hold Republicans accountable for attacking
04:47Medicare, Medicaid, for attacking Social Security and the programs that we all
04:51depend on. With that I yield back. Thank you.
04:54The gentleman yields I now recognize Mr. Timmons from
04:57James.