Josh Riley Joins Effort To Block Elon Musk From Seizing Power
Last week, I wrote about Congressman Josh Riley’s first co-sponsorships of legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives. Riley added his name to three bills that were as mild as milk. These co-sponsorships were not very consequential, making minor adjustments to existing federal programs in order to promote the dairy industry, but they were a sign that Congressman Josh Riley was attempting to recover from the stumbles and lethargy of his early days in office.
On Friday, this shift from Josh Riley continued, and strengthened. Representative Riley took concrete action by cosponsoring two bills that aim to defend democracy against attempts by Elon Musk and Donald Trump to destroy the United States from within.
Over the last week and a half, Elon Musk has been taking a private team of hackers into US federal government offices and plugging hard drives into government computer networks in order to access private information about individual Americans and identify targets for anti-government attacks. Musk’s hackers have threatened government officials with detention by the US Marshals, and refused to allow legally-appointed government leaders, including members of Congress, entry to government buildings, preventing oversight of Musk’s activities. Donald Trump announced over the weekend that he expects Elon Musk’s hackers to invade yet more parts of the federal government in the days to come.
In coordination with these hacks against the US government, Elon Musk has declared that it is “time to die” for significant portions of the American government. Musk has coordinated the shutdown of numerous government programs, and instituted blockades of immense amounts of ordinary, non-controversial spending. Offices across the US government have gone dark, as communication with the American people is shut down and everyday government cooperation with communities across the USA is disabled.
Elon Musk was never elected to public office, and he was never confirmed by the US Senate, as all top Executive Branch officials must be. In spite of this, Musk has quickly seized power within the US federal government that exceeds that of any Cabinet Secretary, or even the Vice President. Musk has even exercised power that is not available to the President of the United States, leading many to worry that Elon Musk may be on the path to overpowering Donald Trump himself.
These activities are clearly illegal, because they violate legislation passed by Congress that establishes and funds government agencies. In a few cases, federal courts have ordered Musk to temporarily stop his takeover of parts of the federal government. In response, Elon Musk and Vice President JD Vance have declared that the Judicial Branch of the American government has no authority to stop them from doing whatever they want, even if their actions are against the law.
In response to Elon Musk’s seizure of power, Congressman Josh Riley has co-sponsored two bills:
H.R. 1101 prohibits outside actors without security clearances, such as Elon Musk and his team of hackers, from accessing the payment system in the Department of the Treasury
H.R. 1099 ensures that the Freedom of Information Act is applied to ad hoc operations within the US federal government such as Elon Musk’s team of hackers, so that these teams cannot continue to operate with public knowledge and congressional oversight
Together, these two bills attempt to re-assert the power of the United States Congress to check and balance the Executive Branch of the federal government, and ensure that Elon Musk’s teams of corporate raiders are held accountable to the law. This legislation may not be enough to stop Elon Musk from taking control of the federal government, but they are important steps in any attempt to re-establish the democratic rule of law.
Of the two bills, H.R. 1101 seems to be the stronger, with the endorsement of House Democratic Party leader Hakeem Jeffries and co-sponsorship by 172 members of the House of Representatives as of this morning. H.R. 1099, on the other hand, has only 18 co-sponsors as of this morning.
If these bills are supported by every Democrat in the US House, and gain the votes of just three Republicans, they can achieve passage. It’s now part of Josh Riley’s job to convince his Republican colleagues from Upstate New York to do the right thing and take a stand against the destruction of American democracy by Elon Musk.
The struggle for power in Washington DC is evolving rapidly, and much more work remains to be done. Josh Riley’s co-sponsorship of these bills is an important step in the right direction, however, in demonstrating a commitment to protecting New York’s 19th congressional district from the metastasizing fascism in our country’s government.
