Demanding Transparency

A few quick thoughts before I get into the heart of my post today. I have had quite a few people express skepticism that Congress will act. I frequently share that skepticism, but right now it is ultimately Congress that has the authority to act and as such, I feel that reaching out to my representation as frequently as possible to ask what they will do and provide my opinions for what they should do is critical to any hope that they ultimately choose to use their powers to check the President; they have been exceptionally slow to respond. In addition to Congress, the courts also have the ability to check the President through rulings on the law. As I said in a recent post, 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲.

Again, I am listing the Des Moines office numbers for my representation; please reach out to them however you see fit if you would like to add your voice.

𝐂𝐡𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐲 – (𝟓𝟏𝟓) 𝟐𝟖𝟖-𝟏𝟏𝟒𝟓

𝐉𝐨𝐧𝐢 𝐄𝐫𝐧𝐬𝐭 – (𝟓𝟏𝟓) 𝟐𝟖𝟒-𝟒𝟓𝟕𝟒

𝐙𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐍𝐮𝐧𝐧 – (𝟓𝟏𝟓) 𝟒𝟎𝟎-𝟖𝟏𝟖𝟎

Today, I would like to talk about transparency. A little over a week ago, Elon Musk joined the President in the Oval Office, essentially taking over an interview, and declared, “I don’t know of a case where an organization has been more transparent than the DOGE organization.” While I will talk here about transparency within DOGE, let’s look at the lack of transparency in the Executive as a whole.

The past month has been an absolute whirlwind. So far, this President has had an average of approximately two and a half Executive Orders every single day. In addition to these Executive Orders, there has been a constant barrage of statements about Ukraine, Gaza, NATO, Europe, Canada, Greenland, Panama, and the list goes on. It is almost literally impossible for any news organization to even keep up, let alone someone who is trying to care for a family or work a normal week. This entire strategy is designed to allow things to fall through the cracks, make it hard to notice what is going on, make the opposition discouraged, and simply make everything as confusing and chaotic as possible. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐠𝐮𝐧 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲.

With Executive Orders swirling overhead constantly, the specific departments and policies are also opaque. I have no concern with wanting a secure border. I can understand wanting to carry out some deportations and make sure our country is safe, though I would strongly prefer improving existing systems to work with employers. Instead we have chosen to send migrants to Guantanamo Bay and potentially open further detention facilities in the United States, even floating the idea of imprisoning some of them in Guatemala! If we are looking to deport people, why do we need a facility to house 30,000 people? If you want to deport them, then send them home immediately. Furthermore, the administration isn’t telling us who was sent there, they are being denied access to immigration lawyers, and we have no clue what the conditions are there. 𝐎𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧, 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬.

Elon Musk is running DOGE. President Trump has stated this week that Musk is not the one making the final decisions then following it up by saying he is. Regardless, it is evident that Elon Musk has significant sway over the President right now – it isn’t often that someone who wasn’t nominated or appointed is allowed to have a joint press conference with the President in the Oval Office. In the name of transparency, we would expect someone with significant financial stakes throughout the world to disclose such information. However, the President has said Elon Musk’s financial disclosures would be submitted to the White House but would not be released to the general public. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐛𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐄𝐥𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐤.

The Executive Branch has been slashing through the government for the past month claiming it all waste, fraud, and abuse. Given the size of our government, I am absolutely sure there is some spending that should be cut. This administration has shared various reports of what they claim to be fraud or abuse in spending. Almost all of that has been either simply wrong or grossly misstated. They even went so far as to slash inspectors general who are designated to find abuse and fraud in government and cut a number of workers who are critical to maintain the nuclear stockpile of the United States. 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞, 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐠𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭.

I have seen very little pushback from Zach Nunn or Joni Ernst. I have seen some disagreements with the President from Chuck Grassley, but they have been pretty minor overall. It is the job, the Constitutional Authority, and Patriotic Duty of Congress to check the President. It is Congress who has the power to investigate the Executive Branch. It is up to Chuck Grassley, Joni Ernst, and Zach Nunn to stand up for our country and demand answers from the President. 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐱𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 Branch.