Rep. Jerry Nadler Slams Elon Musk Over False FEMA Funding Claims
A second person around Jerry Nadler said the congressman has refused to give a straight answer when the subject of retirement comes up. Getty Images
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) delivered a sharp rebuttal to Elon Musk on Monday, dismantling the billionaire’s latest claims of federal financial misconduct. Musk, who has positioned himself as a watchdog against government waste, alleged that his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) task force had uncovered a significant misuse of taxpayer funds.
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Specifically, he claimed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had improperly allocated millions of dollars to house undocumented migrants in luxury hotels in New York City. The @DOGE team just discovered that FEMA sent $59M LAST WEEK to luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal migrants,” Musk wrote on X.
“Sending this money violated the law and is in gross insubordination to the President’s executive order. That money is meant for American disaster relief and instead is being spent on high-end hotels for illegals! A clawback demand will be made today to recoup those funds.” Nadler wasted no time in debunking Musk’s assertion, explaining that the funding was neither illegal nor a misuse of disaster relief money.
“This is completely false,” Nadler replied. “In 2019, President Trump expanded FEMA’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program to help local governments offset the costs associated with migrant assistance.” He further clarified that this funding is separate from FEMA’s disaster relief funds and cannot be diverted.
“In October 2024, @SpeakerJohnson confirmed to Fox News that these are ‘different programs that have different funding,'” Nadler added, emphasizing that even Republican leaders have acknowledged the distinction.
Nadler also pointed out that Musk’s claim of uncovering a secret and illegal payment was misleading. “Congress had already appropriated $650 million for the program for FY2024,” he noted, making it clear that the funding was publicly approved and accounted for.
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Musk’s self-proclaimed mission to expose government fraud has faced scrutiny, as many of his findings have been questioned for accuracy. While he has alleged widespread fraudulent payments from the Treasury Department using invalid Social Security numbers, experts have noted that the extent of the problem is overstated and existing safeguards are already in place.
Furthermore, most of the “fraud” identified by Musk’s DOGE task force appears to be standard expenditures for legal federal programs that he simply opposes. Critics have also pointed out that DOGE itself has operated with very little transparency, raising questions about the legitimacy of its claims.
With Musk continuing to make bold accusations and lawmakers like Nadler pushing back, the debate over government spending and oversight is unlikely to end anytime soon.
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