Whip Katherine Clark of Melrose and other Democratic leaders introduced the Taxpayer Data Protection Act at a press conference Thursday, a move they said was aimed at reining in Elon Musk’s Department of Governmental Efficiency, which has gained access to a remarkably broad swath of private information and accompanying control over the disbursement of funds since Donald Trump became president last month.

“This is going to address the deep anxiety across the country about Elon Musk hacking into Americans’ most personal information, and the illegal cutting of federal funding for critical services,” Clark said at a rollout that also included House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, and bill authors Rep. Haley Stevens and Rep. Sean Casten..

“Last week I received a note from a public-school teacher in my district,” Clark added. “She was very concerned about what’s going to happen to education and federal funding for her school. She worried about the grants that might not be there ... But the thing she told me she was worried about more than anything else? She wrote: ”As a citizen of the nation, I am even more concerned about the overt power grab and overreach we’re seeing from an unelected billionaire.“

In response to concerns about Musk’s influence and the access he’s seemingly granted a group of young surrogates to confidential information, the Taxpayer Data Protection Act would, if passed, specify that anyone accessing the Treasury Department’s payment and receipt systems receive security clearance and cybersecurity training and make an ethics commitment, and have no established conflicts of interest. Anyone accessing the system with a financial conflict of interest would face criminal penalties. It would also require that Congress and the public be notified of unauthorized access and updated on national-security risks and the possibility of interference with Social Security and other payments.

The passage of legislation aimed at containing arguably the most powerful member of Trump’s inner circle might seem politically far fetched, but at Thursday’s press conference, Casten vowed it would happen.

”This legislation will become law,“ he said. ”All we need is three Republicans to show a little bit of patriotism and join us in this effort. I know they’re out there, I know they’ve got the patriotism -- they’ve just got to show the courage.“

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Original story HERE.