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The US Department of the Treasury on Tuesday clarified that it is neither halting nor denying federal spending and remains committed to protecting the nation's payment infrastructure, according to a report by the New York Times.
This statement comes amid criticism following the approval of access to the payment system for Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The Treasury Department in a letter to members of Congress regarding payment systems said, "The Treasury Department's Bureau of the Fiscal Service (Fiscal Service) operates vital payment systems for the federal government, and those systems should promote financial integrity and operational efficiency. The Fiscal Service disburses nearly 90 percent of all federal payments, in over 1.2 billion transactions per year. The Treasury is committed to ensuring that the Fiscal Service is functioning in a manner consistent with the highest levels of efficiency and in accordance with the expectations of taxpayers to prevent waste, fraud and abuse." It added, "The Treasury has no higher obligation than managing the government's finances on behalf of the American people, and its payments system is critical to that process. In keeping with that mission, the Treasury is committed to safeguarding the integrity and security of the system, given the implications of any compromise or disruption to the US economy. The Fiscal Service is confident those protections are robust and effective. Therefore, expanding on efforts that began under the prior Administration, Treasury has been undergoing a review of these systems to maximize payment integrity for agencies and the public." The Treasury Department further said that the staff members of the department working with Tom Krause, a Treasury employee, will have read-only access to the coded data of the Fiscal Service's payment systems in order to continue this operational efficiency assessment. "This is similar to the kind of access that Treasury provides to individuals reviewing Treasury systems, such as auditors, and that follows practices associated with protecting the integrity of the systems and business processes," the letter added. (ANI)
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