Congressional Democrats have put on quite the spectacle in Washington this week, with their penchant for performative outrage taking center stage more than once. As PJ Media has previously reported, twice in just five days, Democrats attempted to storm federal buildings—the USAID headquarters on Monday and the Department of Education on Friday.
Their goal? To voice their fury over Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and its attempts to expose and root out waste in the federal government. Both insurrections ended in failure, with security thwarting the lawmakers’ attempts to enter. The result? A series of embarrassing stunts that do little to inspire confidence in their “resistance.”
The most successful tantrum Democrats managed this week was when Reps. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) and Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) stormed unannounced into House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) office on Wednesday. I’m not really sure what they were hoping to accomplish, but the duo argued against the so-called “misuse” of taxpayer data, fired up over Musk’s team’s limited access to the Treasury Department’s payment system.
“Gwen Moore forced her way in there, and then I got to go in right behind her,” Chu told the media after the incident. “And she was already confronting Speaker Johnson about Treasury Secretary Bessent and the stealing of Americans’ private information, tax information that should never be stolen and given to this billionaire Elon Musk.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who had just met with Johnson to discuss President Trump’s tax reform agenda, was not present when Chu and Moore confronted Johnson.
"Bessent, who was in Johnson's office to meet with House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.), gave members of Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency access to the payments system last weekend. The system controls trillions of dollars in payments for Social Security, tax refunds, and myriad other government functions," USAID beneficiary Politico reports. "The Treasury Department told lawmakers Tuesday that Musk’s team currently has 'read-only' access to the system and that their review 'is not resulting' in any suspensions of or delays to disbursements approved by federal agencies."
Still, the dramatic encounter faced backlash. Witnesses criticized Chu and Moore’s actions, calling them unnecessarily aggressive.
"In the face of incredibly rude, extremely aggressive and frankly unhinged behavior, the Speaker was more than gracious and allowed the members into his personal office to hear their concerns," the witness, who chose to remain anonymous, explained.
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Chu’s office, however, had a much different version of events and claimed that Speaker Johnson willingly invited her in for a “short, civil discussion,” after which the congresswoman promptly left.
"She never barged, or shoved her way, into anything. She politely joined the meeting already occurring and the Speaker invited her in for a brief, civil discussion. The Secretary was not present, and she left immediately afterwards," said Graeme Crews, Chu's communication director.
In light of the recent efforts of congressional Democrats to make a spectacle and their general dishonesty, I’m inclined not to believe their version of events.
In addition to their attempts at insurrections, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee tried to subpoena Elon Musk earlier this week, and that failed too.
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