Lawmakers press Treasury secretary on private access to Treasury and CFPB systems

Representative Maxine Waters, the committee's ranking member, used her opening statement to press Secretary Scott Bissett on a series of allegations about private access to Treasury and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau systems. Waters said outside individuals linked to an investor group had been given access to government payment and consumer data, at one point asking, "You still threw up the gates of our finance system open to Elon Musk and his band of 22 year olds. Yes or no?"

Bissett replied to the committee that individuals working with outside firms were Treasury employees and that the access granted was "read only." When Waters pressed whether any information had been downloaded by outside workers, Bissett said, "Not to my knowledge." He also said that two Treasury employees had been involved in the work at issue and defended the safeguards the department put in place.

Later exchanges with other members repeated the key factual points and disputes: members cited press reports that a Treasury official had been placed on administrative leave and that outside contractors had been given rights-level access; Bissett told the committee those press reports were inaccurate and said, "no one was given write access." He acknowledged litigation and said the department would respond to members' written questions.

Why it matters: Committee members raised national security and privacy concerns about who can access sensitive Treasury and consumer data. The claims prompted requests for documents and more detailed responses; the committee set a June 2 deadline for written follow-up from Treasury at the hearingclose.

Sources: multiple exchanges in the full committee hearing; opening remarks and questioning by Representative Maxine Waters and back-and-forth answers from Secretary Scott Bissett.