WASHINGTON, DC – The Trump Administration today brazenly installed Tom Krause, a Silicon Valley executive and associate of billionaire Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), to oversee the U.S. Treasury Department’s critical payment systems that manage the cash and debt that finances the federal government. Mr. Krause’s new position gives him control over the Treasury payment system responsible for disbursing more than $5 trillion annually, including Social Security, Medicare, tax refunds and other payments. He also has control over auctions for U.S. Treasury securities, which is the most important financial market in the world and determines the benchmark rate for consumer credit. In 2024, Treasury held 440 auctions and issued $28.5 trillion in securities. 

Mr. Krause takes on these enormous responsibilities to manage the Nation’s finances, despite having no background in government operations or in financial markets. The installation of Mr. Krause injects politics into processes that have always been conducted in a nonpartisan fashion.

Mr. Krause, who will reportedly continue to hold his private sector job at Cloud Software Group while taking on this critical full-time role at Treasury, replaces a longtime civil servant who resigned after objecting to Mr. Krause’s demands to stop certain payments -- a measure the non-partisan Treasury official resisted as illegal. 

U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), the Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) Subcommittee, which oversees funding for Treasury, is calling for Mr. Krause’s immediate removal. Reed sent a third letter this week warning Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent about this matter and stating: “At the very least, the American people deserve someone’s undivided attention for this job.”

Secretary Bessent wrote to Senator Reed on February 4 that Mr. Krause was merely “conducting an ongoing review of Treasury’s systems” and that “to allow him to perform this function, he has been “hired as an expert/consultant.”  Only two days later, Mr. Krause is not simply reviewing Treasury’s systems—he in full operational control of them.

Full text of the letter follows:

February 7, 2025

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The Honorable Scott Bessent, Secretary

U.S. Department of the Treasury

1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20220

Dear Secretary Bessent:

               

Earlier today, you appointed Tom Krause to perform the duties of the Fiscal Assistant Secretary.  I urge you to immediately remove Mr. Krause from this position and appoint a nonpartisan career expert, as I requested in my letter dated February 3. 

Mr. Krause, an unqualified partisan “special government employee,” was installed by Elon Musk in the Treasury Department earlier this year.  Currently, he is the top government official responsible for paying the Nation’s bills on time, including Social Security, Medicare, and tax refunds.  He is also responsible for managing the Nation’s finances to remain under the debt limit while the Treasury Department is using extraordinary measures to avoid a catastrophic breach.  He is also in charge of the system for auctioning U.S. government bonds.  As you know from your long career on Wall Street, Treasuries are the benchmark for how much money Americans are charged for a mortgage or a credit card.  A seasoned and nonpolitical expert should be at the helm to ensure the fair, impartial, and responsible administration of public funds. 

As a “special government employee,” Mr. Krause is reportedly performing his public duties while remaining in charge of his private company.  According to a trade publication, he emailed employees at his company on February 5 that his Treasury post is “in addition to my duties as CEO of Cloud Software Group.”  At the very least, the American people deserve someone’s undivided attention for this job.

Given your choice to give this job to a partisan who will apparently be working part time, the buck stops with you if there is any interruption to Treasury’s ability to pay Americans the money they are owed, make interest payments on the debt, or auction Treasury securities.

               

I request your commitment, no later than February 11, 2025, to remove Mr. Krause as the Fiscal Assistant Secretary and instead appoint a qualified individual who will work for the American people on a full-time basis.  Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

                                                                               

Sincerely,