During Musk’s appearance at Wisconsin town hall on Sunday night, one attendee asked if the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had found any “evidence” that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funds any money to “radical left Democrats”, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), and Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA).
Responding to the query, Musk stated that he was attempting to “figure it out”.
“They’ll [the government] send the money overseas to one NGO [non-governmental organization], then they’ll go through a bunch of them, and then I’m highly confident that a bunch of that money then comes back to the United States and lands in the pockets of the people you just mentioned,” the billionaire said.
He further pointed out that is a “circuitous route” as funds do not get transferred directly. “But let’s just say that there’s a lot of strangely wealthy members of Congress where I’m trying to connect the dots of, ‘How do they become rich?’”
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What to know about Congress lawmakers’ wealth
The yearly salary of Congress’ rank-and-file members stands at $174,000. Musk, whose net wealth is estimated by Bloomberg to be $330 billion, assisted in thwarting legislating to boost congressional pay last year. He, however, later backed an increase as a way to combat corruption.
Many members of Congress, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), have served for decades are millionaires.
While Pelosi’s net worth is estimated to be $250 million, Scott’s wealth hovers around $552 million, according to NY POST.
“How do they get $20 million if they’re earning $200,000 a year?” Musk asked.
The majority of Pelosi’s fortunes derived from her and her husband Paul’s profitable investments in businesses such as Netflix, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google.
Scott’s personal wealth is mostly derived from his co-founding of Solantic, a network of urgent care centers, and HCA Healthcare, a business that operates hospitals and other medical services throughout Florida.