Democratic lawmakers demanded that they personally deliver a letter to Housing Secretary Scott Turner at the Department of Housing and Urban Development on Monday. But after they were denied entry, they turned their attention to someone else: Elon Musk.
The Democrats held a rally with housing advocates where their ire was not pointed to Turner, a little-known figure best known for his days as an NFL player, but Musk — the wealthy ally to President Donald Trump who leads the Department of Government Efficiency. As Democrats are urgently looking for a way to break through a constantly changing news cycle, they made the case that Musk is the person responsible for cuts to affordable housing programs.
“Elon Musk and his hackers don’t know shit about what it means to run a housing program, they don’t know nothing about what it means to go unhoused and they don’t know nothing about what it takes to pay a mortgage,” Rep. Steven Horsford told the crowd. “So get out of the way and let us lead, because if you don’t, the people will make sure you’re held accountable.”
Horsford and Rep. Maxine Waters, the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, were among a group of nearly a dozen Democratic lawmakers to make the trip to the agency and try to get in. Other Democrats have traveled to other agencies, from the U.S. Agency for International Development to the Department of Education, to bring attention to them as the Trump administration tries to trim the size of the federal government wherever it can.
But the trip to HUD on Monday marked an escalation in Democrats’ opposition to what’s been happening at this agency, where up to 50% of the staff is expected to be fired. Their protest came just weeks after Turner was confirmed as secretary by the Senate with bipartisan support.
“We have the oversight responsibility, and I want you to know we accept that responsibility. We are true to that responsibility and we’re not going to let DOGE or anybody else take it away from us,” Waters said.
The tension was clear as the lawmakers were stopped in the entryway of the agency for about 15 minutes, where they argued with security officers. NOTUS observed Horsford loudly arguing with law enforcement at the entrance.
As the lawmakers turned away to hold a press conference with housing advocates, Rep. Rashida Tlaib could be heard saying to security: “You don’t care about the facilities that are closing down. You don’t care.”
A spokesperson for HUD said little about the protest, which grew in size throughout the event and drew onlookers from the agency’s windows.
“Democrats were not respecting law enforcement,” a spokesperson for HUD told NOTUS when asked for more detail about security’s interactions with the lawmakers.
Waters said the letter she attempted to deliver on Monday is signed by 122 members of Congress. It asks Turner for a list of all employees terminated, a list of private equity firms hired since his term began and a list of all meetings Turner has taken, among other questions.
Sarah Hunter, a former HUD employee during the Obama administration who attended the rally, said she was there to raise awareness about the consequences of Turner’s latest changes.
“We talk about it in terms of funding, but the reality is the money that flows through HUD helps millions of people thrive, not just have a place over their head,” Hunter told NOTUS. “[Funding] has never been enough in the history of HUD, and we need more, not less.”
On stage, Democrats kept circling back to Musk.
“Are we going to stand for this lawlessness by Elon Musk? Hell no,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen told the crowd. “There is something particularly grotesque about the richest man in the world trying to shut down affordable housing programs for working people.”
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Amelia Benavides-Colón is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.