Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee quickly quashed an effort by Democrats to subpoena Elon Musk to appear before the panel to answer questions about a series of actions impacting federal agencies and their workforce.

The move clearly caught Republicans by surprise. They initially did not have enough votes to quash the motion, sending lawmakers scrambling back to the hearing room.

“Who is this unelected billionaire that he can attempt to dismantle federal agencies, fire people, transfer them, offer them early retirement and have sweeping changes to agencies without any congressional review, oversight or concurrence? Therefore, Mr. Chairman, given his prominence and his importance, I move that the committee subpoena Elon Musk to come report as a witness at the earliest possible moment,” Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) said.

In recent weeks Musk, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) leader, has sent staff to a suite of agencies and tapped into databases at the Office of Personnel Management and the Treasury Department.

Similar actions have taken place at the U.S. Agency for International Development where employees have been shut out of their email and told not to show up to the office.

He was also the brainchild behind a new federal government program offering buyouts to federal employees: eight months of pay and benefits to entice workers to leave their jobs.

Musk’s status as a federal employee isn’t totally clear. He’s been classified as a “special government employee,” which usually is limited to 130 days. 

It’s also unclear what authority DOGE employees have to access the databases.

After Republicans killed the motion, committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) faulted Democrats for not inviting Musk as their witness for the hearing — an offer that would likely have been refused.

“You all could have invited Mr. Musk to be your minority witness, but you all chose to have a college professor, which is what you normally choose to have as a witness at any hearing and that’s fine, but you all had an opportunity to invite Elon Musk,” Comer said.

Earlier in the hearing, Comer defended the work of DOGE, saying “real innovation isn’t clean and tidy.”

“It’s what the American people voted for in November: a departure from the broken status quo,” he said.