Democratic lawmakers are pushing back against the Treasury Department for giving individuals close to Elon Musk access to its government payments data.
The Washington Post first reported Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent granted individuals supporting the Department of Government Efficiency access to the payment system, which run out of its Bureau of the Fiscal Service.
The Fiscal Service disburses nearly 90% of all federal payments and processes more than 1.2 billion transactions per year.
At least two dozen House and Senate lawmakers were denied entry into Treasury headquarters on Tuesday.
“We demanded to do our job as the oversight body elected by the people to hold these people accountable,” Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.), ranking member of the new Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) subcommittee, said Tuesday at a rally outside the Treasury headquarters. “We are not going to let an unelected private citizen steal our data.”
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told reporters that DOGE members are “able to have access to systems that these members of Congress can’t get access to.”
A Treasury official said in a letter to Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) that members of the DOGE team have “read-only” access to the data from the Fiscal Service’s payment systems as part of an “operational efficiency assessment.”
Jonathan Blum, the principal deputy assistant secretary in Treasury’s Office of Legislative Affairs, said this level of access is similar to what Treasury grants auditors and other individuals reviewing its systems, and “follows practices associated with protecting the integrity of the systems and business processes.”
“Treasury is committed to ensuring that the Fiscal Service is functioning in a manner consistent with the highest levels of efficiency and in accordance with the expectations of taxpayers to prevent waste, fraud and abuse,” Blum wrote.
The letter notes Treasury staff are working with Tom Krause, the chief executive of Cloud Software Group who’s closely aligned with Musk. Like Musk, Krause has been designed a “special government employee” with a Top-Secret security clearance.
Blum wrote the hiring process for special government employees “demands the same ethical standards of privacy, confidentiality, conflicts of interest assessment and professionalism of other government employees.”
Blum added that an ongoing review of Treasury’s systems has not resulted in “the suspension or rejection of any payment instructions submitted to Treasury by other federal agencies across the government.”
“In particular, the review at the Fiscal Service has not caused payments for obligations such as Social Security and Medicare to be delayed or re-routed. To be clear, the agency responsible for making the payment always drives the payment process,” he wrote.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) told the crowds that “Musk has grabbed control of America’s payment system.”
“This is the system that makes sure that your grandpa gets his Social Security check on time. This is the system that makes sure that your mom’s doctor gets paid for her Medicare exam. Elon Musk wants the power to turn that on, to turn that off, as Elon Musk decides,” Warren said.
The American Federation of Government is among the groups leading a lawsuit filed Monday challenging DOGE’s access to Treasury payment data.
“The scale of the intrusion into individuals’ privacy is massive and unprecedented. Millions of people cannot avoid engaging in financial transactions with the federal government and, therefore, cannot avoid having their sensitive personal and financial information maintained in government records,” the complaint states.
AFGE National President Everett Kelly said the union is “standing up for the privacy rights of American citizens — including those we represent working for the federal government.”
“It is disgraceful that the Trump administration has allowed unelected billionaires and their lackeys unfettered access to the personal and financial information of Americans,” Kelley said.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said all 47 Senate Democrats will vote against Russell Vought, Trump’s pick to run the Office of Management and Budget.
“We cannot allow Elon Musk and a small group of people to secretly behind closed doors take away our privacy, take away our dollars, take away everything we have. We are going to fight this fight,” Schumer said.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) went one step further: “I don’t think the United States Senate should vote for a single nominee that’s going to participate in this fraud.”
Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.) told reporters before the rally the DOGE’s access to Treasury data raises concerns about conflicts of interest.
“Ultimately, the voice that Trump will not be able to ignore is the voice of the business community. And I can tell you, they are creeped out by the thought that Elon Musk now has visibility into all the tax payments and the payments that he enjoys as a federal contractor, including all his competitors. What does it mean when an unelected official with strong business ties can see all of their competitors’ financial dealings with the government? This is not a small thing, and it will be when the business community raises their voice, that will be heard by Trump,” Foster said.
Rep. Dave Min (D-Calif.) said Musk’s role in reshaping the federal government’s operations and workforce goes far beyond the scope of a special government employee — a temporary role typically served for subject-matter experts and consultants.
“Special governmental employees do not have the right to delete agencies, fire federal employees, shut off access to their accounts,” Ming said.
Musk wrote on X Monday that the 18F group at the General Services Administration — a team of designers, software engineers and product designers that helps other federal agencies build, buy and share technology products — has been “deleted.”
A source familiar with the situation at GSA said 18F engineers “have deleted large swaths of internal code” at the direction of Thomas Shedd, the director of GSA’s Technology Transformation Services.
Musk and the DOGE team are also looking at other agencies. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wrote on X that the DOGE team is “going to plug in to help upgrade our aviation system.”
The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that members of the DOGE team have gotten access to key payment and contracting systems at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
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