Democrats ask for an investigation into DOGE’s access to Treasury’s payment systems

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic lawmakers are seeking a Treasury Department investigation of the access that Elon Musk’s team was given to the government’s payment system, citing “threats to the economy and national security, and the potential violation of laws protecting Americans’ privacy and tax data.”

The lawmakers sent letters Friday to Treasury’s deputy inspector general and the acting inspector general for tax administration, in addition to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., writing to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The letters laid out their concerns over a lack of transparency and public accountability about the access being granted to the federal government’s financial plumbing.

The payments system handles trillions of dollars over the course of a year, including tax refunds, Social Security benefits and much more. That raises questions about whether the review by the tech billionaire Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is legal.

The lead writers of the inspectors general letter, Warren and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., have sounded multiple alarms about a review that largely remains shrouded from public scrutiny.

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Democrats’ efforts to push back against spending cuts that President Donald Trump is seeking through DOGE could lead to a Washington showdown with possible broader repercussions. Any breakdown in the system could mean missed payments to people or even the sharing of sensitive personal data.

In Warren’s letter to Bessent, she says the secretary has “deflected and avoided key questions” so far and “provided information that appears to be flatly contradicted by new public reports.”

“The American people — including millions of families who are worried that you have jeopardized their Social Security payments, their Medicare payments, their local programs, and their economic security deserve straight answers,” Warren wrote.

A letter requesting an investigation would typically be sent to Treasury’s inspector general. However, Trump’s recent firing of about 17 independent inspectors general at government agencies leaves an oversight hole.

The Treasury Department has maintained that the review is merely about assessing the integrity of the system and that no changes to it are being made. But according to two people familiar with the process, Musk’s team began its inquiry looking for ways to suspend payments made by the U.S. Agency for International Development, which Trump and Musk are attempting to shutter.

Separately, labor unions and advocacy groups have sued to block the payments system review from proceeding because of concerns about its legality. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly on Thursday restricted DOGE’s read-only access of Treasury’s payment systems to two workers, one of them Tom Krause, who now appears on the Treasury Department website as performing the functions of fiscal assistant secretary.

Also signing the letters were Democratic Sens. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Raphael Warnock of Georgia and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.