Democrats fresh strategy to halt Musk’s DOGE – invoke Taxpayer Data Protection Act `

US Democratic party members, more specifically House Representatives, are trying to block Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) operations, framing it as a reckless overreach that threatens privacy and national security. Liberals have now started a campaign to convince some GOP leaders to pin down DOGE through a bill meant to “protect taxpayers’ data.” 

Since the Musk-led department was officially given the go-ahead to scrutinize government expenditure, Democratic lawmakers, labor unions, and federal employees have launched lawsuits and public appeals to halt DOGE’s growing influence, saying they “did not elect Elon Musk.”

The latest flashpoint in the battle over the “authority” of the Tesla CEO’s team centers on its access to sensitive federal data. The initiative, recently approved to pull records from agencies like the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Department of Labor, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, does not sit well with liberals who have been all but silent about it.

Seeking the help of Republicans to stop DOGE

House Democrats have zeroed in on a strategy to stop Musk’s access to Treasury Department files: The Taxpayer Data Protection Act. The bill could block DOGE employees from handling citizens’ financial records. With the Republican-led House controlling the legislative agenda, Democrats are now publicly pressuring GOP lawmakers to defect.

“I’m supporting the Taxpayer Data Protection Act because it will protect Americans’ private data from Elon Musk and his reckless DOGE employees,” Democratic Nevada Representative Susie Lee, D-Nev., wrote on X. “Republican leadership has to let us vote. If they don’t, it only takes three lone Republicans to join us and make it happen.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, alongside Senator Elizabeth Warren, have joined hands in fighting the current administration’s plans to cut down expenditure, saying that Republicans’ slim majority could work against them. 

“On any issue that the American people are concerned about, it only takes three Republicans to break with the other side of the aisle, join the 215 Democrats, and we can stop them in their tracks,” Jeffries said in an MSNBC interview earlier this week.

White House defends DOGE’s mission

While Democrats frame DOGE as a “threat to national security,” Musk’s allies argue the initiative is a long-overdue effort to eliminate wasteful government spending. GOP leaders believe liberals’ dismissal of the program, spearheaded by President Donald Trump and Musk, is nothing but political theatrics.

This young man sums up perfectly why a majority of Americans support Elon and DOGE. I can’t figure out why Dems are so opposed to this, can you? pic.twitter.com/YChPwAobHF

— Michelle Maxwell (@MichelleMaxwell) February 16, 2025

In a White House interview with Hannity last Monday, Secretary Karoline Leavitt accused Democrats of being too hypocritical, pointing out that Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton also sought to combat government inefficiency, but it is only Trump that’s truly acting on his word. 

“President Trump, Elon Musk, and our entire administration are saying the exact same things that Democrat politicians promised the American people they would do for decades. President Trump is just the first president in our lifetimes to actually do it.” 

DOGE officials are also pushing back claims that the program poses a privacy risk to American citizens. Speaking on Fox News Special Report with Bret Baier, DOGE official and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent coined the efforts to bring down the department as “political fearmongering.” 

“The American taxpayers don’t have to be concerned about any of this,” Bessent said. “I think it’s unfortunate they are trying to lampoon what Elon Musk and the DOGE team is doing.”

Bessent went on to clarify that DOGE employees have no ability to modify federal records. “Here at Treasury, two people, they had read-only access to the systems and they’ve remodeled the system. They have no ability to touch anything. They have no ability to make any changes. There are very strict guardrails around them,” he explained.

Meanwhile, protests over DOGE’s efforts across the country continue, with Democratic lawmakers at the frontline, warning that Musk’s access to federal data creates opportunities for fraud and misuse.

“Musk is opening the door for criminals to get involved,” California Representative Jimmy Gomez, told reporters during a press briefing on Tuesday.

Several lawsuits have been filed by labor unions and federal employees, alleging that DOGE violates privacy protections and encroaches on powers traditionally reserved for other branches of government, like the US Congress.

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