WASHINGTON — Democratic leaders on the House Oversight and Judiciary committees are demanding information about the Department of Government Efficiency, claiming the newly formed commission is exercising authority outside the “bounds of federal law.”
In a letter sent to DOGE administrator Amy Gleason on Tuesday, Democrats submitted a Freedom of Information Act request seeking details about how DOGE operates and whether it has the power to approve the firings of thousands of federal workers and the dismantling of government agencies.
The three-part request includes a handful of major components, such as information about “who is really in charge” of DOGE; the extent to which DOGE employees have access to the government’s most sensitive databases; and whether the department is prioritizing the interests of the American people “or the interests of Mr. (Elon) Musk’s companies and his foreign customers.”
“Americans deserve a complete accounting of what government databases DOGE has access to; the extent of DOGE staffers’ ability not only to view but also override and rewrite these databases; what precautions, if any, they are taking to protect this highly sensitive data; and why DOGE is accessing vast amounts of data that President Trump admits it does not need,” Reps. Jamie Raskin, top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, and Gerry Connolly, top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, wrote in the letter.
It’s not clear if the Trump administration will respond to the request, and a White House official told the Deseret News that DOGE is not subject to FOIA because it is considered a component of the White House. The White House is exempt from FOIA under federal law.
Who is in charge of DOGE?
The Democrats cited contradictory claims by President Donald Trump and the White House describing DOGE, which the lawmakers say have amplified concerns about who is really working behind the curtains.
The letter quotes Trump’s joint address to Congress earlier this month in which the president touted the creation of “the brand-new Department of Government Efficiency” which he said was “headed by Elon Musk.”
But that statement has been contradicted by White House officials in court, who have testified Musk is “is not an employee of the U.S. DOGE Service or U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization.”
Instead, the Trump administration announced Gleason as the administrator of DOGE, which Democrats say has left “everything perfectly unclear except the inescapable conclusion that President Trump, Elon Musk, and the Administration have been consistently lying to the courts or to the American people, or both, about who is in charge of DOGE.”
The letter requests information about the data that has been collected by DOGE since its creation, citing concerns that Musk has granted “teenage and twenty-something computer programmers” from his own companies access to the country’s most sensitive databases.
Additionally, Democrats expressed concerns about possible conflicts of interest, noting Musk has received more than $18 billion in federal contracts over the last decade. The lawmakers cited reports showing Musk’s companies have been fined 32 times by 11 agencies, of which Musk now has oversight.
“What assurances do the American people have that Mr. Musk is putting our nation’s interests before those of his companies and foreign clients?” Raskin and Connolly wrote.
Battle over size of federal government
The request comes amid escalating tensions between congressional Democrats and the Trump administration, especially as the president has sought to significantly reduce the size of the federal workforce and do away with agencies to cut costs.
Democrats on the Oversight and Judiciary committees have repeatedly pressed Musk for more information but those efforts have largely been blocked by Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress. Democratic lawmakers sought to subpoena Musk to appear before Congress earlier this year, but that request was voted down by GOP committee members.
“We are citizens of a strong democracy and not subjects of an oligarchical techno-state,” Raskin and Connolly wrote. “Like Joe Biden before him, Donald Trump was elected president and not king. By filing these FOIA requests, which every American has the right to make in order to demand transparency from our government, we demand to know about DOGE’s leadership structure, legal authority, and potential conflicts of interest; its involvement with the government-wide firing of personnel; and its treatment of sensitive data and AI.”
The Democrats requested an expedited review of the FOIA form, which would require a response within the next 20 days.