Rep. Doggett: GOP continues “Don’t Know & Don’t Care” approach to Musk and DOGE

Washington, D.C.—Today, the House Ways and Means Committee considered U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett’s (D-Austin), Ranking Member of the Health Subcommittee, Resolution of Inquiry into Elon Musk and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) hostile takeover of the Treasury Department’s payment systems. Republicans on the committee voted to keep Musk and DOGE’s actions secret, including likely violations of federal law.

View Rep. Doggett’s opening remarks during today’s Ways and Means markup here and his concluding remarks here.

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“Hear no evil, see no evil. Today’s unusual Resolution of Inquiry represents a modest effort to penetrate the secrecy and determine the extent of the Trump Administration’s invasion of privacy of most every American,” said Rep. Doggett. “Musk has accessed, and is attempting to access, the personal and confidential information of our fellow citizens without our knowing the full extent of what data has been accessed and copied, how the data is or will be used, and the names, clearance levels, and training of the individuals accessing this data. It is simply outrageous that Americans’ private and personal financial information has not been protected from the prying eyes of an unelected billionaire and his Musketeers.

“At a bare minimum, Congress and the American people need a full accounting of what data has been shared with Musk and DOGE and for what purposes. The Majority fears presenting Musk, any of the Musketeers, or his Administration collaborators,” Rep. Doggett continued. “Our Ways and Means witness chair is as empty as Trump’s promises of our greatest economy ever.”

Joined by every Ways and Means Democrat, a Resolution of Inquiry is an uncommon yet key tool for Congress to conduct oversight of the Executive Branch. It would give President Trump and the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent 14 days to provide all documents and copies, records, audio recordings, memorandum, and more to the House of Representatives regarding DOGE’s access to, and usage of, Treasury’s payment systems; access to, and usage of, confidential taxpayer information under section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code; and any screenshots taken by Musk and DOGE of Treasury payment systems data or records.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett Remarks at Opening of Markup, House Ways and Means Committee | March 12, 2025

You don't realize that there is a big difference between “Truth” and Truth Social; it's called reality. And the reality is a rampage has been going on through our government. All we are asking for in this resolution is truth. Facts

There is nothing in this resolution that should slow the effort if it is legitimate by DOGE for a moment. DOGE has confused billions and millions. It double counts its body count, and it expects us to accept on face value, as you and your Republican colleagues have, every word of propaganda that they spout.

Today, we are concerned that Americans' right to privacy is under attack on multiple fronts. The only privacy in which this administration and you have shown the slightest interest is the privacy of Elon Musk and his Department of Government Evisceration, DOGE—or, more accurately, DODGE, since it dodges all forms of accountability.

So thick has been the veil of secrecy surrounding DOGE that Trump's attorneys actually represented in federal court that Elon Musk was not directing it. Elon's multiple tweets and President Trump's recent recognition of him during his congressional address make clear that it is indeed the unelected billionaire who is calling all the shots.

Today's Resolution of Inquiry is unusual because these are unusual times and unusual events. This resolution represents a very modest effort to penetrate the secrecy and determine the extent of the administration's invasion of the privacy of just about every person in America. Musk has accessed and is attempting to access the personal and confidential information of our fellow citizens without our knowing the full extent of what data he's gotten to, what he's copied, how the data is or will be used by them, and the names, clearance levels and the training of the individuals who access the data.

That's the kind of facts that we seek today, not to slow any legitimate effort to reduce whatever waste, fraud and abuse they can find. Though, we have yet to see a single case of fraud referred for prosecution anywhere because fraud is a new term used by this administration to simply mean anything they don't like, like the reasonable administration of the Social Security and Internal Revenue system. Like corrupt, which is applied to anyone who has the courage to stand up to this administration. What we have is an extreme breach of privacy.

The resolution of which I am offering on behalf of every Democratic member of this committee simply asks for documents relating to DOGE’s access to and usage of: first, the Treasury payment systems; second, the confidential taxpayer information protected by federal law; and third, the screenshots taken of Treasury payment systems data by a member of DOGE. 

Tell me how any of that slows a legitimate investigation. No, it does allow a little accountability. It allows the public to know how much damage they've already incurred. This resolution, of course, would be unnecessary had this committee shown the slightest interest, the very slightest interest, in protecting privacy and demanding even a smidgen of accountability for DOGE.

Six weeks ago, Speaker Johnson committed to a hearing before our committee on DOGE, but he obviously had not received permission from his boss, Donald Trump, to do that. At the oversight hearing, neither Musk nor anyone from DOGE or the administration showed up to answer a single question.

And you're right, a witness testified she had no evidence of any wrongdoing here because she had no evidence of anything about this and was not associated with DOGE or the administration. And of course, other than a few words of praise from Musk and Republican plans to declare his birthday a national holiday and carve his face on to Mount Rushmore, the majority has offered nothing but silence as Mr. Trump followed Mr. Musk's directive to fire more veterans than any president in American history and continue to seek highly sensitive private information. One would expect that Republicans who want a legitimate investigation of waste, fraud and abuse would not leave that witness chair empty this morning. It is empty. It has remained empty, as has their commitment to any responsible oversight over this administration.

This committee is supposed to be a guardian of sensitive taxpayer information. Instead, it has appeased Mr. Musk and given him access to anything he desires.