Rep. Doggett: “Trump is seeking to create a master file of information on every American.”

Contact: Alexis Torres

Washington, D.C.—Today, U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin), Ranking Member of the House Ways & Means Health Subcommittee, spoke on the House Floor to oppose a rule change that protects the Trump Administration from complying with his formal Resolution of Inquiry (ROI) demanding all documents relating to a secretive partnership with Palantir to build a vast database on every American. Reportedly, this is set to include confidential taxpayer, identity, wage, child support, bank account, student loan, health and medical, and financial data gathered from the Social Security Administration and the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury, as well as records seized by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

On June 11, Rep. Doggett led every Democratic Member on the Ways & Means Committee in submitting an ROI to demand the facts on the Trump Administration’s attempt to create a surveillance state. The Congressman’s resolution is one of at least eight formal inquiries being blocked by this new rule, including one to investigate Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s negligent sharing of top-secret airstrike plans with a journalist over Signal.

Today’s vote weakens Congress’s ability to uphold its constitutional duty as an effective check and balance on the Executive Branch.    

To watch Rep. Doggett’s full remarks, click here.

Rep. Doggett’s remarks, as delivered, are below:

This Rule further erodes the system of checks and balances that has served our democracy so well.

Republicans, through it, are surrendering more and more unrestrained power to President Trump. This rule is but another step on the march to tyranny.

Trump is seeking to create a master file of information on every single American, a digital ID tracking your movements, where you live, where you work, when you see a doctor, how much money you have, even child support agreements, and much more.

Today, Republicans are simply rubber-stamping that plan, the very kind of surveillance and intrusion that libertarians have always opposed.

Today, these Republicans are blocking us from presenting any Resolution of Inquiry concerning the Trump Administration, like the one that I introduced on June 11^th, to demand the facts from the Administration about all of its wrongdoing, including what confidential information it has accumulated on each American. 

Your data becomes fully public and available to President Trump, even as the Epstein files remain fully buried.

Republicans are keeping the American people ignorant of what Trump is doing with their private data.

Ignorant of how he may use it against his political enemies or his business competitors; ignorant of what he may do if you've ever expressed any criticism of him, his family, his policies, or maybe you just expressed support for someone that, with his latest whim, he is opposed to.

Now, he will have a master file that includes you to persecute and even prosecute.

Too intimidated by this self-proclaimed king, Republicans are empowering what could become a police state to shed light on this descent into authoritarian darkness.

To let the American people know how their own government is centralizing their personal data, I introduced a Resolution of Inquiry, demanding that the Administration produce all the information related to the creation of this vast searchable database with its hand-picked contractor Palantir—a company that one Silicon Valley executive accused of “building the infrastructure of the police state.”

I do agree with one Republican, Representative Warren Davidson, who does believe in freedom and has described Trump's deal with Palantir as “dangerous.” And has said, “When you start combining all these data points on individuals into one database, it really essentially creates a digital ID. And it's a power that history says will eventually be abused.”

And with this administration, eventually, will be very soon.

A vote for this Rule is a vote to bury the truth and allow the federal government to track Americans and invade their privacy with no restraint. I strongly urge my colleagues to stand up for freedom and reject this Rule.

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