Fed employees suing Elon Musk over ‘5 issues’ e mail
The Washington Examiner’s Tiana Lowe Doescher joins LiveNOW’s Andrew Craft to debate high White Home headlines, together with Elon Musk’s e mail to federal employees demanding a response on what they completed final week.
A gaggle of labor unions are asking a federal court docket to intervene and cease Elon Musk’s Division of Authorities Effectivity from accessing the Social Safety knowledge of thousands and thousands of Individuals.
In accordance with a court docket submitting, a former senior official on the Social Safety Administration mentioned profession civil servants are working to guard the delicate data from DOGE, however they’re asking the court docket to step in and assist.
Is DOGE accessing Social Safety knowledge?
What they’re saying:
“A disregard for our cautious privateness methods and processes now threatens the safety the info SSA homes about thousands and thousands of Individuals,” Tiffany Flick, a former SSA official, wrote in court docket paperwork.
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The unions need the court docket to dam DOGE’s entry to the huge troves of non-public knowledge held by the company.
Karianne Jones, a lawyer for the unions and a retiree group behind the lawsuit, mentioned it isn’t absolutely clear what sort of entry that DOGE may need to non-public knowledge about taxpayers. However she mentioned the obvious scope and the lack of understanding about what DOGE is searching for imply the potential affect is “large.”
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“Basically what you may have is DOGE simply swooping in and bullying their method into entry to thousands and thousands of Individuals personal knowledge. They can not clarify why they need this knowledge. They will’t actually inform you what knowledge they need. They simply need every little thing. They need the supply code, they usually wish to do it with none restrictions,” she mentioned.
The Social Safety Administration didn’t instantly reply to The Related Press’ request for remark.
Dozens of lawsuits filed in opposition to DOGE
Large image view:
DOGE’s work through the early levels of the Trump administration has drawn almost two dozen lawsuits. Judges have raised questions in a number of instances about DOGE’s sweeping cost-cutting efforts, performed with little public details about its staffing and operations. However judges haven’t all the time agreed that the dangers are imminent sufficient to dam DOGE from authorities methods.
Elon Musk on the Conservative Political Motion Convention (CPAC) on the Nationwide Harbor in Oxon Hill, MD on February 20, 2025. (Photograph by Valerie Plesch for The Washington Submit through Getty Photographs)
Throughout-the-board cuts on the Social Safety Administration are prompting questions in regards to the attainable results on advantages for tens of thousands and thousands of recipients.
Among the many potential modifications on the company are layoffs for greater than 10% of the workforce and the closure of dozens of places of work all through the nation. It’s all a part of the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the scale of the federal workforce.
What different databases has DOGE accessed?
Dig deeper:
DOGE has accessed different authorities databases, together with on the Treasury and IRS. The Trump administration has mentioned usually that the efforts are geared toward eliminating what it claims is waste and fraud in authorities.
The Supply: This report consists of data from The Related Press.
