A federal judge has further narrowed the Department of Government Efficiency's access to Treasury Department records, Fox News reported. This comes after the Justice Department limited access down to a pair of "special government employees" from the Elon Musk-led organization.
A number of government employee unions filed a lawsuit against Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. They objected to what they claimed was the department sharing private financial and other personal information with DOGE representatives.
On Thursday, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled that the temporary restraining order should be issued. In her opinion, she stated that officials at the Treasury Department "will not provide access to any payment record or payment system of records maintained within the [Treasury] Bureau of Fiscal Service."
The handpicked DOGE representatives were already limited to read-only access to Treasury payment records after another legal decision on Wednesday. The exposure is significant as the Treasury's Fiscal Service processes 90% of federal payments.
President Donald Trump promised to unleash Musk to cut government waste during the 2024 campaign and likely received some votes because of it. Now that he's been sworn in, Trump is making good on that promise.
This has predictably upset the Democrats, who rely on bloated government budgets to buy votes. They claim that Musk's team's to the system amounts to "threats to the economy and national security, and the potential violation of laws protecting Americans’ privacy and tax data," the Associated Press reported.
On Friday, a group of Democratic lawmakers sent letters to Bessent, the deputy inspector general, and the acting inspector general for tax administration for the Treasury. They were led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) but had many signors.
Warren claimed in her letter to Bessent that he has "deflected and avoided key questions" and has "provided information that appears to be flatly contradicted by new public reports," she claimed. "The American people — including millions of families who are worried that you have jeopardized their Social Security payments, their Medicare payments, their local programs, and their economic security deserve straight answers," Warren wrote in her letter.
Despite her hysteria, the Treasury Department said that the review is a high-level audit and will not directly make any changes. However, the AP claimed that "two people familiar with the process" said that Musk's team attempted to block payments to the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Democrats are desperate to cut DOGE off at the knees because they can see the writing on the wall. The organization has already uncovered shocking waste while Democrats caterwauler about the process, the Washington Examiner reported.
"I would just say a strong message to Democrats who are out there pretending to be outraged about the long list of crap that this administration is cutting. Democrats are outraged that the American people … want their taxpayers going to good uses, not stuff like this," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said to reporters Wednesday.
She listed some of the most infamous sources of waste at the USAID, including "$2 million for sex changes and 'LGBT activism' in Guatemala" and "$6 million to fund tourism in Egypt." Another $20 million went to a Sesame Street program in Iraq called Ahlan Simsim.
The BBC received $2.1 million from American taxpayers to shore up its presence in Libya "to value the diversity of Libyan society." Another $2.3 million was doled out to the Amazon for "artisanal and small-scale gold mining." Several more millions went to various countries and causes for the LGBT agenda and other ridiculous endeavors.
Americans are tired of government waste, but Democrats are viscerally opposed to any measures to stop it. They will continue with their legal action, but Trump and his team seem determined to do the will of the American people in cutting out this insanity.
