(NewsNation) — President Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was slapped with several lawsuits on his first day in office from groups saying the new nongovernment entity must abide by the same transparency as federal agencies.
The suits were brought by progressive consumer watchdog Public Citizen, the American Public Health Association and National Security Counselors, a public interest law firm.
The groups argue that DOGE should be considered a federal advisory committee, which falls under regulations under the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972.
The three cases were some of the first lawsuits filed against the new Trump administration after the president took the oath of office in the Capitol.
What is DOGE?
Trump tapped Musk and Ramaswamy to co-lead DOGE shortly after his reelection last year, promising to cut down on federal spending and slash federal jobs that the nongovernmental task force deems unnecessary.
Since then, Ramaswamy left DOGE, leaving the agency in the hands of tech tycoon Musk.
While Ramaswamy is also planning to run for Ohio governor in two years, his departure may be linked to disagreements with the congressional leaders working on DOGE, according to some reports.
The two had pledged to cut $2 trillion in government spending and restructure federal agencies.
What do the lawsuits say?
Three separate lawsuits allege that DOGE should be classified as a federal advisory committee, which has rules around them.
The plaintiffs each claim DOGE is covered by FACA, which mandates federal advisory committees meet transparency requirements like having a charter, fairly balanced membership and a designated federal officer to call meetings.
“The suit challenges DOGE’s operating without complying with federal transparency laws,” the groups said in a statement.
“DOGE’s stacked membership, far from being fairly balanced, reveals that only one viewpoint is represented: that of ‘small-government crusaders’ with backgrounds in either the tech industry or Republican politics. This shortcoming renders DOGE’s membership imbalanced and unfit for the function it has been directed to perform,” the National Security Counselors’ lawsuit states.
DOGE leadership hit back.
“I expect the entrenched bureaucracy and the vested interest to fight like dickens…I wouldn’t count Elon Musk out,” Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn, who is part of the DOGE congressional leadership, told NewsNation.
