House Democrats on Thursday introduced legislation designed to protect taxpayers’ sensitive financial information from Elon Musk and his government efficiency team.
Sponsored by Reps. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) and Haley Stevens (D-Mich.), the legislation comes in direct response to the Trump administration’s recent decision to grant Musk’s team access to the Treasury Department’s extensive payment system.
Democrats and other critics have bashed the move, accusing President Trump of opening troves of sensitive financial records to an unelected billionaire whose various business interests have raised questions about conflicts in his new role as head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
The critics say they don’t quite know how Musk and his team intend to use their access to the information, but they’re sounding alarms that it’s already compromised privacy protections that Americans have previously taken for granted.
“Why do Elon Musk and his minions need access to the names, Social Security numbers, addresses, birthdates and bank account information of millions of Americans?” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said to reporters in the Capitol.
“Why does he need that information? What are they doing with it? And why aren’t House Republicans stopping them?”
Musk has made the government’s vast payment system a central target amid his cost-cutting campaign, suggesting it doesn’t screen sufficiently for mistaken or fraudulent outlays. He demanded access to review the system’s processes, which the Treasury Department granted last weekend.
The Democrats’ new bill would limit access to people with specific experiences, security clearances and other qualifications, which the critics say Musk and his team lack.
“The actions that Musk and his IT goons have taken … very clearly illegal but so far unprosecuted actions — have already compromised millions of Americans’ privacy and data security,” Casten said. “And if you want to understand how nervous we should all be, think about how hard Donald Trump worked to protect his tax returns from becoming public — even under a legitimate subpoena from the House of Representatives.”
The legislation has virtually no chance of getting a vote in a House controlled by GOP leaders who are cheering Musk’s actions as a necessary part of streamlining the government. But Democratic leaders are hoping it will win the support of at least a few Republican lawmakers — and highlight GOP divisions over Trump’s agenda in the process.
“We know that our colleagues on the other side of the aisle are just as outraged as we are, but they have to keep quiet out of fear of retribution from the MAGA extremists,” Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), chair of the House Democratic Caucus, told reporters. “We only need three Republicans with the courage of their convictions to join our efforts to protect the American people from this extreme and illegal overreach.”
The new legislation is just one part of a multipronged push by Democrats to fight the head-spinning executive actions from Trump in his first weeks back in office. They’re also vowing to launch an aggressive communications campaign and coordinate lawsuits with outside groups, including Democratic-led states.
“It’s an all-hands-on-deck approach on behalf of hardworking American taxpayers,” Jeffries said. “Legislation, litigation, mobilization, communication with the American people — and that’s what we’re engaging in.”
In that effort, Democratic leaders and rank-and-file members appear to be on the same page.
Also on Thursday, Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee denounced Trump and Musk for their push to access the federal payment system.
And hours earlier, members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) staged their own event, urging the party to launch various strategies to “fire” Musk. Without such an effort, they warned, Musk would destroy federal programs designed to help the working class and transfer the savings into tax cuts for corporations and wealthy people like Musk himself.
“We’re going to use every legislative, judicial and public pressure tool at our disposal as members of Congress, until we fire Elon Musk,” said Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), chair of the CPC.
Casar warned that CPC members are ready to withhold their support for must-pass bills in the House — like efforts to prevent a government shutdown next month — if Republicans continue to let Musk operate unchecked. The threat could be significant because GOP leaders will need Democratic support to pass any federal spending bills through Congress this year.
“My entire time in Congress, I’ve never seen Republicans be able to pass a budget [by themselves], and they always come crawling to Democrats for help,” Casar said.
“Well, we are not going to help Republicans keep Elon Musk stealing our taxpayer dollars. We are not going to help those Republicans that want to keep Elon Musk in charge of the entire federal government. We are not going to help Republicans allow Elon Musk to break the law, shred our Constitution, while he makes billions of dollars in wealth for himself.”
