A pair of labor unions has sued the Treasury Department for granting the Trump administration’s “Department of Government Efficiency” access to the federal government’s payment systems.
The American Federation of Government Employees and the Service Employees International Union filed their lawsuit on Monday, alleging Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent violated federal law meant to protect people’s sensitive personal and financial information.
The New York Times reported Saturday that Bessent provided the data access to representatives of DOGE, which President Donald Trump has tasked with eliminating federal jobs and cutting government spending. DOGE, which is not a real government agency, is led by Trump ally Elon Musk, the richest man in the world.
“DOGE’s access to the payment systems has raised concerns that it could provide Musk’s team with a way to block spending that’s been authorized by Congress.”
The unions, which both represent federal employees, called the alleged privacy intrusion “massive and unprecedented.”
“People who must share information with the federal government should not be forced to share information with Elon Musk or his ‘DOGE,’” the complaint states. “And federal law says they do not have to.”
The unions were joined in the lawsuit by a labor-backed advocacy group called Alliance for Retired Americans, which said the Treasury Department had endangered the data of its members receiving Social Security benefits.
DOGE’s access to the payment systems has raised concerns that it could provide Musk’s team with a way to block spending that’s been authorized by Congress. The Treasury payment systems handle Social Security and Medicare disbursements as well as payments to federal contractors, totaling trillions of dollars annually.
The unions are asking that a federal judge issue an injunction to stop the “unlawful ongoing, systematic, and continuous disclosure” of the data.
Sen. Ron Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, sent a letter to Bessent on Friday saying he was “deeply concerned” that Musk sought access to the systems in order to “illegally withhold payments to any number of programs.”
Go Ad-Free — And Protect The Free Press
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.
“To put it bluntly,” Wyden wrote, “these payment systems simply cannot fail, and any politically-motivated meddling in them risks severe damage to our country and the economy.”
The Washington Post reported last week that a career Treasury official, David Lebryk, was placed on administrative leave after a disagreement with Musk’s team over access to the payment systems. Lebryk later announced his retirement.