House Oversight and Reform Committee ranking member Gerry Connolly, D-Va., is pressing the Trump administration to declare who actually runs the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after the White House said that Elon Musk – who is intimately associated with the effort – doesn’t work under the new agency.
In a Feb. 20 letter addressed to President Donald Trump, Rep. Connolly voiced concerns about DOGE leadership and asked for transparency on Musk’s role after a White House official said while under oath that the supposed DOGE chief wasn’t leading the agency.
A week after winning the election in November, Trump named Musk as the head of DOGE with promises to slash the Federal workforce, cut budgets, and shutter agencies. The new statement made in a court filing on Monday contradicts the White House’s long-term public portrayal of Musk as the head of the Trump administration’s new agency.
“As the American people can plainly see, Mr. Musk wields immense authority over the U.S. DOGE Service and the federal government generally, with the purported power to feed Congressionally authorized and funded federal agencies ‘through the wood chipper[,]’ yet parts of the White House appear intent on obscuring the facts of his role,” wrote Connolly in his letter to Trump.
Connolly requested answers by March 6 on who the current DOGE administrator is, Musk’s relationship to DOGE, whether Musk has made decisions DOGE’s operations, if Musk has issued directives to DOGE workers, and an organizational chart of DOGE staff.
He also requested information on the “legal authority” Musk has “to access Americans’ sensitive data,” echoing concerns voiced by legislators and other government officials over data privacy breaches and security concerns. DOGE has reportedly accessed databases containing financial, medical, and personally identifiable information of Americans at the Departments of Treasury, Veterans Affairs, Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The new information about Musk’s role in the Federal government comes in response to a lawsuit filed by Democratic state attorneys general who challenged Musk’s authority while arguing the power he’s wielded since the new administration came into office violates the Constitution’s appointment clause.
Joshua Fisher, director of the White House Office of Administration, told the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in a filed declaration that Musk is an employee of the White House and that DOGE is “separate from the White House.” He stated Musk is “not an employee of the U.S. DOGE Service,” adding that “Mr. Musk is not the U.S. DOGE Service Administrator.”
In a press conference held on Feb. 20, Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, told reporters that DOGE has cut spending while thanking “our IT consultant, Elon Musk.” According to DOGE’s website, the agency has claimed its total estimated savings are $55 billion though no detailed evidence of figures making up that has been provided.
Trump said earlier this week that he is considering giving 20 percent of savings identified by DOGE back to Americans in the form of nearly $5,000 checks to tax paying households, though he has not provided details on the plan or its feasibility.
