DOJ limits DOGE access to Treasury payment system
The Department of Justice (DOJ) agreed Wednesday to limit the number of employees affiliated with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) who have access to a sensitive federal payment system at the Treasury Department.
Two 'special government employees' who already had access to the system known as the Fiscal Service will maintain read-only permissions, according to a proposed order filed as part of a lawsuit brought by several unions against the Treasury Department.
Tom Krause, CEO of Cloud Software Group, and Marko Elez will continue to have access to the Fiscal Service but will not be able to edit or make changes to the system, which handles 90 percent of federal payments.
The order, approved by Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly on Thursday morning, will hold while the judge considers whether to grant the unions a preliminary injunction.
The Alliance for Retired Americans, American Federation of Government Employees and Service Employees International Union sued Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the agency Monday to block Elon Musk and other DOGE-affiliated employees from accessing the system.
The unions accused Bessent of improperly disclosing sensitive personal and financial information to Musk's allies, whose efforts to access the payment system had previously been rebuffed by a top Treasury official who later resigned.
'The scale of the intrusion into individuals' privacy is massive and unprecedented,' the unions wrote. 'Millions of people cannot avoid engaging in financial transactions with the federal government and, therefore, cannot avoid having their sensitive personal and financial information maintained in government records.'
'Secretary Bessent's action granting DOGE-affiliated individuals full, continuous, and ongoing access to that information for an unspecified period of time means that retirees, taxpayers, federal employees, companies, and other individuals from all walks of life have no assurance that their information will receive the protection that federal law affords,' it continued.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
Top Dem demands answers from Social Security, claiming wait times spiked during DOGE cuts
EXCLUSIVE: The top Democrat on the Joint Economic Committee will demand Thursday that the Social Security Administration explain a spike in phone call wait times following the removal of an online tracking tool from its website. New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan wrote to SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano at agency headquarters in Baltimore with "serious concerns regarding changes to the performance metrics that the SSA shares through its public dashboard." Hassan also questioned whether DOGE-centric cuts to the federal workforce and other assets of the government played into the situation, citing Washington Post reporting on the removal and/or replacement of publicly-accessible tools and an independent analysis by minority staff on the Joint Economic Committee. "Unlike the previous dashboard, the new version also lacks historical data, as well as general processing times for retirement, survivor, disability, and Medicare benefits," Hassan wrote in the letter obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital. "These data and other metrics provide critical insight into the performance of your agency and served as guideposts for seniors and other beneficiaries navigating the benefits process," she wrote, adding that call and callback times, field-office casework processing times and other data are no longer easily accessible. Hassan also questioned whether DOGE's actions had precipitated any of the changes. "Removing this information may also obscure the impact of deep staffing and resource cuts — driven by the Department of Government Efficiency on SSA's ability to deliver for seniors," Hassan said. "For these reasons, I urge you to immediately restore all previous metrics to the SSA performance dashboard." Earlier this month, DOGE won a major victory in its efficiency quest, as the Supreme Court issued an unsigned order lifting a Maryland federal court injunction on its efforts to access SSA systems – which critics argued was untoward because they contain Americans' sensitive data. "[U]nder the present circumstances, SSA may proceed to afford members of the SSA DOGE Team access to the agency records in question in order for those members to do their work," the order read. A purported screenshot of the now-removed call-time chart shared with Fox News Digital showed a rise from about 4% to 28% hold time from February to March. However, SSA has claimed similar information cited in the Washington Post report is "false." "The reality for callers to our 800-number is about 42 percent handle their business through automated, self-service options. And for those who want to speak to a representative, about 75 percent use the callback-assist feature—they do not wait on hold for long periods of time," said Stephen McGraw, an SSA spokesman. "Considering the experience of our customers electing to receive a callback, our average speed of answer on the 800 number is now about 19 minutes so far this year. Moreover, the monthly trends are improving and better than the previous two years, as callers waited only about 12 minutes on the phone before speaking to a representative in May compared to 30 minutes in January." McGraw said wait times are forecasted to improve for the rest of the year. "As Commissioner Bisignano evaluates the agency, we are updating our performance metrics to reflect the real-life experiences of the people we serve and highlight the fastest ways our customers can get service." "It is critical that the agency measures what matters most to improve customer service while providing all Americans the information they need to select the service channel that works best for them," McGraw concluded. Bisignano has said increased staffing is not the long-term solution to the agency's systemic woes. He also appeared to endorse the DOGE idea of upgrading tech systems, saying he wants SSA to be a "digital-first, technology-led organization that puts the public as our focal point." Bisignano acknowledged SSA's last-place ranking among government agencies in employee satisfaction, prior to his taking the reins, and said he wants to improve that aspect too. In her letter, Hassan also cited DOGE work eliminating 7,000 jobs at SSA – about 4,000 of which were voluntary. DOGE also has sought to upgrade and update SSA technology systems, including a coding regimen called "COBOL" that goes back to the 1950s. "As a result, beneficiaries have faced service disruptions, error messages, and unprecedented failures in tools to schedule and manage appointments at field offices throughout the country," said Hassan, whose state had about 20% of its population on Social Security as of 2023. Hassan outlined several questions for Bisignano, including a real-time report by 5PM ET on the current callback times, wait times and such for Thursday. She also inquired about any adjustments or deletions to datasets as well as Social Security processing times for retirement, survivor and Medicare benefits, plus specific data for New Hampshire.
The Hill
2 hours ago
- The Hill
Mexico's president slams sanctions on Mexican banks by Trump administration
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum responded sharply Thursday to U.S. government sanctions blocking transfers from three Mexican financial institutions, saying Washington hasn't shown evidence of its allegations of money laundering. The U.S. Treasury Department announced the sanctions Wednesday on the banks CIBanco and Intercam Banco and the brokerage Vector Casa de Bolsa, alleging that they had facilitated millions of dollars in money transfers for Mexican drug cartels. Sheinbaum said during her morning news briefing Thursday that the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump had showed no evidence proving that the institutions carried out any money laundering, despite repeated requests for such evidence. 'The Treasury Department hasn't provided a single piece of evidence to show that any money laundering was taking place,' she said. 'We aren't going to cover for anyone, there isn't impunity here. They have to be able to demonstrate that there was actually money laundering, not with words, but with strong evidence.' The accused banks also fired back on the orders, rejecting the allegations and similarly citing a lack of evidence. Brokerage firm Vector said Wednesday night in a statement that it 'categorically rejects any allegation that compromises its institutional integrity' while Intercam said in a statement it denies being involved in any 'illegal practice.' Vector is owned by entrepreneur Alfonso Romo, who served as chief of staff to ex-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador early in his presidency. Manuel Somoza, president of strategies of CIBanco, told local press that they only heard about the order the same time it was made public, and noted that it wasn't a formal legal accusation, but rather an investigation. 'Our books are open,' he said. 'Rumors are clearly damaging, whether they're true or not. So, what we want is for (American authorities) to come and investigate.' Sheinbaum said they were notified by American officials of the accusations ahead of the Wednesday announcement, and that Mexican financial regulators carried out their own investigations into the institutions. They found 'administrative infractions,' she said, but nothing close to the accusations being levied by Treasury officials. In the orders blocking transactions between the three institutions and American banks, the Trump administration alleged that the three companies facilitated millions of dollars in transfers with Chinese companies, which it said were used to buy chemicals to produce fentanyl. The Treasury Department said the institutions had facilitated transfers to U.S. banks, but officials would not name which U.S. institutions were implicated nor provide more details. Sheinbaum countered that their own investigation simply showed that institutions had strong relationships with Chinese clients and banks, which she said was more of an indicator that the two countries share a robust trade relationship. China has been the main source of chemical precursors to produce fentanyl in Mexico, according to U.S. authorities. At the same time, the U.S. has increasingly sought to block growing Chinese influence and investment in Latin America. The leader also expressed frustration on Thursday morning, reminding Trump officials that Mexico is a sovereign nation and must be treated as an equal by the U.S. government. 'We're no one's piñata,' she said. 'Mexico must be respected.'
San Francisco Chronicle
2 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Mexico's president slams sanctions on Mexican banks by Trump administration
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum responded sharply Thursday to U.S. government sanctions blocking transfers from three Mexican financial institutions, saying Washington hasn't shown evidence of its allegations of money laundering. The U.S. Treasury Department announced the sanctions Wednesday on the banks CIBanco and Intercam Banco and the brokerage Vector Casa de Bolsa, alleging that they had facilitated millions of dollars in money transfers for Mexican drug cartels. Sheinbaum said during her morning news briefing Thursday that the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump had showed no evidence proving that the institutions carried out any money laundering, despite repeated requests for such evidence. 'The Treasury Department hasn't provided a single piece of evidence to show that any money laundering was taking place," she said. 'We aren't going to cover for anyone, there isn't impunity here. They have to be able to demonstrate that there was actually money laundering, not with words, but with strong evidence." The accused banks also fired back on the orders, rejecting the allegations and similarly citing a lack of evidence. Brokerage firm Vector said Wednesday night in a statement that it 'categorically rejects any allegation that compromises its institutional integrity" while Intercam said in a statement it denies being involved in any 'illegal practice.' Vector is owned by entrepreneur Alfonso Romo, who served as chief of staff to ex-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador early in his presidency. Manuel Somoza, president of strategies of CIBanco, told local press that they only heard about the order the same time it was made public, and noted that it wasn't a formal legal accusation, but rather an investigation. 'Our books are open," he said. 'Rumors are clearly damaging, whether they're true or not. So, what we want is for (American authorities) to come and investigate." Sheinbaum said they were notified by American officials of the accusations ahead of the Wednesday announcement, and that Mexican financial regulators carried out their own investigations into the institutions. They found "administrative infractions," she said, but nothing close to the accusations being levied by Treasury officials. In the orders blocking transactions between the three institutions and American banks, the Trump administration alleged that the three companies facilitated millions of dollars in transfers with Chinese companies, which it said were used to buy chemicals to produce fentanyl. The Treasury Department said the institutions had facilitated transfers to U.S. banks, but officials would not name which U.S. institutions were implicated nor provide more details. Sheinbaum countered that their own investigation simply showed that institutions had strong relationships with Chinese clients and banks, which she said was more of an indicator that the two countries share a robust trade relationship. China has been the main source of chemical precursors to produce fentanyl in Mexico, according to U.S. authorities. At the same time, the U.S. has increasingly sought to block growing Chinese influence and investment in Latin America.
