Congressional Democrats ask Trump administration to stop DOGE employees from moving into permanent positions

CBS News

3 days ago

Washington — A group of Democrats in Congress is seeking to stop Department of Government Efficiency employees from moving into permanent positions in the federal government, penning a letter asking for more information on DOGE's presence within agencies after Elon Musk's exit earlier this year.
"Although Elon Musk has departed, his influence remains, as DOGE and its employees attempt to become a permanent part of the federal government, scattered across agencies where they can continue to sabotage key functions from within," Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, along with Rep. Robert Garcia of California, wrote in a letter late Wednesday.
Writing to Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, the Democratic senators and ranking member on the House Oversight Committee sought more information on how DOGE has embedded itself in the federal government.
The lawmakers called DOGE's continued presence in federal agencies "alarming," outlining in the letter, obtained exclusively by CBS News, that "employees are embedding themselves in the federal government in key agency positions" which they argue threatens the government's ability "to serve the American people."
The request comes as DOGE's presence in Washington has changed shape since Musk left his role as a "special government employee" in late May, when he reached the maximum amount of time he could serve in the position. President Trump thanked Musk "and all of his people" at the time, saying, "almost all of them are staying, and they're going to be with us. And you're going to see the results coming long into the future."
Musk pledged upon his departure that "this is not the end of DOGE, but really the beginning."
The Tesla CEO began the cost-cutting effort in January and had initially pledged to cut $2 trillion of government spending, but later lowered the benchmark to $1 trillion. At the time of Musk's departure, the White House said DOGE's efforts saved roughly $170 billion in spending. But that figure has been disputed, with a number of errors and miscalculations on the initiative's "wall of receipts."
Since Musk left the role, DOGE has continued to post about its cost cutting. A recent review by CBS News found that the claims about savings appear to be significantly overstated. Still, Musk pledged when he left the job that DOGE is "like a way of life" and would be "permeating throughout the government" to secure $1 trillion in savings "over time."
Meanwhile, Vought outlined at a House Appropriations Committee hearing in June that the vision for DOGE going forward would be "far more institutionalized at the actual agency," saying many DOGE employees are functioning "almost as in-house consultants as a part of the agency's leadership." The leadership of DOGE, Vought said, is "now much more decentralized."
For some, questions have remained about how the effort would continue to shape government agencies. Writing to Vought and Kupor, the Democratic lawmakers sought answers to a number of questions, including who currently leads DOGE and queries about the presence of DOGE employees within the federal government more broadly.
The lawmakers said that converting DOGE appointees to career federal service roles could "potentially run afoul of laws that explicitly ban political considerations and loyalty tests in hiring practices," adding that "it is unclear who newly embedded DOGE staff are accountable to and if they truly serve within the chain of command of the agencies they work for." They urged OPM to enforce civil service regulations "that prohibit political patronage in government hiring."