Democrat-sponsored bill seeks ethics checks on special government employees

Yahoo

14-04-2025

A new legislative push led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., is seeking to bar special government employees like tech billionaire and senior Trump adviser Elon Musk from communicating with government agencies that interface with their companies, and would require federal employees like Musk to meet new ethics requirements.
Warren and Stansbury introduced a bill this week in the Senate and House, respectively, that would prevent special government employees (SGEs) like Musk – who lead companies worth $1 billion or more – from interacting with federal agencies that interface with his companies.
SpaceX and Tesla together have received billions of dollars in government contracts over the past ten years.
While the legislation introduced by Warren and Stansbury does not mention Musk or his companies by name, Musk's proximity to Trump in the early days of Trump's second term has made him a clear target of Democrats who have been outspoken about their opposition to Musk's key role in orchestrating massive cuts to the federal government, with little input from lawmakers.
The bill, titled the SGE Ethics Enforcement & Reform (SEER) Act of 2025, would create what the lawmakers are calling a 'bright-line rule' that makes new provisions explicitly applicable to owners of a 'large company,' which the bill defines as any for profit company making over $1 billion.
Democrats, including Warren, have also raised concerns that Musk's companies could be unfairly benefitting from Musk's influence over Trump's policies.
Since 2015, Musk's companies SpaceX and Tesla have been awarded at least $24 billion in federal contracts, according to government spending data and public announcement. SpaceX has won nearly $23 million worth of contracts, which includes nearly $6 million that the Space Force recently awarded SpaceX for launch missions.
MORE: Trump privately indicates Musk to step back from administration after government employee status expires: Sources
'No special Government employee, as defined in section 202 of title 18, United States 23 Code, who is not on an advisory committee or a chair or vice chair on an advisory committee may have direct or indirect communications in their official capacity with an agency or office that contracts with, regulates, or has a pending enforcement action against a large company – (1) that the special Government employee owns; or (2) for which the special Government employee serves as a senior executive or director,' the bill reads.
The new bill would also implement a new requirement for government employees designated as 'special government employees' to resolve conflicts of interest between their private sector and governmental work during their service.
Unlike other cabinet and high-level positions that are subject to congressional scrutiny via the Senate confirmation process, Musk, in his advisory role, is designated as a 'special government employee,' – a status Congress created in 1962 for temporary executive branch hires to perform limited duties for no more than 130 days.
'Unelected billionaire Elon Musk should not be acting as co-president of the United States and making $8 million a day from government contracts while he's at it. My new bill would crack down on conflicts of interest and create stronger ethics rules for Elon Musk and all Special Government Employees. Government should work for the American people, not billionaires lining their own pockets,' Sen. Warren said in a statement provided to ABC News.
Those working for the government as special government employees are not paid by the federal government and can continue to collect payment from outside entities while performing their work for the government, which Warren and Stansbury say runs the risk of creating possible conflicts of interest.
The legislation aims to address those concerns by applying the same standard ethics rules that apply to regular federal employees to special government employees after they render 60 days of government service. These rules guide federal employees to avoid using their office for personal gain, to steer clear of conflicting financial interest, to maintain impartiality, to avoid outside activity or employment that could raise conflict of interest questions, and more.
The new legislation would also apply tougher scrutiny to the process of acquiring a conflict of interest waiver for this kind of work.
Musk has appeared alongside Trump as recently as Thursday, when he was present at a Cabinet meeting at the White House.
ABC News has previously reported that Musk could be taking a step back from his current role in the administration. His term would be up around the end of May but it had been widely rumored that the White House could take steps to keep him on or extend his employment status in some way.
MORE: Trump's tariff policy is 'all chaos and corruption': Sen. Elizabeth Warren
'Elon has done a fantastic job. Look, he's sitting here, and I don't care. I don't need Elon for anything other than I happen to like him,' Trump told reporters during the meeting.
Trump has acknowledged that Musk will eventually need to return to Tesla to run the company. However, when reports that Musk could depart the White House in May surfaced, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt refuted them.
'Elon Musk and President Trump have both publicly stated that Elon will depart from public service as a special government employee when his incredible work at [the Department of Government Efficiency] is complete," Leavitt said earlier this month.
The bill introduced by Warren and Stansbury faces an uncertain future on Capitol Hill. It does not currently have a Republican co-sponsor and it's unlikely to get the GOP support it would need to move through either chamber of the Republican-controlled Congress. Many Republicans have praised Musk's efforts to slash federal spending and have remained hesitant to criticize Musk's work at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Still, the bill comes as Democrats are looking to demonstrate that they are fighting against the Trump agenda on all fronts. Warren has been particularly focused on the Musk-led effort to dismantle federal agencies, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that she was instrumental in creating.
ABC News' Soorin Kim contributed to this report.
Democrat-sponsored bill seeks ethics checks on special government employees originally appeared on abcnews.go.com