The Trump administration has put forward a significant proposal that could have widespread implications for Americans if implemented.
Government officials are once more attempting to justify the existence of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which was established when Donald Trump resumed office in January.
Elon Musk is partially at the helm of DOGE, which is said to employ around 30 individuals under his leadership.
Due to DOGE not having complete departmental standing, it has encountered challenges in accessing certain data. For instance, a judge recently issued a temporary block preventing DOGE staff from accessing America’s treasury system.
However, the Democrats involved in the case could not secure a permanent block, and the restriction was lifted shortly thereafter.
Currently, DOGE is facing another setback as a judge has temporarily restricted the agency’s employees from accessing the Social Security Administration (SSA) systems that contain the personal information of millions of Americans.
U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander in Maryland also mandated that the team erase any personal data they have collected.
“The DOGE Team is essentially engaged in a fishing expedition at SSA, in search of a fraud epidemic, based on little more than suspicion,” she wrote.
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Hollander continued: “To be sure, rooting out possible fraud, waste, and mismanagement in the SSA is in the public interest. But, that does not mean that the government can flout the law to do so.”
Following the judge’s ruling, Leland Dudek, acting SSA commissioner, has warned of stopping all access to SSA’s systems, potentially leaving millions without the benefits they are entitled to.
He contended that the temporary restraining order issued on Thursday (March 20) broadly restricts data access by ‘DOGE affiliates’, which could extend to any social security staff.
Dudek stated, as reported by Bloomberg: “My anti-fraud team would be DOGE affiliates. My IT staff would be DOGE affiliates.”
“As it stands, I will follow it exactly and terminate access by all SSA employees to our IT systems.”
He further warned: “Really, I want to turn it off and let the courts figure out how they want to run a federal agency.”
According to reports, this could impact 73 million Americans relying on old-age or disability benefits.
This development follows requests from unions and retirees for an emergency order to curb DOGE’s access to the agency and its extensive personal data records.
They argued that the department’s ‘nearly unlimited’ access breaches privacy laws and poses substantial information security threats.
Reacting to the recent ruling, White House deputy press secretary Harrison Fields commented: “This is yet another activist judge abusing the judicial system to try and sabotage the President’s attempts to rid the government of waste, fraud, and abuse.”