Calls grow for Congress to investigate DOGE months after its shutdown
Months after Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency was disbanded, calls for scrutiny of its work are intensifying.
Advocacy and labor groups including Stop the Money Pipeline, Tesla Takedown and the Communications Workers of America are demanding an investigation into possible criminal activity by DOGE or its staff after revelations that agency employees at the Social Security Administration shared sensitive personal data.
The groups are pushing for 75 members of Congress to commit to hearings and investigations into the agency, including reviews of DOGE-approved contracts, potential conflicts of interest and DOGE’s use of artificial intelligence in federal agencies.
U.S. Rep. John Larson questioned the purpose of the agency, which Musk led with the stated mission of reducing the federal deficit by $2 trillion.
“This was never about efficiency,” Larson said. “This was about privatization and getting their hands on that money.”
A San Antonio Express-News analysis found DOGE canceled at least $3.9 billion in federal contracts across Texas between its launch in January 2025 and its decline at the end of that year. Nearly all of that, roughly $3.6 billion, was tied to San Antonio vendors, while Austin companies accounted for roughly $8.7 million.
DOGE said the cuts would save taxpayers more than $3.1 billion, though the agency provided little detail about how those estimates were calculated.
Ultimately, the agency fell well short of Musk’s $2 trillion goal and, in its later months, drew scrutiny for targeting relatively small expenditures, including a $15,289 prosthetic leg for a Texas veteran that was later reauthorized by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Earlier this year, Larson joined U.S. Reps. Richard Neal and Joe Morrell in calling for a criminal investigation into potential DOGE misuse of Social Security data. DOGE claims that it saved $215 billion through job cuts, contract cancellations and more. Musk has maintained that department helped reduce unnecessary spending.
“The DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government,” Musk said while stepping down from his leadership role last year.
But some analyses have questioned whether DOGE achieved the savings it claimed. In some cases, money from canceled contracts was reportedly returned to agencies that remained obligated to spend it.
Concerns over data and workforce cuts
During a meeting to rally support for an investigation into DOGE, Claude Cummings, president of the CWA union, shared concern for people who might have faced security risks.
“Those data breaches impacted Social Security and the senior citizens who rely on that income, making it harder for vulnerable people to resolve problems with the system, many of whom live month to month, and in some cases, can barely cover meals and utilities,” Cummings said. “The data breaches also expose information about workers who file unfair labor practice complaints, safety complaints, and other violations of their rights on the job, potentially exposing them to retaliation from their employer.”
Last year, more than 260,000 workers left federal service as a result of Trump administration initiatives, the Office of Management and Budget says. Among those affected were workers with the U.S. Agency for International Development, which was dismantled last summer over alleged wasteful spending.
Nadira Kabir, a former USAID federal worker, described the experience of receiving a reduction in force notice while preparing to give birth.
“When people discuss DOGE’s federal workforce cuts, the language is an abstract policy of restructuring efficiency, but for me sitting at my dining table, pregnant, doing the math, it was devastatingly concrete,” Kabir said.
“What happened next was almost absurd. I had to turn to the very social safety nets I spent my career supporting … I needed them while navigating new motherhood and a job market that felt closed to me.”
Meanwhile, the fallout of Musk’s DOGE continues. Josh Gruenbaum, a DOGE official, oversaw a government contract award and advocated for others for tech companies backed by a venture capital firm in which he was an investor, the Wall Street Journal reports. And as the Government Accountability Office conducts its own investigation into how DOGE handled sensitive data, federal agencies have reportedly skirted the probe by not providing information.