Feb. 6 (UPI) — The U.S. Department of Justice has agreed to limit Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency’s access to the Treasury Department’s federal payment system.
The decision follows a lawsuit filed on Wednesday alleging that Musk and his group of DOGE workers violated federal privacy laws when they improperly commandeered data from the Treasury Department.
The lawsuit was brought forward by federal workers unions. The restriction on Musk and DOGE is temporary while the lawsuit is taken up in court.
“The scale of the intrusion into individual’s privacy is massive and unprecedented,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit also names new Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the Bureau of Fiscal Service for allowing DOGE access to the government payment system.
The Trump administration agreed Wednesday to block DOGE from accessing “any payment record or payment system of records maintained by or within the Bureaus of Fiscal Service.”
Unlike the Treasury Department or Department of Defense, DOGE is not an executive agency. The creation of an executive agency requires approval from Congress. Presidents may commission an office of advisers such as DOGE, but their authority is meant to be limited.
Musk, the world’s richest man, has accused users on his platform, X, of committing a crime by naming the DOGE workers who accessed the government’s payment system. He claims that the department is working to root out fraud and waste in government spending.
Musk’s companies Tesla and SpaceX have billions of dollars worth of contracts with the federal government.
On Wednesday, Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wisc., announced that he will introduce the Eliminating Looting of Our Nation by Mitigating Unethical State Kleptocracy Act, carrying the acronym the ELON MUSK Act. It will direct federal agencies to terminate contracts with special government employees, such as Musk.
“No one should have the ability to direct funds towards their personal interest if they are working for the federal government. That’s why we don’t allow Members of Congress or many other federal employees to receive federal contracts,” Pocan said in a statement.
“No government employee, ‘Special’ or not, should have any financial interest in who the government does business with. Elon Musk is the poster child for this type of potential abuse. After more than $20 billion in federal contracts, there’s no way Musk can be objective in what he’s doing. Protecting the taxpayers has to be our number one priority.”
Musk’s department has also accessed the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.
Two senior government employees were placed on leave on Sunday after attempting to block DOGE’s access to the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development in Washington, D.C.
USAID announced Wednesday that all direct hire workers across the globe will be placed on leave by Friday as Trump seeks to shut the agency down. USAID’s funding is approved by Congress.