Democratic attorneys general from 19 states have filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration over the Department of Government Efficiency’s access to sensitive, personal data belonging to Americans at the Treasury Department. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The payment systems have information about Americans’ Social Security, Medicare and veterans’ benefits, tax refund information and much more.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told FOX Business Wednesday the concerns are not valid.
"DOGE is not going to fail," he said. "They are moving a lot of people's cheese here in the capital, and when you hear this squawking, then some status quo interest is not happy.
"At the Treasury, our payment system is not being touched. We process 1.3 billion payments a year. There is a study being done — can we have more accountability, more accuracy, more traceability that the money is going where it is? But, in terms of payments being stopped, that is happening upstream at the department level."
DOGE was launched to root out wasteful spending in the government, and it has already come close to closing the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
The lawsuit by the attorneys general was filed in New York by the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James, a vocal Trump critic. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
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Treasury officials on Wednesday denied violating privacy laws, saying only two members of the DOGE team had been given "read-only" access to information in the payment systems.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/democratic-ags-19-states-sue-trump-admin-doge-access-sensitive-personal-data-treasury