Democrats Barred From Entering Department of Education in Latest DOGE Protest

U.S. Department of Education building in Washington on July 6, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

WASHINGTON—Another protest against the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) took place on Feb. 7, this time outside the Department of Education, an agency that President Donald Trump has floated eliminating.

In a press conference that same day, Trump said DOGE would probe spending in that executive-branch agency.

As on Feb. 4, when Democrats attempted to breach the Treasury Building, Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) and other lawmakers tried to make their way into a government building, where security rebuffed them.

DOGE, a time-limited commission within the Executive Office of the President, is led by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, also a significant target of ire from Democrats in Congress, federal employee unions, and other foes and critics of the initiative aiming to cut federal spending.

In a statement on the Feb. 7 incident, Frost said Trump and Musk were working to undermine Americans’ education. He said he undertook the protest “in defense of our students, in defense of our teachers, in defense of families and communities that are built around public education.”

Video posted on social media by independent journalist Nick Sortor shows a tense interaction between Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), a frequent anti-DOGE protester, and a man apparently guarding the building.

“Are you prepared to stand here all night?” Waters asked the man.

“I guess, yeah,” the man replied.

In another video, Waters identified the man as “Jim Hairfield.” The name matches that of a Department of Education deputy assistant secretary in the Office of Security, Facilities and Logistics Serices. The Epoch Times has reached out to the Department of Education regarding the man’s identity.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has criticized his colleagues’ conduct, writing on X that they chose to “berate [a] federal worker at the door” of a locked federal facility.

An Education Department spokeswoman defended Trump’s agenda and the work of DOGE.

“President Trump was elected to enact unprecedented reform to the federal civil service. DOGE is supporting ED in implementing government-wide civil service reform focused on return to in-person work, restoring accountability for employees who have policy-making authority, restoring accountability for senior career executives, and reforming the federal hiring process to focus on merit,” the spokeswoman told The Epoch Times in a written statement.

“The DOGE employees are federal employees. They have been sworn in, have the necessary background checks and clearances, and are focused on making the Department more cost-efficient, effective, and accountable to the taxpayers. There is nothing inappropriate or nefarious going on,” the spokeswoman added.

Other DOGE-inspired demonstrations this week occurred outside the Department of Labor and the U.S. Capitol.

Conflict over DOGE and its access to federal data has spilled over to the courts.

After government unions sued over the commission’s access to Treasury payment system data, the parties agreed to restrict the data to all but a few DOGE employees, who would have read-only access.

Unions filed similar litigation over DOGE’s Department of Labor data access. A judge ruled that DOGE could get its hands on those systems, while the president of the AFL-CIO characterized the outcome as “a setback, but not a defeat.”

Similar litigation from unions over DOGE’s Department of Labor data access awaits a decision from a judge. Meanwhile, the unions who filed it announced on Feb. 7 that it would grow over the weekend to include the Department of Education and other government entities.

In addition, the House DOGE Caucus on Feb. 5 shed a Democrat, Rep. Van Doyle (D-Ore.). She said she left because Musk was allegedly “corruptly accessing Americans’ personal data at the Department of Treasury” and jeopardizing Social Security payments.

Other House DOGE Caucus Democrats, including Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), who participated in the protest outside the Labor Department, have remained in the caucus for now.

Some lawmakers have sought to advance legislation they say would bolster DOGE’s efforts.

Earlier this month, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) introduced a set of bills she refers to as “The DOGE Acts,” including measures to pause federal hiring and implement performance-based pay for some federal workers.

In January, Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) introduced legislation on agency transparency, federal payment reporting, and other issues. In an accompanying statement, he said the proposed laws were in line with the goals of American voters, who elected Trump president with Musk at his side and talk of DOGE in the air.

“It’s time to put government waste in the doghouse and let DOGE get to work,” Lankford said.