Democrats Will Introduce ‘Stop the Steal Act’ to Target Musk’s DOGE

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) (L) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) speaks at a press conference to introduce the Stop The Steal Act at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 4, 2025. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

WASHINGTON—The leaders of the Democratic caucuses in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives on Feb. 4 announced that they will introduce legislation to thwart efforts by the Elon Musk-led U.S. DOGE Service in the executive branch to access government information.

Musk and DOGE, which has been established as a temporary organization in the Executive Office of the President, have drawn attention for their efforts to access information at various executive branch agencies to recommend downsizing or eliminating programs not in line with the president’s agenda. These most recently occurred at the State Department’s U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which Musk has vowed to “shut down” and whose headquarters were closed by the Trump administration at DOGE’s behest pending a restructuring of the agency.

These efforts have drawn criticism from Democrats in Congress. In response, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) stated on Feb. 4 that they will introduce legislation to “prevent unlawful meddling in the Treasury Department’s payment systems and protect Americans across the country.” The bill, known as the “Stop the Steal Act,” would deny information access to “Special Government Employees” and those with “conflicts of interest,” as well as increase protections for tax information under new privacy laws.

Musk, director of DOGE, was appointed as a “Special Government Employee,” according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. It is unclear as to whether he, or any DOGE employees, has a security clearance.

“Nothing screams ‘democracy’ like having a secret squad of company men pull off a hostile takeover of America’s Social Security and tax information in the dead of night ... it’s precisely what DOGE is doing,” Schumer said.

“It’s letting a small group of unelected people, secret, run rampant through the executive branch, accessing the private data [of] millions of Americans ... people’s privacy is at stake,” he added, explaining the need for the legislation.

“They are raiding the government, attempting to steal taxpayer money. That’s what the situation at the Treasury Department is all about,” Jeffries said.

“We will introduce the ‘Stop the Steal Act’ in short order to prevent unlawful access with respect to the [Department’s] payments system,” he added, alleging that “Social Security recipients, Medicare recipients, taxpayers, businesses, not-for-profits, [and] veterans” were at risk despite assurances to the contrary by the Trump administration.

Whatever bill is introduced is highly unlikely to be passed by the 119th Congress, where Republicans have a majority in both houses.

In practice, the leaders of the majority party control the floor schedule for both houses, which means the “Stop the Steal Act” may not receive a vote in either body.

Text of the bill was not immediately released. Schumer and Jeffries’s offices did not immediately respond to a press inquiry from The Epoch Times.

Musk responded to Schumer’s criticism on X, posting: “He’s mad that DOGE is dismantling the radical-left shadow government in full view of the public.

“This is our ONE CHANCE to return POWER to the PEOPLE from an unelected BUREAUcracy back to DEMOcracy!!”