Democratic Senators question IRS about DOGE access to data

Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., asked the IRS on Monday whether Elon Musk’s government efficiency team had access to taxpayer information. The senators were responding to news reports that the White House was drafting a memorandum of understanding with the IRS that would give workers in the Department of Government Efficiency task force access to IRS systems and data.

What were the Senators’ concerns? The privacy of Americans’ tax returns is protected by federal law—not only from public exposure but also from government personnel who don’t have authorization. Allowing DOGE team members to view Americans’ tax information would violate federal law and could lead to the information being abused for political reasons, the Senators wrote. Tampering with IRS systems during tax season could lead to issues in processing taxpayers’ returns, Wyden and Warren added.

What does Trump’s administration have to say? Trump said during a Feb. 11 livestream from the Oval Office that if there were issues with transparency or conflicts of interest with Musk, his administration would address the issues. Musk said at the same event that all of his team’s actions had been made public and that its track record was transparent.