WASHINGTON — The two top Democratic leaders in Congress, Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer and House inority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both of New York, announced legislation on Tuesday that seeks to push back against President Donald Trump and the head of his effort to shrink the federal government, billionaire Elon Musk.
The bill, named “Stop the Steal” in an apparent reference to the phrase used by Trump supporters regarding the 2020 election, looks to directly hit back against Musk’s influence and reports his Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, gained access to sensitive Treasury data including Social Security and Medicare customer payment systems.
“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,” Schumer told reporters on Tuesday. “That is not democracy, Mr. Musk, and yet it’s precisely what DOGE is doing.”
The legislation, the leaders said, would deny access to the Treasury Department payment system to special government employees – the title Musk has been given which subjects him to less stringent rules on ethics and financial disclosures than other workers – as well as anyone with conflicts of interest or without appropriate clearance. It would also add personal tax information into existing privacy protections, Schumer said.
The Senate Democratic leader told reporters that the move is aimed at addressing two specific “dangers," which he said include letting a group of unelected people "run rampant" through the executive branch, potentially violating the privacy of Americans and the possibility the group could cut programs the public relies on.
“So our belief is there’s a real danger, terrible, terrible danger and a looming danger that they will not only have access to American’s privacy information but that they will use that to cut programs left and right,” Schumer said.
The bill has a slim chance of getting across the finish line as Democrats hold a minority in both chambers of Congress but Schumer told reporters that he is banking on Republicans needing help from his party during funding battles and he will look to “insist that there be certain changes that undo these bad things.”
Democrats have been vocal about their outrage over Musk’s influence in the second Trump administration, particularly over the last few days as the billionaire has looked to bring significant changes to USAID and amid the reports about the Treasury Department systems.
Trump, who created DOGE and tapped Musk to run it, insisted to reporters on Monday that the billionaire cannot take action without the approval of the White House.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.