Democrats are preparing to investigate the Trump administration if they win control of Congress, they could have trouble extracting even basic information from federal agencies, Wired reported on Thursday.
A late-September Government Accountability Office report on Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) task force illustrated the problem. GAO found all six agencies it reviewed resisted its inquiries in some way, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Veterans Affairs, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. None would identify DOGE staff they had hosted, including CFPB, where several were already publicly known. CFPB accused GAO of bias and called its report “misleading.”
A GAO spokesperson said obtaining information from agencies has become harder over the past year and a half, which limits how well it can tell Congress whether programs and data are secure. A Democratic aide described the obstruction as “surprising,” saying agencies usually try to meet investigators partway, but this time showed “a complete lack of willingness to kind of get to yes.”
Meanwhile, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) said GAO told him the Commerce Department is refusing to cooperate with an investigation of AI-related export controls.
Congress’s options to fight the obstruction are limited. Democrats plan to use subpoenas, the aide said. But University of Houston law professor Emily Berman said contempt used to carry real embarrassment and now doesn’t, since there’s “no shame,” and since enforcement usually runs through a Justice Department controlled by the president. Attorneys general have been held in contempt three times since 2012 with little effect. Lawsuits might work, but could outlast a House term.
Other levers include withholding funds, which Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), likely to take over the House Judiciary Committee under a Democratic majority, has mentioned. But Berman notes that sprawling spending bills make this a clumsy tool, as the shutdown over DHS funding demonstrated. A Democratic Senate could also stall nominations.
Berman’s bottom line: “There are no good options.”