A showdown is brewing between the Department of Government Efficiency task force, and the Government Accountability Office, NOTUS reported on Friday.
Thus far, DOGE, the pet project of tech billionaire Elon Musk to downsize the federal government, has kept to targeting executive branch agencies. But the accountability office, which serves the same objective DOGE is supposed to fill, is different — it's an agency under the control of Congress. And for that reason, GAO asserts DOGE does not apply to it.
DOGE, according to the report, "is now starting to target government agencies outside of the executive branch, notifying the U.S. Government Accountability Office — the congressional watchdog that performs studies for legislators about federal waste, fraud and abuse — that it has 'assigned a team' to assail that agency, according to an internal email obtained by NOTUS."
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However, the accountability office is "directly telling the White House cost-cutting project managers at DOGE that the agency is far outside President Donald Trump’s jurisdiction."
In a new mass email to all of the office's employees, leadership stated that “GAO was contacted by representatives of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), who sought to assign a team to GAO. Today, we sent a letter to the acting administrator of DOGE stating that GAO is a legislative branch agency that conducts work for the Congress. As such, we are not subject to DOGE or executive orders.”
Additionally, per the report, the office's officials are privately seeking to assure employees that they will have their backs in the event DOGE tries to infiltrate the agency or impose staffing changes on them, similar to the mass firings and buyout ultimatums DOGE has imposed on executive branch agencies.
Musk, who has directed much of these efforts from behind the scenes even while not formally being part of DOGE's leadership structure, is gearing up to depart the administration amid a cloud of controversy.