By Ashley Johnson
Howard University News Service
House Democrats are pleading with GOP members to help pass legislation protecting Americans’ financial data. This comes after Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team accessed sensitive data from the Department of the Treasury.
“House Republicans don’t appear interested in working for everyday Americans and solving problems for hard-working American taxpayers,” the House Democratic Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries said during a briefing today.
“Why? Because they are working for Elon Musk — an unelected, unaccountable, out-of-control billionaire puppet master.”
Jeffries, Rep. Sean Casten, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, Rep. Haley Stevens and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar responded by introducing the Taxpayer Data Protection Act.
The act intends to shield the tax data of the American people in light of Musk and his team gaining “read-only” access to the Treasury Department’s payment system that contains data like Social Security numbers, tax information, birth dates and other sensitive information.
In November, President Donald Trump announced that he would implement the Department of Government Efficiency when he took office in January. He appointed Musk, CEO of Tesla and X, formerly known as Twitter, to lead the department.
The proposed legislation needs three votes from the GOP to pass. Casten said the Republican Party fears going against Musk and the Trump administration.
“I know every one of us was elected to lead,” Casten said. “None of us went out in the elections and said, ‘If you vote for me, I will promise to cower before the first bully that shows up.’”
At the same time this briefing was held, the Congressional Progressive Caucus began its conference by calling for Musk to be fired from his position. A coalition of legislators, labor groups and environmental activists also echoed these sentiments today at another briefing and protest this afternoon in Washington.
“If you work hard and play by the rules, you shouldn’t have a billionaire taking your money,” Rep. Greg Ceaser said in reference to Musk allegedly using his access to acquire tax breaks for himself and others of his stature.
Ashley Johnson covers Congress for HUNewsService.com.
