Top oversight Dem files resolution to demand answers from DOGE on AI use
The measure was introduced by Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., the ranking member of the House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency. Under House rules, the committee must act on the resolution of inquiry within 14 days. If the Republican-controlled panel does not, then Democrats can move to push the ROI to the House floor for a vote.
DOGE personnel have been deployed across many federal agencies and given access to a wide range of sensitive data, including the government’s payment system at the Treasury Department, which has resulted in legal action. Democrats in both chambers of Congress have also sent dozens of letters to federal agencies expressing serious concerns about the unit’s access to Americans’ sensitive information.
The Musk-led unit has also reportedly been utilizing AI capabilities to process federal data, with The Washington Post reporting in February that DOGE personnel were feeding data from the Education Department into an AI tool to review the agency’s programs and spending.
Stansbury’s resolution would compel the White House to provide Congress with “a copy of any document, record, report, memorandum, correspondence, or other communication” related to DOGE’s use of collected data in AI systems.
This information would have to include, in part, details about any AI tools deployed at federal agencies at the direction of Musk or DOGE personnel, “including any associated System of Records Notice, Privacy Impact Assessment, or Authorization to Operate.”
Additionally, the resolution would mandate that the administration detail the “federal data and sources of federal data fed into such AI technology, including any reference as to whether such data contains the sensitive, personally identifiable information of American citizens and any data sets or sources downloaded or manipulated by employees of DOGE.”
According to a one-pager of the resolution provided by Democrats on the panel, the measure is described as being necessary because multiple reports have claimed that DOGE and Musk are using AI “to mine data, make unsanctioned decisions regarding federal contracts, payments, and personnel, and potentially download data to external sources.”
In a statement, Stansbury said the resolution will require that the Trump administration “provide answers about what it is doing with our data and how it is using Artificial Intelligence to data mine our systems.”
“The American people demand to know why Elon Musk and DOGE are hacking our private and sensitive data and what they are doing with it,” she added. “This includes Social Security, IRS, Treasury, and other highly sensitive data.”
The resolution’s introduction comes after Democrats on the DOGE subcommittee sent letters to 24 federal agencies last month requesting that they provide the panel with documentation showing that any uses of AI at their agencies complied with federal laws and protected Americans’ data.
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