As the White House angles to exert control over the Library of Congress, Democrats defended the independence of another legislative branch agency on Friday.
A spokesman for the Government Accountability Office confirmed that the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency attempted to assign a team there but was rebuffed.
“I can confirm that GAO has been contacted by DOGE staffers seeking to assign a team to GAO,” the spokesman said in a statement, without saying when the request occurred. “As a legislative branch agency, GAO is not subject to Executive Orders and has therefore declined any requests to have a DOGE team assigned to GAO.”
Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee decried the attempts by DOGE, which is spearheaded by billionaire GOP donor and government contractor Elon Musk.
“DOGE’s attempted intrusion into an independent, nonpartisan legislative branch agency is a direct assault on our nation’s sacred separation of powers,” Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, D-Va., said in a statement. “DOGE cannot and must not have any access to GAO. Oversight Democrats are monitoring this situation closely and stand behind GAO’s well-established status as a critical legislative branch agency.”
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, also issued a statement. “The law is crystal clear: GAO is a legislative branch agency not subject to DOGE or the president’s whims. It is an indispensable, impartial government watchdog, and its independence must remain. My message to Elon and DOGE: get lost.”
An internal communication on Friday alerted GAO employees to the request from DOGE and the agency’s intent to push back, according to reporting by NOTUS.
News of the contact comes days after President Donald Trump fired the librarian of Congress and the head of the U.S. Copyright Office, and attempted to install two Department of Justice officials to act in their stead. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle criticized Trump for the actions, saying they violated the Constitution’s separation of powers, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries , D-N.Y., said “litigation will be evaluated strongly.”
It also comes after GAO angered some Republicans with its stance on Clean Air Act waivers. Republican lawmakers hope to use the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to block an agency rulemaking within a 60-day period by simple majority in both chambers, to prevent a waiver granted by the EPA to California that allowed the state to effectively ban gas-powered vehicles by 2035.
After GAO said it did not view those waivers as eligible to be overturned under the CRA process, House Oversight Chair James R. Comer, R-Ky., and Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., sent a letter to the head of GAO raising questions about “distortion of its role” and “ideological bias.”
Led by Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, GAO is the federal government’s chief audit agency. The nonpartisan legislative branch organization provides detailed policy analysis and program evaluations at the direction of Congress.
Dodaro recently testified before a Senate panel on its investigations of any attempts by the administration to withhold congressionally-appropriated funds. “We have right now 39 different investigations underway. We’re trying to get the information from the agencies about what their legal position is for not expending the money,” Dodaro told the Senate Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee in April, adding that the executive branch had been slow to respond to GAO’s inquiries.
DOGE’s stated purpose is to root out fraud and waste in the federal government and improve efficiency, mirroring GAO’s own long-held mission. But some reports have estimated that DOGE’s early efforts, which included attempts at decimating federal staffing levels, will actually increase federal expenditures.
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