Legislative watchdog rebuffs DOGE efforts to install on-site team

The Department of Government Efficiency sought to assign a team of staffers to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, but the watchdog privately rejected those efforts, arguing that the legislative branch agency is not subject to DOGE oversight, according to two people familiar with the matter and an internal Friday email seen by Nextgov/FCW.

According to the correspondence, GAO on Friday “sent a letter to the Acting Administrator of DOGE stating that GAO is a legislative branch agency that conducts work for the Congress.”

It adds: “As such, we are not subject to DOGE or Executive Orders. We have also notified relevant congressional committees and will keep them appraised of any further developments.”

GAO’s letter followed a request by DOGE staffer Justin Fox, who contacted GAO on Tuesday, May 13 to inquire about installing a team, per an email provided by House Oversight Dems.

GAO is known as Congress’ watchdog, meant to support lawmakers with nonpartisan reports and recommendations. The office also acts as an auditor and, at times, issues legal decisions on government contracting and appropriations.

A separate GAO employees’ union email obtained by Nextgov/FCW reiterated GAO’s message, and added that union members “have full confidence that GAO leadership will protect and defend GAO’s independence, as the Comptroller General and Executive Committee have made clear at prior town halls.”

“The GAO Employees Organization has been in contact and is working with the appropriate Congressional committees and our parent union, IFPTE, to address this incident as well,” it added.

NOTUS first reported the internal GAO email.

“DOGE’s attempted intrusion into an independent, nonpartisan legislative branch agency is a direct assault on our nation’s sacred separation of powers,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee. “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.”

The agency has felt the pressure of DOGE before. Several GAO offices that conduct sensitive national security analysis were marked for lease terminations, but those decisions were walked back in March, Nextgov/FCW first reported.

GAO confirmed the correspondence to Nextgov/FCW and said DOGE aimed to get a team at GAO under President Donald Trump’s DOGE executive order signed on Inauguration Day. 

“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,” the spokesperson said. They declined to say when exactly DOGE contacted the federal oversight agency.

GAO isn’t the first legislative branch agency that the administration and DOGE have taken an interest in. The President recently fired the librarian of Congress last week and the head of the U.S. copyright office, prompting some bipartisan pushback from Congress. 

The Office of Management and Budget did not immediately return a request for comment. 

Trump set up DOGE on his first day in office with a focus on overhauling government technology, but the group’s work has since then been wide-ranging, including attempting to shut down entire agencies and helping the administration with its efforts to shed federal employees.

The White House and DOGE have taken a particular interest in fraud, but the administration also has fired many inspectors general, the executive branch’s watchdogs whose mandate is to prevent and find fraud, waste and abuse. One anti-fraud expert has noted that DOGE’s definition of fraud appears to be expansive enough to include policies that the Trump administration is opposed to that aren’t actually fraudulent. 

And although some of DOGE’s focus has been on topics that are historically nonpartisan — like the efforts it has touted to modernize government tech or make sharing data across agency boundaries easier — DOGE-fueled cuts to tech teams have also harmed modernization efforts. Its efforts to consolidate data have sparked concerns about privacy laws being crossed, which are also the subject of over 10 lawsuits around the handling of government data.

Editor's note: This was was updated to include information regarding when DOGE contacted GAO.