It’s been, let’s say interesting, watching the world’s highest-profile bromance flame out so spectacularly.
But while Donald J. Trump and Elon Musk are kaput personally — for now; with Trump, you can’t ever say never — Musk’s controversial unofficial government agency created to ferret out waste, fraud, and abuse in federal agencies will continue.
The persistence of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is the subject of this weekend’s Saturday Shout Outs.
So as not to upset DOGE types by wasting time, let’s get to it.
One of the operation’s most disconcerting moves has been DOGE work within the Social Security Administration. Following initial, and incorrect, reports of Social Security benefits going to centenarians and dead people, the group has taken a less showy approach in its look at the federal government’s retirement and disability benefits system.
But their poking around in our most private information still has not gone over well with most of the public.
Too bad, said the Supreme Court of the United States last week.
Supreme Court Allows DOGE Access to Social Security Data, reports Jan Wolfe for the Wall Street Journal. The justices’ move lifted a lower court order that had barred DOGE employees or affiliates from accessing the agency’s systems and directed them to delete personal information they already had gathered.
DOGE just got a green light to access your Social Security data. Here’s what that means, notes Jeanne Sahadi for CNN. She reports that the “partial list of the data” the SSA systems likely has about each of us includes our name, Social Security number, date and place of birth, gender, addresses, marital and parental status, parents’ names, lifetime earnings, bank account information, immigration and work authorization status, health conditions if you apply for disability benefits, and use of Medicare after a certain age.
Meanwhile, as the conservative majority on the country’s highest court was deciding that DOGE can continue to peruse our Social Security data, which, by the way, is another entry into our Internal Revenue Service profile since the tax agency and SSA share certain information, a legislative attempt to evaluate any DOGE privacy violations was nixed.
GOP Blocks Bill to Check Social Security Network for DOGE Damage, writes Melanie Waddell for Think Advisor. The Senate bill, the Protecting Seniors’ Data Act of 2025, would have required performance and security audits of the computer systems of the SSA to which DOGE personnel have access.
The legislation’s Democratic sponsors, Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon (and ranking Senate Finance Committee member), Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, argued that their proposal would ensure DOGE efforts did not infiltrate private Social Security data.
Finally, this weekend’s final shout goes to a couple of articles looking at Musk’s legacy.
The New York Times’ piece tells us, in its headline, that After His Trump Blowup, Musk May Be Out. But DOGE Is Just Getting Started. Reporters Christopher Flavelle, Coral Davenport, Nicholas Nehamas, Kate Conger, and Zach Montague checked in with multiple federal agencies, and discovered that with DOGE members embedded throughout Uncle Sam’s operations, their approach to transforming government is becoming “institutionalized.”
Gary Fields reports for an AP story published by the Federal News Network on how Musk’s playbook has impacted dozens of agencies, notably the first one DOGE dismantled in Elon Musk is gone, but DOGE’s actions are hard to reverse. The US Institute of Peace is a case study. “After ending his sojourn in Washington, Musk left behind a wounded federal government,” writes Fields.
Welp, these Saturday Shout Outs on DOGE’s potentially intense looks into our federal data has left me feeling a bit paranoid. To chill, I’m going to watch some movies. The Conversation or The Lives of Others, perhaps? 😉
You also might find these items of interest:
- One donation option for Trump's Tesla
- TIGTA investigating DOGE and White House incursion into IRS
- IRS has lost 11,000+ employees so far this year under Trump/Musk cuts
Advertisements
🌟 Search Amazon Tax Products 🌟
The text link above is an affiliate ad. If you click through and then buy a product, I receive a commission.
