The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was temporarily denied access to specific Treasury Department payment records by a federal judge on Friday.
In a temporary restraining order, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly stated that Treasury officials “will not provide access to any payment record or payment system of records maintained within the [Treasury] Bureau of Fiscal Service.”
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington mediated the deal, which permits two Musk supporters who have been identified as Treasury employees to keep using a payments system that holds the financial and personal information of millions of Americans.
However, it forbids Tom Krause and Marko Elez from disclosing private Treasury information to third parties. Additionally, she gave Krause and Elez “read-only” access, which allows them to view records but not change them.
“The agreement came after a lawsuit on Monday filed by a coalition of labor unions whose members are among the millions of people who receive payments from the federal government,” the Wall Street Journal reported.
“The deal doesn’t resolve the lawsuit, but rather was intended to ‘preserve the status quo’ until Kollar-Kotelly can hear legal arguments, the judge said during a court hearing on Wednesday afternoon. She asked lawyers for both sides to hash out the standstill agreement, saying she would consider issuing a temporary restraining order if they were unable to agree on the wording of an interim order,” the outlet added.
Until Kollar-Kotelly, a Clinton appointee seated in Washington, D.C., can determine whether the labor unions have a right to an injunction, the agreement will stand.
The lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of the AFL-CIO and others by the left-leaning nonprofit Public Citizen, asks for a court order that would prevent Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from using the Treasury payments portal because doing so would result in the illegal disclosure of home addresses, social security numbers, and banking information.
Musk, the richest man in the world and a vocal supporter of Trump, was brought in to cut back on federal bureaucracy. Originally intended to be an advisory committee, his DOGE task force was made a temporary organization within the Executive Office of the President by a Trump executive order on the first day of the administration.
Swift action has been taken by Musk’s supporters to seize control of large portions of the US government, such as the US Treasury and the US Agency for International Development. They have outlined plans to stop spending they believe is excessive and demanded access to sensitive data at federal agencies.
Elez, an engineer who graduated from college in 2021 and has since worked at two of Musk’s companies, and Krause, a Silicon Valley technology executive, are among the Musk allies connected to DOGE.
Challenges to the moves have come quickly. Attorney Bradley Humphreys of the Justice Department said during a court hearing on Wednesday that Krause and Elez were granted read-only access to the payment system, known as the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, and were designated as special employees of the Treasury Department.
Krause and Elez had not given any of the data they examined to anybody outside of Treasury, including Musk, Humphreys informed the judge.
DOGE has accelerated its work in recent weeks.
In its first two weeks of operation, DOGE eliminated around $1 billion in spending by canceling 85 Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEI)-related contracts.
The cuts came across 24 federal agencies, which included the Department of Education, Department of Labor, Treasury, Defense, USDA, Homeland Security, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
“Through 1/29/2025, 85 DEIA-related contracts totaling ~$1B have been terminated within the Dept. of Ed, GSA, OPM, EPA, DoL, Treasury, DoD, USDA, Commerce, DHS, VA, HHS, State, NSF, NRC, NLRB, PBGC, USAID, RRB, SSA, SBA, BLM, CFPB, NPS, and NOAA,” the department said on X.
The Office of Personnel Management was hit with some of the biggest cuts, as close to $500 million in contracts were canceled.
The Department of Agriculture was next as it was nearly $110 million in canceled contracts and spending.
Other cuts included the Department of Homeland Security, which saw a reduction in spending of 14.9 million; the Department of Health and Human Services cut $28.1 million; the Department of Labor eliminated $7.8 million; the Department of Treasury cut $25.2 million; the Environmental Protection Agency saw a reduction of $3 million in spending; the Department of Education cut $3.8 million; and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) saw cuts of $45 million.