DOGE’s Attempt to Monitor GAO Meets Rejection

The quest for greater governmental oversight by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) continues, as it now sets its sights on an autonomous legislative monitoring body that uncovers inefficiencies, fraud, and misuse within the government’s operations. However, the legislative watchdog, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), has recently declined this request. The GAO, an entity that audits governmental expenditures and recommends efficiency measures, asserted that it isn’t governed by presidential commandments. The approach to the GAO was based on an executive order signed by President Trump on January 20 to establish DOGE, which, despite the appellation, isn’t a formal agency.

A representative of the GAO verified the interaction with DOGE, re-emphasizing that the GAO, as a legislative branch unit, isn’t under the jurisdiction of Executive Orders. As a result, they’ve declined any proposals to incorporate a DOGE team within the GAO. GAO leadership informed its employees on Friday through an internal announcement that it has written a letter to Amy Gleason, the Temporary Administrator of DOGE, and notified Congress members about the incident.

GAO continually publishes studies that spotlight methods to enhance governmental efficiency. For instance, a review on May 13 pinpointed federal programs that demonstrated disorganized, overlapping, or redundant tasks which they claim could lead to savings exceeding $100 billion in expenditure. However, to date, the actions taken by DOGE have displayed minimal alignment with the work conducted by the GAO.

Representative Gerry Connolly, a Democrat from Virginia and ranking member on the House Oversight Committee that has jurisdiction over the GAO, voiced stern disapproval of DOGE’s attempt. He castigated DOGE’s venture to infiltrate an autonomous, impartial legislative branch organization as a direct threat to our nation’s revered doctrine of separation of powers. Representative Connolly emphatically stated that DOGE should not and cannot gain any form of access to the GAO. The Democrats on the Oversight Committee are keeping a watchful eye on developments, fully supporting the GAO’s unchallenged position as a crucial arm of the legislative branch.

This isn’t the first instance where DOGE endeavored to station its personnel within a body outside of executive control. In recent times, DOGE representatives initiated discussions with numerous Congress-created nonprofit institutions that, though receiving federal funding, don’t fall under the governmental agency umbrella. They also made contact with at least one nonprofit that was set up independently, having no established ties with Congress.

One such significant outreach effort by DOGE was to the Vera Institute of Justice, a privately-funded nonprofit that has received federal subsidies but wasn’t instituted by Congress. The take up at Vera was contingent upon assigning a DOGE team there. The tide turned when the DOGE representative was informed by Vera staff that the Department of Justice had rescinded their organization’s grants. Consequently, the DOGE delegate declared his proposal to assimilate into Vera as ‘nullified’.

DOGE’s pursuit to be a part of GAO has amplified the simmering discord between Congress and the executive wing of the government. An issue of contention is the examination by the watchdog body into potential statutory violations by the White House, following the suspension of financing that Congress had previously approved. The GAO currently has multiple such investigations in progress.

Speaking at a Senate hearing on April 29, the current head of GAO, Gene Dodaro, noted that 39 separate investigations are ongoing, probing the legality of withholding funds that Congress allocated. Dodaro emphasized that the GAO’s objective was to obtain information from the pertinent agencies regarding their justification for not disbursing the assigned funds.