[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 24 (Wednesday, February 5, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Page S602]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                  Department of Government Efficiency

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, yesterday, Leader Jeffries and I 
announced legislation to stop unlawful meddling by DOGE or other 
entities in the Treasury Department's payments system. Our bill will 
deny access to the payment system by anyone designated as a ``special 
government employee''--in other words, people who aren't required to 
disclose conflicts of interest.
  Our bill will deny access to anyone with conflicts of interest or 
lack of appropriate clearance. Imagine where all the Federal funds are 
going out and someone has a conflict of interest and has access to 
those funds and can do something with them. That is a formula for 
waste; that is a formula that makes sure that money isn't spent wisely 
but is spent to accommodate the needs of a special few.
  And our bill will ensure that Treasury payments can only be accessed 
by those with proper clearance. Everyone should agree that making the 
government more efficient and more effective is a good thing. But 
DOGE's scorched-earth policies are dangerous and unlawful. That is 
their approach.
  History shows that when this kind of stuff is done in the dark of 
night with no guardrails by a limited group of people who don't really 
know the programs they are dealing with, it leads to bad results. If 
Treasury payments were ever intentionally or even accidentally halted 
or manipulated, it could paralyze the economy.
  DOGE has said they want to cut $2 trillion, $2.5 trillion from the 
budget--well, that is going to be massive cuts done, again, by people 
who don't know the programs, don't know the whole extent of what the 
government is doing. Some of it might be wasteful. Get rid of it. But 
much of it is good and needed. One mistake and people's Social Security 
benefits could freeze. One mistake and disability payments to veterans, 
loans to small businesses could all be in danger.
  If DOGE's meddling caused us to default, it could compromise the full 
faith and credit of the United States, and that would hurt everybody 
because interest rates would go up on everything--cars, homes, you name 
it.
  The OMB funding freeze last week was disastrous enough, but a DOGE 
funding freeze would be far worse if guardrails are totally thrown out 
the window. And that seems to be what is happening. We don't know any 
guardrails. They sure haven't been made public.
  We should talk about reform here in the open, in the Halls of 
Congress, in the public forums of the people's government. That is how 
it has been done by Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative for 
centuries because we all know--the Founding Fathers knew, historians 
know--democracy doesn't work in the shadows--autocracy does, not 
democracy.
  Democracy does not skirt the rule of law. The American people deserve 
to have a seat at the table when these important decisions are made. 
But so far, DOGE is operating entirely in the dark.
  Our legislation would correct it. We are going to do anything and 
everything we can legislatively to try and get this done. And maybe, at 
some point, we will get some help from the other side of the aisle if 
they see how bad DOGE's actions are.