President Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency is already under threat of being shut down after a lawsuit was filed almost immediately after he took office.
DOGE has been one of Trump’s most touted plans leading up to being sworn-in as he tapped billionaire Elon Musk to help cut government waste.
It was one of dozens of executive orders the president signed with the flourish of his pen on day one.
But the same day, the government watchdog group Public Citizen, organization Sate Democracy Defenders Fund and the American Federation of Government Employees union filed a lawsuit on Monday minutes after Trump was sworn in.
They point out that despite its name, DOGE is not actually a government agency.
They sued to make sure it complies with the the law governing the formation of advisory committees and named Trump and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as defendants.
They argue the formation of DOGE violates the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) because members do not have balanced viewpoints, meets are secretly held and records and work are not available to the public.
‘As constructed, DOGE’s mission to advise OMB and the White House on how to slash regulations and cut expenditures puts at risk important consumer safeguards and public protections,’ said Public Citizen co-president Lisa Gilbert.
They argue the leadership under Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who is already on his way out as he plans to run for governor in Ohio, pose conflicts of interest and threat of extremist views.
‘This is not about cutting redundant staff; this is about billionaires gutting important programs that American citizens across the country rely on every single day without adequate transparency or accountability,’ said Norm Eisen, co-founder of the State Democracy Defends Fund.
Before filing the lawsuit, the groups said they reached out to the Trump transition team with their concerns and asked for representation on the advisory group, but their request was rejected.
They filed their lawsuit in the District of Columbia and asked the district court to block the administration from using DOGE as an advisory committee and prohibit them from meeting and advising the Trump and OMB.
However, the lawsuit filed may have gotten ahead of what DOGE will actually as the language of the order has now been revealed.
According to the executive order signed by the president on Monday, DOGE looks like it would function less as an advisory committee but within the government.
It state that DOGE is actually the public renaming of the U.S. Digital Service (USDS), which was a technology agency created under President Obama, to U.S. DOGE Service.
The order states that within it, there will be a temporary DOGE organization which will last 18 months and end July 4, 2026.
The wording of the order also suggests it is less about government waste as Trump and allies has been publicly saying and more about modernization.
‘This Executive Order establishes the Department of Government Efficiency to implement the President’s DOGE Agenda, by modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity,’ the order reads.
On Monday night while signing the order, Trump said that Musk would not have an office in the West Wing, but he indicated DOGE would hire 20 employees to carry out his effort.