DOGE tried to embed in the GAO, which is part of Congress
The Department of Government Efficiency is continuing its attempts to expand its reach beyond executive branch agencies, this time seeking to embed in an independent legislative watchdog that finds waste, fraud and abuse in the government.
But the U.S. Government Accountability Office, a legislative branch entity that helps audit government spending and suggest ways to make it more efficient, rejected that request on Friday by noting that GAO is not subject to presidential executive orders.
The request to GAO had cited President Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order creating DOGE, which, despite its name, is not a formal agency.
DOGE’s request to GAO and its response was first reported by NOTUS.
A spokesperson for GAO confirmed DOGE’s outreach, and reiterated that “as a legislative branch agency, GAO is not subject to Executive Orders and has therefore declined any requests to have a DOGE team assigned to GAO.”
The GAO regularly releases reports that highlight ways to improve government efficiency, like a May 13 review of federal programs with fragmented, overlapping, or duplicative actions it says could save over $100 billion in spending. But there’s been little overlap between GAO’s work and DOGE’s actions so far.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about DOGE’s attempts to place a team at GAO.
It’s not the first time DOGE has sought to embed staffers at an organization outside of the executive branch. In recent weeks, DOGE representatives have been in contact with several privately incorporated noofits that were created by Congress and receive federal funding but are not considered government agencies, as well as at least one noofit that was established with no relationship to Congress.
In addition, last week President Trump abruptly fired the Librarian of Congress, a year before the end of her term — raising concerns from members of Congress including Senate Majority leader John Thune.
DOGE tried to assign a team to review operations at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in April, a day after Trump attempted to fire three board members, according to filings in a lawsuit brought by CPB challenging Trump’s move.
CPB denied that request, citing federal law stating that the organization “will not be an agency or establishment of the United States Government.”
DOGE’s overreach was even more extreme when it approached the Vera Institute of Justice, a private noofit that has received federal grants, but was not created by Congress, about assigning a team there.
After Vera staff told the DOGE representative that the Department of Justice had terminated the organization’s grants, he said his request to embed into Vera was “void.”
Do you have information about DOGE outreach to independent agencies and nongovernmental organizations? Reach out to the authors through encrypted communications on Signal. Stephen Fowler is available on Signal at stphnfwlr.25. Shannon Bond is at shannonbond.01. Please use a nonwork device.