[House Report 119-18]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
119th Congress } { Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
1st Session } { 119-18
======================================================================
RESOLUTION OF INQUIRY REQUESTING THE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTING THE
SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY TO TRANSMIT, RESPECTIVELY, CERTAIN DOCUMENTS
TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES RELATING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF
GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY'S ACCESS TO THE TREASURY PAYMENT SYSTEMS AND
CONFIDENTIAL TAXPAYER INFORMATION
_______
March 18, 2025.--Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be
printed
_______
Mr. Smith of Missouri, from the Committee on Ways and Means,
submitted the following
ADVERSE REPORT
together with
DISSENTING VIEWS
[To accompany H. Res. 127]
The Committee on Ways and Means, to whom was referred the
resolution (H. Res. 127) of inquiry requesting the President
and directing the Secretary of the Treasury to transmit,
respectively, certain documents to the House of Representatives
relating to the Department of Government Efficiency's access to
the Treasury payment systems and confidential taxpayer
information, having considered the same, reports unfavorably
thereon without amendment and recommends that the resolution
not be agreed to.
CONTENTS
Page
I. SUMMARY AND BACKGROUND...........................................2
A. Purpose and Summary................................. 2
B. Background and Need for Legislation................. 2
C. Legislative History................................. 3
Background......................................... 3
Committee Action................................... 3
II. EXPLANATION OF THE BILL..........................................3
III. VOTES OF THE COMMITTEE...........................................3
IV. BUDGET EFFECTS OF THE BILL.......................................4
A. Committee Estimate of Budgetary Effects............. 4
B. Statement Regarding New Budget Authority and Tax
Expenditures Budget Authority...................... 4
C. Cost Estimate Prepared by the Congressional Budget
Office............................................. 4
V. OTHER MATTERS TO BE DISCUSSED UNDER THE RULES OF THE HOUSE.......4
A. Committee Oversight Findings and Recommendations.... 4
B. Statement of General Performance Goals and
Objectives......................................... 4
C. Information Relating to Unfunded Mandates........... 4
D. Congressional Earmarks, Limited Tax Benefits, and
Limited Tariff Benefits............................ 5
E. Duplication of Federal Programs..................... 5
VI. CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE BILL, AS REPORTED............5
VII. DISSENTING VIEWS.................................................6
I. SUMMARY AND BACKGROUND
A. Purpose and Summary
H. Res. 127 requests that the Secretary of the Treasury
provide the House of Representatives with documents related to:
the access to, or usage of, the Treasury payment systems by the
Department of Government Efficiency (``DOGE''), Elon Musk, or
any member of his team; access to, or usage of, confidential
tax returns or return information protected by Section 6103 of
the Internal Revenue Code by DOGE, Elon Musk, or any member of
his team; and, screenshots taken of Treasury payments systems
data or records by DOGE, Elon Musk, or any member of his team.
B. Background and Need for Legislation
On February 12, 2025, H. Res. 127 was introduced by
Representative Lloyd Doggett. H. Res. 127 is a resolution of
inquiry, which is a method infrequently used by the House of
Representatives to obtain certain factual information from the
Executive Branch. Under clause 7 of rule XIII, a resolution of
inquiry is subject to a motion to discharge from committee if
the resolution is not reported by the committee to which it was
referred within 14 legislative days of its introduction.
Accordingly, the Committee on Ways and Means scheduled a markup
of H. Res. 127 within the 14-day period.
The Committee reported the resolution unfavorably because
several weeks ago, the Treasury Department and the White House
signed a memorandum of understanding that prohibits DOGE from
accessing personal taxpayer data.\1\ According to public
reports, the memorandum of understanding includes ``all
protections'' and DOGE will have read-only access to anonymized
tax data, the same access granted to academic researchers and
information technology professionals who work on IRS
systems.\2\ Democrats have not provided any evidence to suggest
that DOGE's access to Treasury's payment systems could lead to
the unauthorized disclosure of taxpayer information.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Holly Otterbein and Michael Stratford, Treasury, White House
agree to limits on DOGE's access to IRS data, POLITICO (Feb. 20, 2025),
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/20/treasury-irs-data-white-house-
doge-00205391.
\2\Id.
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Those who have raised concerns about the unlawful
disclosure of taxpayer information should be equally concerned
with when ProPublica and The New York Times used illegally
obtained taxpayer information to publish stories attacking
Americans who had their data stolen.\3\ This resolution is
nothing more than manufactured outrage that does nothing to
serve the American people. The Committee is focused on
legislation and policies that help all Americans. For these
reasons, the Committee reported the resolution adversely.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\Factual Basis for Plea, U.S. v. Charles Edward Littlejohn,
D.D.C., Case No. 1:23-cr-00343-ACR (Oct. 12, 2023), https://
www.justice.gov/criminal/media/1319801/dl?inline; Russ Buettner, et
al., Trump's Taxes Show Chronic Losses and Years of Income Tax
Avoidance, THE NEW YORK TIMES (Sept. 27, 2020), https://
www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/27/us/donald-trump-taxes.html;
Jesse Eisinger, et al., The Secret IRS Files: Trove of Never-Before-
Seen Records Reveal How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax, PROPUBLICA
(June 8, 2021), https://www.propublica.org/article/the-secret-irs-
files-trove-of-never-before-seen-records-reveal-how-the- wealthiest-
avoid-income-tax.
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C. Legislative History
Background
H. Res. 127 was introduced on February 12, 2025, and was
referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.
Committee Action
The Committee on Ways and Means marked up H. Res. 127 on
March 12, 2025, and ordered the resolution reported adversely
(with a quorum being present) by a roll call vote.
II. EXPLANATION OF THE BILL
H. Res. 127 requests that the Secretary of the Treasury
provide the House of Representatives with documents related to:
the access to, or usage of, the Treasury payment systems by the
Department of Government Efficiency (``DOGE''), Elon Musk, or
any member of his team; access to, or usage of, confidential
tax returns or return information protected by Section 6103 of
the Internal Revenue Code by DOGE, Elon Musk, or any member of
his team; and, screenshots taken of Treasury payments systems
data or records by DOGE, Elon Musk, or any member of his team.
III. VOTES OF THE COMMITTEE
In compliance with the Rules of the House of
Representatives, the following statement is made concerning the
vote of the Committee on Ways and Means during the markup
consideration of H. Res. 127, Of inquiry requesting the
President and directing the Secretary of the Treasury to
transmit, respectively, certain documents to the House of
Representatives relating to the Department of Government
Efficiency's access to the Treasury payment systems and
confidential taxpayer information on March 12, 2025.
H. Res. 127 was ordered adversely reported to the House of
Representatives by a roll call vote of 25 yeas to 18 nays (with
a quorum being present). The vote was as follows:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Representative Yea Nay Present Representative Yea Nay Present
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr. Smith (MO)..................... X ...... ......... Mr. Neal............. ...... X .........
Mr. Buchanan....................... X ...... ......... Mr. Doggett.......... ...... X .........
Mr. Smith (NE)..................... X ...... ......... Mr. Thompson......... ...... X .........
Mr. Kelly.......................... X ...... ......... Mr. Larson........... ...... X .........
Mr. Schweikert..................... X ...... ......... Mr. Davis............ ...... X .........
Mr. LaHood......................... X ...... ......... Ms. Sanchez.......... ...... X .........
Mr. Arrington...................... X ...... ......... Ms. Sewell........... ...... X .........
Mr. Estes.......................... X ...... ......... Ms. DelBene.......... ...... X .........
Mr. Smucker........................ X ...... ......... Ms. Chu.............. ...... X .........
Mr. Hern........................... X ...... ......... Ms. Moore (WI)....... ...... X .........
Mrs. Miller (WV)................... X ...... ......... Mr. Boyle............ ...... X .........
Dr. Murphy......................... X ...... ......... Mr. Beyer............ ...... X .........
Mr. Kustoff........................ X ...... ......... Mr. Evans............ ...... X .........
Mr. Fitzpatrick.................... X ...... ......... Mr. Schneider........ ...... X .........
Mr. Steube......................... X ...... ......... Mr. Panetta.......... ...... X .........
Ms. Tenney......................... X ...... ......... Mr. Gomez............ ...... X .........
Mrs. Fischbach..................... X ...... ......... Mr. Horsford......... ...... X .........
Mr. Moore (UT)..................... X ...... ......... Ms. Plaskett......... ...... X .........
Ms. Van Duyne...................... X ...... ......... Mr. Suozzi........... ...... X .........
Mr. Feenstra....................... X ...... .........
Ms. Malliotakis.................... X ...... .........
Mr. Carey.......................... X ...... .........
Mr. Yakym.......................... X ...... .........
Mr. Miller (OH).................... X ...... .........
Mr. Bean........................... X ...... .........
Mr. Moran.......................... X ...... .........
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IV. BUDGET EFFECTS OF THE BILL
A. Committee Estimate of Budgetary Effects
With respect to clause 3(d) of rule XIII of the Rules of
the House of Representatives, a cost estimate provided by the
Congressional Budget Office pursuant to section 402 of the
Congressional Budget Act of 1974 was not made available to the
Committee in time for the filing of this report.
B. Statement Regarding New Budget Authority and Tax Expenditures Budget
Authority
In compliance with clause 3(c)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules
of the House of Representatives, the Committee states that the
bill involved no new or increased budget authority. The
Committee states further that the bill involves no new or
increased tax expenditures.
C. Cost Estimate Prepared by the Congressional Budget Office
In compliance with clause 3(c)(3) of rule XIII of the Rules
of the House of Representatives, the Committee advises that the
Congressional Budget Office did not provide a cost estimate of
the resolution.
V. OTHER MATTERS TO BE DISCUSSED UNDER THE RULES OF THE HOUSE
A. Committee Oversight Findings and Recommendations
With respect to clause 3(c)(1) of rule XIII of the Rules of
the House of Representatives, the Committee made findings and
recommendations that are reflected in this report.
B. Statement of General Performance Goals and Objectives
With respect to clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII of the Rules of
the House of Representatives, the Committee advises that the
bill does not authorize funding, so no statement of general
performance goals and objectives is required.
C. Information Relating to Unfunded Mandates
This information is provided in accordance with section 423
of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L. No. 104-4).
The Committee has determined that the bill does not contain
Federal mandates on the private sector. The Committee has
determined that the bill does not impose a Federal
intergovernmental mandate on State, local, or tribal
governments.
D. Congressional Earmarks, Limited Tax Benefits, and Limited Tariff
Benefits
With respect to clause 9 of rule XXI of the Rules of the
House of Representatives, the Committee has carefully reviewed
the provisions of the bill, and states that the provisions of
the bill do not contain any congressional earmarks, limited tax
benefits, or limited tariff benefits within the meaning of the
rule.
E. Duplication of Federal Programs
In compliance with clause 3(c)(5) of rule XIII of the Rules
of the House of Representatives, the Committee states that no
provision of the bill establishes or reauthorizes: (1) a
program of the Federal Government known to be duplicative of
another Federal program; (2) a program included in any report
from the Government Accountability Office to Congress pursuant
to section 21 of Public Law 111-139; or (3) a program related
to a program identified in the most recent Catalog of Federal
Domestic Assistance, published pursuant to the Federal Program
Information Act (Pub. L. No. 95-220, as amended by Pub. L. No.
98-169).
VI. CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE BILL, AS REPORTED
Pursuant to clause 3(e) of rule XIII of the Rules of the
House of Representatives, the Committee advises that H. Res.
127 does not make any changes to existing law.
VII. DISSENTING VIEWS
Americans' right to privacy is under attack. Privacy is
next to liberty in our democratic system, yet the President and
his billionaire cabinet are jeopardizing that value for their
own power and enrichment. This Resolution of Inquiry (ROI) is
an important step in ensuring Congress continues its important
job of oversight over the Executive Branch.
Elon Musk and the so-called, faux ``Department of
Government Efficiency'' (DOGE) have accessed, and are
attempting to access, millions of Americans' personal and
confidential information without anyone knowing exactly what
data they accessed and copied, how the data is or will be used,
and the names, clearance levels, and training of the
individuals accessing this data. This is an extreme breach of
privacy.
This ROI asks for documents related to DOGE's access to,
and usage of: (1) the Treasury payment systems, (2)
confidential taxpayer information protected by federal tax law,
and (3) screenshots taken of Treasury payment systems' data by
a member of DOGE.
Mr. Musk and members of DOGE are ignoring two federal
privacy laws: (1) Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code and
(2) the Privacy Act of 1974. Section 6103 provides that tax
returns and return information shall be confidential unless an
exception applies. The term ``return information'' is very
broad and includes, among other things, a taxpayer's name,
address, social security number, and nearly all information
received or collected by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
with respect to a tax return. Unauthorized disclosure of tax
returns or return information is a felony and is punishable by
a fine not exceeding $5,000, or imprisonment of not more than 5
years, or both.
As the court noted in Comm. on Ways & Means, U.S. House of
Representatives v. U.S. Dep't of Treasury, 575 F. Supp. 3d.53,
59-60 (D.D.C. 2021), Section 6103 was expanded after President
Nixon issued two executive orders authorizing the Department of
Agriculture to inspect for ``statistical purposes'' the tax
returns of all farmers. Congress objected, and President Nixon
revoked the orders. More troubling to Congress, however, was
that members of the Nixon White House obtained IRS records,
including tax returns, for many of President Nixon's political
opponents. These revelations worried the House committee
members enough that they proposed an article of impeachment
alleging that President Nixon had violated the constitutional
rights of taxpayers.
As referenced above, Mr. Musk and DOGE are also ignoring
the Privacy Act, which was designed to provide individuals with
more control over the gathering, dissemination, and accuracy of
agency information about themselves. See Alliance for Retired
Americans, et al., v. Bessent, United States District Court for
the District of Columbia (Case No. 25-03013) (Mar. 7, 2025). It
was Congress's response to a growing awareness that
governmental agencies were accumulating an ever-expanding
stockpile of information about private individuals that was
readily susceptible to both misuse and the perpetuation of
inaccuracies that the citizen would never know of, let alone
have an opportunity to rebut or correct.
The Privacy Act imposes burdens on federal agencies and
creates rights for individuals when agencies collect, maintain,
use, and disseminate information about an individual. It
provides criminal penalties for willful violations of its
requirements. Notably, it is also a federal crime for any
person to request or obtain any record concerning an individual
from an agency under false pretenses.
Courts rightfully have been concerned about the misuse of
ever-expanding information that government agencies accumulate
about private citizens. Let's consider the personal and
confidential information that DOGE has or is attempting to
access.
Members of DOGE first gained access to the Treasury
Department and its payment systems operated by the Bureau of
the Fiscal Service (BFS). These payment systems contain
extensive details about individual recipients of federal
payments. For any given payee, these details may include: name;
social security number; employer identification number, or
other agency identification or account number; date and
location of birth; physical and/or electronic mailing address;
telephone numbers; payment amount; date of issuance; trace
number or other payment identification number, such as Treasury
check number and symbol; financial institution information,
including the routing number of his or her financial
institution and the payee's account number at the financial
institution; and vendor contract and/or purchase order number.
Next, members of DOGE gained access to the IRS and sought
broad access to the most sensitive IRS data systems, which are
protected under Section 6103. According to reports, this broad
access gave DOGE the ability to ``read'' the data, and in some
cases even were granted ``read/write access'', to detailed
information--including bank accounts, payment balances, Social
Security and other personal identification numbers and, in some
instances, medical information--on virtually every individual,
business, and nonprofit in the country. After multiple media
reports and lawsuits on this issue, the President and Treasury
Department officials ``agreed'' to prohibit DOGE from accessing
personal taxpayer data.
Despite this agreement, we know that DOGE successfully
gained this information another way by accessing personal and
confidential worker and taxpayer information at the Department
of Health and Human Services (HHS). The HHS holds the National
Directory of New Hires (NDNH). The NDNH contains information
about every wage earner in the United States and their
employers, including wages, employer tax identification
numbers, social security numbers, verified dates of birth,
addresses, unemployment insurance benefit information, and
other information derived from IRS wage forms. By gaining this
information, DOGE essentially made an end-runaround the
confidential taxpayer information protected by the IRS.
It is both unclear and unsettling why DOGE continues to
seek access to private and confidential information at agencies
across government, behind closed doors, while telling the
public something different. No one should be rummaging around
in the confidential information of private citizens at any
agency where protected information resides. This is especially
true for unaccountable and unelected people with no experience
in managing or auditing government systems and programs.
The risks are real, Americans' personal data could be
leaked, lost, sold, or used to enrich a few. Identity theft is
a threat that too many Americans have already experienced.
Thus, it is imperative that we receive information requested in
this ROI.
The President and Elon Musk should be answering the
questions members of Congress and the American people are
asking: what data they are harvesting, who is harvesting it,
and what do they plan to do with it. Executive oversight is a
fundamental responsibility of Congress. Passing this resolution
would have helped to ensure transparency in our government. Yet
the Majority voted to reject this resolution, allowing the
executive branch to hide in the darkness from the American
people and from Congress, unchecked as they rifle through the
people's data.
For these reasons, we believe our Majority colleagues were
wrong to adversely report this ROI to the full House of
Representatives.
Sincerely,
Richard E. Neal,
Ranking Member.
DISSENTING VIEWS
Today's markup of these two Resolutions of Inquiry is an
important step in ensuring Congress continues its important job
of oversight over the executive branch. Let's be clear: what we
are seeking today is simply transparency from the Trump
Administration and DOGE as to what they have done behind closed
doors at agencies that carry sensitive, personal information of
every American taxpayer. We are just looking for information.
Passing these resolutions would ensure transparency in our
government, rejecting them would allow the executive branch to
hide in the darkness from the American people and from
Congress, unchecked as they rifle through the people's data.
It is important that as members of Congress that we
continue using every tool available to conduct necessary
oversight of the Trump Administration for the good of the
American people. It is both unclear and unsettling why DOGE
continues to seek access to private and confidential
information at agencies across government behind closed doors
while telling the public something different. No one should be
rummaging around in the confidential information of private
citizens at any agency where protected information resides.
Privacy is next to liberty in our Democratic system, yet
the President and his billionaire cabinet are jeopardizing that
standard for their own power and enrichment, and House
Republicans haven't so much as raised an eyebrow. Americans
should know this: every time this Administration threatens the
health and well-being of the American people, Ways and Means
Democrats will be there fighting and sounding the alarm. I
applaud Ranking Member Doggett and Ranking Member Larson for
their steadfast leadership in holding DOGE accountable and
protecting the American people's data. What we have seen over
the last 7 weeks is unacceptable. Unaccountable and unelected
people with no experience in the systems of our government have
been rifling through the people's data.
Under a false guise of finding waste, fraud, and abuse,
they are seeking to dismantle institutions that tens of
millions rely on. It's unfortunate we even have to mark up
these resolutions today. The President and Elon Musk should be
answering the questions members of Congress, and the American
people are asking, what data they are harvesting, who is
harvesting it, and what they plan to do with it. Executive
oversight is a fundamental responsibility of Congress, and
Democrats are stepping up when Republicans won't. In fact,
yesterday, our colleagues stripped this body of one of these
fundamental Constitutional obligations--oversight of the
Executive Branch on trade.
The Courts have spoken, putting limits on what DOGE is
allowed to access and tamper with. Yet, as we have seen
recently, DOGE representatives aren't taking no for an answer.
Now, they are attempting to use a database at HHS as a back
door entrance. Trump and his allies have made clear that
Americans' private and sensitive information is theirs to
harvest and profit off of.
All the while, Republicans have been silent, and in some
cases, defending the invasions. But that's not surprising. For
years, Republicans have been gunning for and fearmongering
against benefit programs in America, looking to weaken Social
Security and Medicare's brands as an excuse to destroy them.
The President and House Republicans are the greatest threat
to Social Security, which stands proudly as a bedrock for our
seniors and our nation's economic security. They call it a
Ponzi scheme. A scam. The next `big thing' to be cut. Democrats
call it a promise. An earned benefit. Something no billionaire
or unelected and unaccountable robber baron should have their
hands on. Democrats are fighting to protect the 70 million
Social Security beneficiaries from an out-of-control executive
branch, and to protect the sensitive data of every American.
Congress and the American people deserve answers to what is
happening behind closed doors at Social Security, Treasury, and
every government agency that has found itself in DOGE's
crosshairs. While Republicans might be too scared to ask the
hard questions, afraid to find themselves on the wrong end of a
social media storm, Democrats will stand up, fight for the
American people against this gross executive overreach and get
them answers they deserve.
Sincerely,
Richard E. Neal,
Ranking Member.
[all]