White House deputy chief of policy Stephen Miller said on Monday that staff from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will only access sensitive Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data on a “programmatic level.”
Miller was challenged on DOGE’s access to the IRS data after reports that Elon Musk‘s government department is attempting to gain access to a system that holds personal taxpayer data on millions of Americans, according to multiple reports.
Why It Matters
The Integrated Data Retrieval System (IDRS), allows IRS employees to access personal tax records, manage taxpayer accounts and generate notices related to tax filings. It can include highly sensitive data such as social security numbers and bank account information.
Democratic lawmakers are trying to fight against DOGE plans to access IRS data over fears it could be used to politically target Americans and violate privacy laws.
Sen. Ron Wyden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren sent a joint letter Monday to acting IRS Commissioner Douglas O’Donnell, demanding copies of any memos that would grant IRS system access to Musk or DOGE and justifications for allowing DOGE employees to inspect tax returns.
What to Know
When asked whether DOGE would have access to the IDRS, including Americans’ personal identification numbers and bank account information, Miller said staff would only access it on a “programmatic level.”
“What we’re talking about is at the programmatic level; being able to analyze and assess for signs and symptoms of fraud that would involve established criminal organizations and established fraud rings. And looking at how IT systems are failing to detect it,” he said, during a Monday appearance on Fox News.
Miller said that the President Donald Trump administration needed to install “basic political controls” on the IRS and said that DOGE needed the programmatic access to identify “fraud, waste, corruption and abuse” in the tax system.
“There’s no way to know (how much alleged fraud) until DOGE gains full access exactly how much money we’re talking about,” he continued.
“As far as protecting the secrecy of tax records, the IRS has been weaponized at a career level against the American people for years now. We are restoring the neutrality,” he added.
Miller also defended DOGE staffers, telling Fox hosts that they were “political employees, just like me, just like everyone else in the White House that serve and answer to the president.”
“So, we’re not talking about an outside, private entity,” he said.
He even argued they faced more accountability, because they were appointed by the president, “as opposed to some career civil servant that has, until now, has completely immune” to accountability.
The news comes as the IRS plans to lay off thousands of probationary workers in the middle of tax season, AP reports.
Meanwhile, 14 attorney generals have challenge DOGE’s authority to access sensitive data at the Treasury payment systems in a lawsuit filed on Thursday. In it, they accuse the department of having “virtually unchecked power.”
What people are saying
Sen. Wyden and Sen. Warren said in a joint letter, that they are “extremely concerned that DOGE personnel meddling with IRS systems in the middle of tax filing season could, inadvertently or otherwise, cause breakdowns that may delay the issuance of tax refunds indefinitely.”
Representative Gerry Connolly, a Democrat from Virginia, said last week: “Elon Musk and DOGE can’t be allowed to creep on Americans’ most sensitive data as they operate in the shadows.”
Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat, Thursday on X, formerly Twitter: “My office is hearing that DOGE is now at the IRS. That means Musk’s henchmen are in a position to dig through a trove of data about every taxpayer in America. And if your refund is delayed, they could very well be the reason.”
Christian Whiton, a former Trump senior adviser, told Sky News Australia: “It’s a great move; it’s poetic justice for the IRS to be facing scrutiny since they scrutinized the rest of us.”
What Happens Next
President Trump told reporters on Thursday that he does not expect to close the IRS, but he confirmed it “will be looked at like everybody else.”
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