Policy Backgrounders

DOGE Access to Federal Payment Systems

February 13, 2025

As part of the new Administration’s review of Federal spending, two staffers affiliated with the US DOGE Service (also known as the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE)) have received access to several payment systems that distribute trillions of dollars in Federal spending every year. While Congressional Republicans remain supportive of DOGE’s broader mission, Democrats and outside stakeholders have raised privacy and security concerns, called for investigations, and submitted legal challenges.

• The Treasury Department’s Bureau of Fiscal Service (BFS) directs the issuance of approximately $6 trillion in annual payments for Social Security, Medicare, veterans’ benefits, Federal tax refunds, and interest payments to bondholders of US debt.
• DOGE-affiliated staffers have gained access to the BFS’s payment systems as part of DOGE’s campaign to assess Federal spending and reduce fraud, waste, and abuse, alarming Democrats and prompting legal challenges due to the sensitive personal and financial information stored in this and other payment systems.
• The debt ceiling has not been increased or suspended since the start of the calendar year; flows through Treasury payment systems have implications for when the Federal government will reach the “X” date and potentially default on the US national debt.
• In related news, the House and Senate Budget Committees are marking up their draft budget resolutions to advance the President’s legislative agenda after weeks of internal negotiations among Congressional Republicans.