Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, Congressmen Al Green (D-TX), Ranking Member of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, Bill Foster (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Financial Institutions Subcommittee, and Brad Sherman (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Capital Markets Subcommittee, issued the following statement in response to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report examining access by President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), initially led by Elon Musk, to sensitive systems at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and other federal agencies. 

“Committee Democrats have sounded the alarm from the very beginning, launching multiple inquiries and repeatedly demanding answers about DOGE’s access to Americans’ sensitive information. We warned that handing DOGE sweeping access without adequate safeguards was reckless, and this report from the Government Accountability Office shows exactly why those warnings demanded answers.  

“The Trump Administration opened the door to critical government data systems containing Americans’ personal data, but cannot fully account for what data DOGE staff accessed, what they did with it, or whether it was kept safe. At the CFPB alone, six DOGE officials gained access to at least 19 systems, and two of those individuals had the ability to give themselves and others even greater access to many more systems. Even more telling is how the Trump-appointed officials at the CFPB and SEC failed—or outright refused—to give GAO the information it needed to verify that basic security rules were followed.  

“GAO has already caught a DOGE official improperly disclosing Treasury payment information, yet the Trump Administration has failed to implement a single one of GAO’s six recommendations made to Treasury to better protect these critical payment systems that move trillions of Americans’ dollars. That cannot continue. We are demanding that this Administration immediately cooperate with GAO and Congress, come clean about who had access to Americans’ information and what was done with it, and secure these critical systems. We will not hesitate to use all the tools available to us to ensure this Administration stops trampling on the privacy of Americans without being held accountable.” 

Read the full report HERE. 

Background: 

• On February 8, 2025, Ranking Member Waters issued a statement blasting Elon Musk’s efforts to takeover and shutdown the CFPB. 

• On February 11, 2025, Ranking Member Waters and other Committee Democrats joined CFPB staff and consumer advocates outside of CFPB’s headquarters to demand answers following reports that DOGE gained access to the CFPB and the Administration was actively seeking to shutdown the agency. This was one of many actions Committee Democrats took in the early days of the Trump Administration’s shutdown of CFPB. 

• On February 13, 2025, Ranking Member Waters and Congressman Brad Sherman wrote a letter to the SEC Acting Chair, warning of the dangerous consequences if DOGE gained access to the SEC and its data. 

• On February 28, 2025, Ranking Member Waters, Congressmen Al Green, and Bill Foster wrote a letter to GAO and CFPB’s Inspector General to investigate the Trump Administration’s illegal shutdown of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and DOGE’s access to sensitive consumer data. 

• In March 2025, Ranking Member Waters, and Representatives Sherman, Vargas, Foster, and Casten sent a letter to SEC Acting Chair Mark Uyeda in response to reports that the General Services Administration (GSA), inspired by DOGE, is terminating leases for SEC regional offices in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Chicago by the end of the summer. This pressure from HFSC Democrats ultimately resulted in the SEC deciding to keep these offices open.  

• On March 28, 2025, Ranking Member Waters and Committee Democrats introduced H. Res. 259, a Resolution of Inquiry (ROI) demanding the Administration turn over information related to DOGE’s access to sensitive and personal data as well as the Administration’s unlawful shutdown of the CFPB. 

• On March 31, 2025, Ranking Member Waters released a statement slamming reports that DOGE had gained access to SEC data. 

• On May 5, 2025, Ranking Member Waters announced GAO and CFPB’s Inspector General agreed to launch investigations into Trump-Musk CFPB Shutdown following the request made by her, Congressmen Al Green, and Bill Foster. 

• On February 9, 2026, GAO released an initial report showing the various negative impacts of the Trump Administration’s unlawful shutdown of the CFPB. 

• On August 26, 2026, CFPB’s Inspector General released a report detailing negative impacts of the Trump Administration’s unlawful shutdown the CFPB.