Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., hit out at the Department of Government Efficiency on Thursday as having "burrowed into" Americans' private data after DOGE officials gained access to the Treasury Department's federal payment system.
The Treasury announced on Tuesday that DOGE officials have gained "read-only" access to the Fiscal Service, the department's federal payment system, which includes data on Social Security and Medicare payments.
Coons, during an interview with CNN on Thursday morning, ripped President Donald Trump's plans for the U.S. to take over the Gaza Strip as "not a serious proposal" and called it "a distraction" from the controversy over DOGE.
"Where would the tens of billions of dollars and the expertise come from" to implement this proposal, Coons asked. "If every Arab and Muslim country in the region forcefully opposes the idea of relocation Palestinians and would not support this and they've publicly said so, where would all this money to rebuild Gaza come from?"
He said that Trump's proposal is "a distraction so we're not paying attention to the fact that they've burrowed in these DOGE folks, under Elon Musk's direction."
Coons added, "They've burrowed into the private information of every American, something we should all be alarmed about and should be blocked in federal courts."
Multiple federal unions have filed a lawsuit over the sharing of confidential data, which they claim is in violation of "federal laws [that] protect such data from improper disclosure and misuse, including by barring disclosure to individuals who lack a lawful and legitimate need for it."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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