FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 20, 2025
January 20, 2025
Marion Steinfels, SDDF, [email protected]
Omar Baddar, Public Citizen, [email protected]
Andrew Huddleston, AFGE, [email protected]
Union, Consumer Advocates, and Democracy Watchdog Group Sue Trump Administration Over DOGE
WASHINGTON – Today, Public Citizen, State Democracy Defenders Fund (SDDF), and the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) filed a lawsuit to ensure that the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) complies with the requirements of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).
Despite the name, DOGE is not a department of the United States government. The lawsuit, which names President Trump and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as defendants, charges that they are violating FACA, including because DOGE’s members do not have a fair balance of viewpoints, meetings are held in secret and without public notice, and records and work product are not available to the public.
The advice and guidance that Mr. Trump has charged DOGE with producing is sweeping and consequential. DOGE—the members of which currently do not represent the interests of everyday Americans—will be considering cuts to government agencies and programs that protect health, benefits, consumer finance, and product safety. Its work and recommendations thus may endanger plaintiffs and the hundreds of thousands of everyday people whom they represent.
“This advisory committee led by Musk and Ramaswamy, who hold financial interests that will be directly affected by federal budgetary and regulatory policies, is beset both by conflicts of interest and the biased and extremist views of the libertarian billionaire class,” said Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen.
“As constructed, DOGE’s mission to advise OMB and the White House on how to slash regulations and cut expenditures puts at risk important consumer safeguards and public protections. It fails to consider how to more efficiently regulate companies to better protect consumers, how to eliminate wasteful and inefficient corporate subsidies and efficient public investments to make America stronger,” added Public Citizen co-president Lisa Gilbert.
“This is not about cutting redundant staff; this is about billionaires gutting important programs that American citizens across the country rely on every single day without adequate transparency or accountability,” said Ambassador Norm Eisen, co-founder and executive chair of State Democracy Defenders Fund “We are a country where everyone is beholden to the rule of law. No one, no matter the size of their checkbook or the office they hold, is exempt from following our laws.”
“AFGE will not stand idly by as a secretive group of ultra-wealthy individuals with major conflicts of interest attempt to deregulate themselves and give their own companies sweetheart government contracts while firing civil servants and dismantling the institutions designed to serve the American people,” said AFGE National President Everett Kelley. “This fight is about fairness, accountability, and the integrity of our government. Federal employees are not the problem—they are the solution. They deserve to have their voices heard in decisions that affect their work, their agencies, and the public they serve”
Each of the three organizations, Public Citizen, SDDF and AFGE, previously sent a letter to Trump transition co-chairs Howard Lutnick and Linda McMahon regarding their concerns about the failure to comply with FACA and requesting representation on the advisory group to ensure that it met FACA requirements. A Trump transition spokesperson rejected SDDF’s request, stating that “we have no room in our administration for Democrats.” Public Citizen and AFGE have yet to receive responses.
The organizations are represented in the lawsuit by attorneys at Public Citizen Litigation Group and SDDF.
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State Democracy Defenders Fund brings together a nonpartisan team to work with national, state and local allies across the country to defend in real-time the foundation of our democracy — free and fair elections.
Public Citizen is a non-profit, public-interest research, litigation, and advocacy organization based in Washington, DC, with members and supporters in all 50 states. Public Citizen advocates before Congress, regulatory agencies, and the courts to advance the interests of its members on a wide range of consumer-protection issues. Since its founding in 1971, Public Citizen has worked to hold the government and corporations accountable to the people, including by focusing on research and advocacy with respect to regulation of health, safety, consumer finance, and the environment. Public Citizen recentlyreleased a new report that provides a blueprint for what a government committed to “efficiency” should prioritize.
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