- A new lawsuit against the Education Department accused it of giving DOGE access to student-loan borrowers’ data.
- A group of Democratic lawmakers also launched an investigation into the same issue.
- It comes amid reports that Elon Musk’s DOGE is gaining increased access to internal government databases.
The latest topic of concern for legal groups and Democrats’ ongoing probes into DOGE: student-loan borrowers’ data.
On Friday, the progressive Public Citizen Litigation Group and borrower advocacy group Student Defense filed a lawsuit against the Education Department on behalf of the University of California Student Association. It alleges that the department granted DOGE staffers access to personal information for millions of federal student-loan borrowers.
In response to a report from The Washington Post, the groups accused the department of violating privacy laws.
“The personal data of over 42 million people lives in these systems,” the lawsuit said. “These are people who trusted ED with their sensitive personal information when they filled out the FAFSA and applied for federal student loans and grants, in reliance on the agency’s rules and other representations.”
Additionally, a group of Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to the Education Department on Thursday regarding DOGE’s potential access to student-loan borrowers’ data. Led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the letter said that the federal student-loan database contains “highly sensitive information,” including Social Security numbers and income information, and giving Musk’s team access to data could violate privacy laws.
The lawmakers are investigating DOGE’s access to the data and requested more information from the department by February 13.
The Education Department told Business Insider that it does not comment on pending litigation. It also did not comment on the Democratic lawmakers’ letter.
While it’s unclear how much access DOGE actually has to internal government data — the Treasury Department recently said Musk’s team has “read-only” access to the Treasury’s payment systems — concerns around the scope of the access have been the center of some recent legal challenges.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, also told reporters on Monday that Musk “abided by all applicable federal laws” regarding any Treasury access.
The latest investigations into the Education Department’s data also come as the department itself is on President Donald Trump’s cost-cutting list. Trump told reporters earlier this week that he hoped his nominee for education secretary, Linda McMahon, would succeed in putting herself out of job, reaffirming his goal to eliminate the Education Department altogether.
McMahon’s confirming hearing is next week, and lawmakers will likely ask her about her plans for the future of the Education Department. Some Republican lawmakers have floated giving the Treasury Department the responsibility of overseeing the federal student-loan system in legislation to eliminate the Education Department.
Read the full article here
