{"id":21427,"date":"2025-02-07T16:01:21","date_gmt":"2025-02-07T21:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/?p=21427"},"modified":"2025-02-10T11:46:00","modified_gmt":"2025-02-10T16:46:00","slug":"wyden-merkley-launch-probe-into-doges-interference-with-department-of-education-access-to-federal-student-loan-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wyden-merkley-launch-probe-into-doges-interference-with-department-of-education-access-to-federal-student-loan-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Wyden, Merkley Launch Probe into DOGE\u2019s Interference with Department of Education, Access to Federal Student Loan Data"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Musk\u2019s Team May Have Obtained Access to Personal Information of Millions of Borrowers; Raises Concerns About Violations of the Law, Failure to Protect Sensitive Information<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><br><\/em><strong>Washington DC -<\/strong> U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley today demanded an investigation into recent reports that Elon Musk\u2019s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)\u00a0 staffers have gained access to federal student loan data, which includes personal information for millions of borrowers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>In a letter to Acting U.S. Education Department Secretary Denise Carter from Wyden, Merkley and 14 senate colleagues, they wrote, \u201cThis deeply troubling report raises questions about potential exposures of Americans\u2019 private data, the abuse of this data by the Trump Administration, and whether officials who have access to the data may have violated the law or the federal government\u2019s procedures for handling sensitive information.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>There are more than 40 million federal student loan borrowers in the United States. And the Education Department\u2019s student loan database contains millions of borrowers\u2019 highly sensitive information, including Social Security numbers, marital status, and income data.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to public reporting, \u201ca handful of 19-to-24-year-old engineers linked to Musk\u2019s companies, with unclear titles, could be bypassing regular security protocols\u201d during DOGE\u2019s infiltration of federal agencies. The senators also raised concerns that the access provided to DOGE-affiliated staff by the Department may violate the Privacy Act, which generally prohibits the disclosure of such information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cWe are especially troubled by this reporting given President Trump\u2019s stated pledge to abolish the Department,\u201d concluded the lawmakers, adding that the millions of families who rely on the department \u201cto help them achieve the American Dream deserve answers about reports that an unelected billionaire and his team now have access to some of their most sensitive personal information.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Additional reporting <a href=\"https:\/\/ct.symplicity.com\/t\/wrn\/33770491d88673889b4cd5f884b50679\/3701452710\/realurl=https:\/www.washingtonpost.com\/nation\/2025\/02\/06\/elon-musk-doge-ai-department-education\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">suggests<\/a> that DOGE has \u201cfed sensitive data from across the Education Department into artificial intelligence software\u201d in order to target programs or areas to cut off federal spending The 16 senators demanded answers from Carter about DOGE\u2019s access to federal student loan data and any other sensitive databases by February 13, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wyden and Merkley signed the letter led by Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), alongside additional signers Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), and Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n (D-N.M.).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The letter is <a href=\"https:\/\/ct.symplicity.com\/t\/wrn\/33770491d88673889b4cd5f884b50679\/3701452710\/realurl=https:\/www.warren.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/letter_to_ed_re_doge_privacy_concerns.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">aqu\u00ed<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">###<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Musk\u2019s Team May Have Obtained Access to Personal Information of Millions of Borrowers; Raises Concerns About Violations of the Law, Failure to Protect Sensitive Information Washington, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley today demanded an investigation into recent reports that Elon Musk\u2019s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)\u00a0 staffers have gained access to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":18848,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[40],"class_list":["post-21427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases","tag-education"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - 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