The government’s efficiency, the Trump administration’s cost-cutting agency led by billionaire business owner Elon Musk, puts hundreds of federal employees on leave, gaining access to sensitive federal payment systems and brings charges He led to federal agencies.
The pushback against Doge was quick as lawmakers and the public asked whether Musk could be reduced, restructured or eliminated institutions approved and funded by the Congress.
Chuck Schumer, leader of the Senate minority in New York, wrote to X on February 3rd: Doge is not a real government agency. Doge does not have the authority to make spending decisions. Doge has no authority to shut down programs or ignore federal laws. Doge’s actions cannot bear it. ”
The unelected shadow government is making hostile federal takeovers.
Doge is not a real government agency.
Doge does not have the authority to make spending decisions.
Doge has no authority to shut down programs or ignore federal laws.
Doge’s actions…– Chuck Schumer (@senschumer) February 3, 2025
At a press conference the next day, Schumer said the idea that Doge was acting illegally “is uncontroversial.” That’s an indisputable fact. ”
Officially, the court will decide whether it is uncontroversial.
Since that hasn’t happened yet, we asked the White House what it is run by the constitutional or statutory authorities Doge. The White House did not cite any particular law or constitutional provisions in its statement. “The people leading this mission at Elon Musk are fully compliant with federal law, proper security clearance, and not as external advisors or entities, but as employees of related agencies.”
Here we take a closer look at Schumer’s statement regarding Doge and its position and authority within the US government.
Legal scholars and government operations experts said they rarely see them in the constitution or US law, in order to overturn what Congress approved and funded, to support the administrative department alone.
“This is a question that has a very clear answer. Only Congress and Congress have the power to enact expenditure measures,” said Michael Gerhardt, a law professor at the University of North Carolina. “The President has no unilateral authority to shut down spending or measures funded by Congress without permission from Congress.”
Is Doge a real government agency?
Doge is not a traditional government agency. These are usually created by Congress with missions and fixed amounts of funds. In contrast, Doge’s budget and personnel are primarily mysterious.
The Trump administration established it on January 20, 2025 by executive order.
The order was led by an administrator reporting to the White House Chief of Staff, and said that the operation would be halted on July 4, 2026. The order also established “Doge teams” of at least four people within each federal agency.
The White House says masks are “special government officials,” and are a decades-old government category for those working within 130 days of a year. Special government officials can be paid or unpaid – which category does the mask fall under – must provide financial disclosure and comply with ethical rules Not there. The New York Times has received at least $15.4 billion in government contracts over the past decade. )
Does Doge have the authority to make spending decisions?
The legal experts we interviewed doubt that it is legal for Doge to cut spending already allocated by Congress and signed by the President.
One of the key obstacles to Doge is the Constitution, particularly Article 1, which establishes parliament and strengthens the legislative sector with appropriate funding. “We won’t be able to withdraw money from the Ministry of Finance, but as a result of the legal budget.”
Beyond this, Congress enacted it, and the President signed a law to reaffirm this principle. The 1974 Water Storage Management Act sets a detailed process of what the president could and could not do when he disagrees about whether he would spend money approved by Congress.
The law says that if an administrative agency wants to cancel spending, it must propose a cut known as “retraction.” Expenses cannot be suspended for more than 45 days as lawmakers consider cutting.
“If we don’t follow the Water Storage Management Act, there are major issues with approved and allocated funds,” said Bill Hoagland, a senior vice president of the Center for Bipartisan Policy and formerly Republican Senate. I stated.
The Supreme Court in recent years has blocked the administrative department from exaggerating Congress-sanctioned powers, such as President Joe Biden’s bid to allow student loan debt.
“If Congress says they can regulate the department or the institution, they can,” said Lewis J. Villeri III, a law professor at Stetson University. “Without Congress they can’t.”
Arizona State University political scientist Stephen Smith usually evaluates executive orders after President John F. Kennedy’s President John F. Kennedy laid out in the executive order . “This process provides a review of the proposed executive order, including constitutionality and legality,” Smith said. However, given the speed of Trump’s orders about the doge signed on the day he was sworn in, HR flux within the federal government said he saw no indication that Trump had followed this long-standing deliberation process. .
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has said it is claiming both the right to save money, the right to refuse to spend money approved by Congress, and vice versa. By offering acquisitions to millions of federal employees, the administration has promised that Congress has not yet been allocated. The current federal funds will end March 14th, but to promise further payments, “it’s illegal if there is no legal basis,” Virelli said.
Does Doge have the authority to shut down programs or ignore federal laws?
Legal experts also believe that the same legal justification, the allocation of the constitutional wallet power to parliament, and subsequent laws, would prevent Doge from closing the entire institution.
Frank O. Bowman III, professor of law at the University of Missouri, said: “But it is absolutely clear that the President cannot unilaterally close all the programs Congress has created under the constitution.” Trump and his appointees are independence of the United States Organization for International Development (USAID). Working to remove the positions that have been done. He folded the agency into the State Department and pledged to fire most of his employees, Trump made a promise during his campaign to close the education department. .
“The most ominous version of what the administration is doing is, “Let’s play this in court and see if we can get approval through court,” Virelli said. “If this ends as a series of cases in which the administration seeks to expand their powers and the courts try to sort them all out, then it’s not outside the scope of our constitutional democracy.”
But musk and doji could be moving so fast that even if the judge wanted, the judicial department would be difficult to stop them, legal experts said.
Chris Edelson, an assistant professor in the government, said the administration could win if the lower courts “do not make a decision quickly enough.” He said it could also win if a judge decides to dismiss a long-standing precedent. “As the current court did in 2024, the Supreme Court says the president is immune to criminal prosecution against “official conduct,” and also decides that the president does not need to comply with other parts of the Constitution. Maybe I will.”
Can Congress stop the doge if they want? And what about that?
Experts agree that institutionally, parliament is the most important thing to lose. But it’s not helpless. Congress may pass laws that block Doge or at least some of its practices.
During the President Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal, when the Supreme Court moved strongly to constrain the president’s power, “Congress supported the court by moving him to each,” Edelson said. . “We don’t see any evidence that the Republican majority in Congress is doing that.”
For example, North Carolina Sen. Tom Tillis admitted that some of Musk’s actions could be unconstitutional, but “everyone should be mad about it,” he said in a news outlet notus He spoke to. “It’s violated the constitution in the harshest way…but it’s not uncommon for a president to be a bit of a bend about where he can use it and where he can stop spending.”
David M. Doriszen, a law professor at Syracuse University, said the Tillis comparisons were flawed.
“There is no precedent for withholding money entirely due to wide policy discrepancies regarding the law,” Driesen said. “It’s a head-on attack on legislative authorities in Congress.”
If lawmakers do not challenge Doge, passing new laws or going to court will risk losing the powers that Congress has held for two and a half centuries. Driesen and other legal experts said the judge may consider the lack of Congress’ opposition when deciding on the case on the question.
“That should not be of any importance as a constitutional matter,” said law professor Bowman. “But I think for some judges, silence may have some weight.”
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