Reports that DOGE is seeking access to sensitive systems at the Internal Revenue Service are sending Democrats into a frenzy, with some calling the request a “five-alarm warning” and a “blatant power grab.”

The Washington Post reported Sunday that members of the cost-cutting organization want access to the IRS’ systems. Some of the systems the Post reports DOGE wants access to hold information on personal identification numbers and bank information. The paper notes that the agreement that would give DOGE software engineer Gavin Kliger access to the information would also require that he comply with federal confidentiality requirements and destroy any information shared with him once his time at the agency is complete. 

Mr. Kliger’s reported goal is to provide “engineering assistance” to help update what the Post describes as the IRS’ “antiquated” systems. However, the paper says it is “highly unusual to grant political appointees access to personal taxpayer data.”

A Trump administration official told the Post that access to systems containing sensitive information is important to ensure that DOGE can “eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse, and improve government performance to better serve the people.” The official also said DOGE’s work is being done “legally and with the appropriate security clearances.”

Democrats and journalists are unconvinced, however, whipping up fear about DOGE potentially gaining access to such data. Congressman Jimmy Gomez posted on X, “This is a five-alarm warning. Elon Musk has been after your personal financial info from day one.”

“His actions are illegal and a blatant power grab. The GOP majority must join Democrats to stop Musk from stealing taxpayer information. If not, they’ll be to blame for any leak, abuse or theft,” he added.

The handwringing over DOGE’s request, however, glosses over reports about just how secure taxpayer information actually is to begin with. A February 2024 report from the Treasury’s inspector general found that more than 91,000 employees and contractors had access to “one or more” systems containing sensitive taxpayer information. 

“The fact remains that for some sensitive systems, the IRS does not have adequate controls to detect or prevent the unauthorized removal of data by users,” the inspector general’s report said.

Some members of the liberal press seem to have had no problem with contractors accessing and leaking taxpayer information when it involved Republicans or wealthy individuals.

When the contractor who leaked the tax returns of President Trump and other billionaires, Charles Littlejohn, was sentenced to five years in prison, a politics writer for Slate, Alex Sammon, wrote on X, “This guy is a hero who showed us how the superrich steal from the American public. Naturally, the judge gave him a max sentence, claiming it was ‘a moral imperative’ to punish him as harshly as possible.” 

As President Biden’s time in office wound down, legal scholars and commentators wrote letters and columns urging the 46th president to commute Littlejohn’s sentence.

Despite the inspector general report’s indication that there is a much larger issue at the IRS involving the security of Americans’ sensitive information, Democrats appear to be most concerned about DOGE. The top Democrats on the Senate’s finance and banking committees, Senators Wyden and Warren, wrote an “urgent” letter to the acting IRS commissioner, Douglas O’Donnell, seeking “information related to any efforts by individuals associated” with DOGE to access taxpayer data. 

The letter said DOGE’s request to access various systems at the IRS is “raising serious concerns that Elon Musk and his associates are seeking to weaponize government databases containing private bank records and other confidential information to target American citizens and businesses as part of a political agenda.”

Besides the suggestion that DOGE may be violating federal tax law by seeking access to such data, the senators also fretted that efforts to update the IRS systems in tax season could “inadvertently or otherwise, cause breakdowns that may delay the issuance of tax refunds indefinitely.”