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Is DOGE constitutional? Legal? And who’s actually cutting what?
by Dave Soulia on FYIVT.com
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), launched under President Donald Trump and originally co-led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, has sparked heated debate over its constitutionality, legality, and actual role in reducing government waste. Critics claim that DOGE oversteps its authority and threatens privacy, while supporters argue that it is a much-needed audit mechanism to combat fraud, waste, and abuse in federal spending.
With Vivek Ramaswamy recently stepping down to run for governor in Ohio, Musk has taken full control of the initiative, further amplifying its controversial profile. At the same time, comments from Rep. Becca Balint have exposed a political double standard—denouncing young engineers involved in DOGE despite previously advocating for youth empowerment.
So, let’s break it all down: Is DOGE legal? Is it constitutional? Who’s actually making the cuts? And why are politicians panicking?
Is DOGE Constitutional?
Yes. DOGE is an entirely constitutional advisory body, just like countless presidential commissions and task forces before it. The U.S. Constitution allows the President to appoint advisers to help execute federal policies, and DOGE’s function falls well within that precedent.
Critics have tried to argue that DOGE is an unconstitutional overreach, claiming it makes spending decisions without congressional approval. However, this is a deliberate misrepresentation of what DOGE actually does.
- DOGE does not control government funds.
- DOGE does not have executive power to make unilateral budget cuts.
- DOGE only reviews financials and presents recommendations to Trump, who makes the final call.
No separation of powers is being violated. Congress still controls the budget, executive agencies still enforce policy, and DOGE simply identifies inefficiencies.
Is DOGE Doing Anything Illegal?
No. There is zero proof that DOGE has done anything illegal.
The biggest legal controversy surrounding DOGE is whether its access to Treasury systems could lead to privacy violations. A coalition of 19 states filed a lawsuit arguing that DOGE’s access to Treasury payment data could expose personal financial information. However:
- There is no evidence that DOGE has accessed private citizen data.
- DOGE’s access was “read-only” and strictly for auditing purposes.
- A federal judge temporarily blocked DOGE’s Treasury access as a precaution, not as a ruling of wrongdoing.
The legal opposition to DOGE is preemptive rather than reactionary—meaning critics are panicking over what they think might happen, rather than responding to any proven misconduct.
Meanwhile, if critics were truly concerned about data security, they’d be more focused on past government data breaches, such as:
- The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) hack (2015), which compromised 21 million federal employees’ records.
- The IRS data leak (2021), where private tax returns of the ultra-wealthy were mysteriously exposed.
- The Healthcare.gov security failures (2013), which put users’ private information at risk.
The idea that Musk’s engineers—some of the most advanced minds in cybersecurity and AI—are a security risk is laughable, especially compared to the government’s own track record of incompetence.
Who Is Actually Cutting Spending—DOGE or Trump?
Despite the alarmist rhetoric, DOGE is not slashing government programs or making unilateral budget decisions. It is an audit team, not an enforcement agency.
- Trump (or his designees) make the final decisions. DOGE flags inefficiencies and presents recommendations.
- DOGE is analyzing, not executing. They are reviewing spending patterns, contracts, and operational expenses for waste, fraud, and abuse.
Example: If DOGE finds a government contract charging taxpayers five times the market price for office supplies, they report it to the administration. Then, Trump’s team decides whether to renegotiate or eliminate the contract.
DOGE is not eliminating jobs or defunding programs—they are simply shining a light on wasteful spending.
Becca Balint’s Hypocrisy on Youth Empowerment
One of the most revealing moments in the DOGE debate came from Rep. Becca Balint, who dismissively attacked the young engineers working on Musk’s team.
Her comment:
“Get Elon Musk out of our business. Get those 18- and 24-year-olds who are there working for him out of our personal private information.”
This statement is particularly condescending coming from someone who has previously championed youth empowerment.
- Balint has publicly praised young activists and urged them to be “engaged” and “scrappy” in fighting for change.
- Yet, when young engineers apply those same qualities toward auditing government spending, she belittles them and suggests they shouldn’t be involved.
Her problem isn’t with young people—it’s with where they’re working.
If these same engineers were working for a left-wing advocacy group, she’d be applauding them. But because they’re exposing waste in her government allies’ budgets, she wants them gone.
This double standard is obvious—she only “supports youth” when they align with her political interests.
Are DOGE Officials Getting Paid?
No. DOGE is completely unpaid.
Musk has publicly stated that his compensation is “zero.” He has called the work “tedious” and described long hours spent analyzing bureaucratic inefficiencies.
So, the idea that Musk is financially benefiting from DOGE is false. His participation appears to be driven by a mix of:
- Genuine interest in fixing inefficiencies
- A belief in AI-driven government audits
- A desire to support Trump’s vision of reducing bureaucracy
Balint’s attempts to paint this as a corrupt money-grab fall apart when you realize no one is getting paid.
Conclusion: Why the Political Class Fears DOGE
DOGE is constitutional, legal, and advisory. It does not have enforcement power and is not making unilateral cuts.
So, why the outrage? Because for the first time, AI-driven audits are exposing waste, fraud, and abuse in real-time.
- DOGE is faster than traditional government audits.
- It’s being run by experts rather than bureaucrats.
- It threatens entrenched interests who thrive on inefficiency.
Politicians like Balint are not scared of “privacy risks.” They’re scared of what DOGE might uncover.
The real story here isn’t about constitutionality or legality—it’s about the political elite panicking over finally being held accountable.
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Categories: Commentary
Great article bringing out and explaining the screaming points and hypocrisy of the power brokers in Congress and State Governments. One missed point, the previous President could do anything involving money, spending money stopping spending and even bragging about sending it when the Supreme Court of the US said it was illegal and unconstitutional to! But now stopping excessive spending, fraud and potentially kickbacks is somehow a threat to America. The only standards of the Democrat Party are double standards.
Great example as to DOGE is legal and Constitutional would be to look at Elizabeth Warrens CFPB, which was just defunded with her and Democrats screaming was illegal and Unconstitutional, However CFPB was created with the hubris of Warren and Barrack Obama unilaterally and outside of Congress, the creation never went through Congress and was funded by the Executive Branch via the Federal Reserve with no money being allocated per the Constitution via Congress. It was created the the Countries CEO and Defunded by the Countries CEO, just reversing the process, another double standard by Warren and the Democrats.
I’m glad you called out Becca Balint’s hypocrisy on this one. When I first saw her rant against DOGE engineers, it just made me think, “Have you ever actually been through an audit?” In my experience in the private sector, the average age of the auditors who show up in our office is somewhere in their 20s. My company gets audited, my school district gets audited, my town gets audited. 100% the federal government needs this audit.
Baliant should be screaming from the roof tops, she was funded, most likely by the insider deals being exposed.
She was bought and paid for by one person to the tune of a Million dollars, and nobody is talking about that.
Money to Ukraine (half seems to be missing), Ukraine invests in FTX, FTX founder pays Baliant a million dollars for her campaign, please let me know what I’m missing here.
Yeah, maybe the free money train just ran out of steam, the true reason people are protesting….
Ball-Lint is the worst.
So any elected official, that refuses to have our bloated Government agencies audited to look into combat fraud, waste, and abuse in federal spending, need to step aside with all the lefts rhetoritic about have a ” Non ” elected official doing the audit, Now that’s funny !!
Just look at all DC elected officials including Vermont’s threesome, your annuals salary run around $140 – $170 K a years and it’s the only position that when you leave you are a millionaire, can someone explain to me how that works ??
Why all the pushback ??, I would think an audit would be something you would look forward too, just to make sure you’re on the straight & narrow, or just to show any any inefficiencies and recommendations, and yes an audit from someone out Government, so why the pushback, something to hide or not wanting the taxpayers to see the ineptness from within, ………… DOGE, keep pushing and keep finding all the
fraud, waste, and abuse of our tax dollars.
I hope Vermont gets a visit from DOGE, I bet our books are a travesty, wake up people, they don’t want you to know, but you are the money tree !!
“Unelected”? Actually, Musk was elected by proxy, he campaigned next to President Trump since August 2024 on every campaign stump and video, while President Trump outlined his plans for the DOGE finding fraud and waste to cut the budget, everything out in the open. Much more in the open than Biden’s behind the scene billionaire oligarch George Soros and his son Alex, who had said he has more influence than any elected official.
Dave, Great article, and so well articulated. Too bad this isn’t something National news would pick up and print or air .
I think if he sent it to the Liberty Daily or whatfinger.com they would include it. I see the Granite Grok there frequently.
DOGE is a bright light into the secret dark holes of the politicians who have claimed to work for The People but do not. All of their schemes being revealed, profiteering off of our backs for many decades will be revealed. The lies of telling constituents that they are working for the taxpayer will be revealed. We will see so much as the days progress from so many schemes, individually, non-profits, made-up committees with their made up programs, fake companies, money laundering, the cycle of money going right back to their pockets, all there in the plain light of day. Not to mention the geopolitical ramifications of their evil ways for many, many years. The ones who are voicing the loudest against DOGE are the ones that maybe do not want the light to shine on them or their comrades. Thank goodness for DOGE. Thank you President Trump. God Bless America. Godspeed!
Remember Sen Elizabeth Warren (D-Ma) said ‘There is no Constitutional right for taxpayers to know how the money is being spent’
THANK YOU Mr. Dave Soulia!!
Your article is a thorough, common sense and factual wind of fresh air amid the abundance of rantings and ravings of mindless emotions and conspiracy theories.
Please know You are appreciated!!
When all non profits are shut down in Vermont, I will believe it when I see it.
It’s amazing how the people who work for nonprofits profit very well. The salaries are usually quite high for those at the top of the chain. By the time the money gets dispersed to the charity it’s generally not that great. All the money sent to an NGO is negligible after salaries, overhead, money laundering and kickbacks are paid. The number used to be .75% of every dollar was used for the bureaucratic system leaving .25% for the actual charity. This is what the left is screaming about, the money pot has been discovered.
“Trump did NOT actually create a new agency. Instead what he did was repurpose an existing agency – the USDS – into something more useful.” “The USDS was an Obamacare office created to make government software better. This group was essentially software development for the bureaucracy. Trump renamed the United States Digital Service (USDS) the United States DOGE Service which even kept the acronym the same. Not only did repurposing an appropriate existing department allow Trump to ensure there was funding for DOGE without having to fight with Congress – it also ensured its legality.”
This is an excerpt from the Substack page of Tom Renz. See the whole article: https://tomrenz.substack.com/p/doge-a-lawyers-perspective.
Nobody I know who voted for Trump knew that a bunch of 19–25-year-olds, who know nothing about government and supervised by the richest man in the world, would attempt to destroy government agencies.
If the Democrats had someone with Musk’s conflict of interests pontificating from the Oval Office, you guys would b screaming murder.
You mean like Clinton’s “RIGO” efficiency program? Fact is, administrations are exactly that because the EXECUTIVE HIRES THEM (because WE hired HIM).
Found the recently hired IRS auditor people ⬆️
This was first brought up in August 2024 on campaign trail as a plan to search out fraud with both President Trump and Musk on the campaign stage explaining it. As far as the youth, if you check you’ll see these are very high IQ late teen early/mid 20 somethings with extreme life accomplishments in their short time and a couple with net worths into the millions from business’ they started in mid teens
The funny thing is, the organization was actually created by the Obama administration. Trump merely renamed it, and redirected its mission. The Democrats essentially handed Trump a loaded gun, and are shocked it’s being used against them.
USAID was created by JFK in 1961 with an executive order so any president could have gotten rid of it like Trump did. So, it only stands to reason that Trump can create DOGE with an executive order. The only difference is USAID was created to waste our tax dollars; DOGE was created to save our tax dollars.
Not true.
Can the President Dissolve USAID Without An Act of Congress?
No, not lawfully. In 1961, USAID was created by an E.O. issued by President John F. Kennedy (E.O. 10973), based in part on authority provided in the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. But a later act of Congress (The Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998, 22 U.S.C. 6501 et seq.) established USAID as its own agency. In a section titled “Status of AID” (22 U.S.C. 6563) it states.
So not as easy as you thought. But having the state dept take over the important to keep parts was smart.
Love that the GOP Budget brought out of committee yesterday will codify eliminating the waste DOGE exposed. It will be a fight with the Democrats getting it done, but will continue to expose that Democrats are a Party of wasting money and kickbacks; but Dem activist judges that have made anti-Trump videos and posts who write checks to the DNC won’t be able to block the changes.
What follows is an interesting and astute Substack characterization of our political class by Matt Taibbi, former Rolling Stone contributor and conformed former liberal… especially, it seems to me, as he might be describing Vermont’s legislature.
“It’s hard to see how any of them have really fought their way up in some true Darwinian political contest because they’re very stupid, and the ones who aren’t stupid are very fraudulent. They are often not in command of the issues that they claim to be their central issues…. Hey guys, it’s not that they’re incompetent, it’s not that they’re corrupt. Yeah, they’re all those things, but they’re also just putting on a f…ing show. They don’t really know what they’re talking about. They’re like ABBA singing in English or Milli Vanilli. They really aren’t informed, aware, maybe even conscious. And also by the way, some of them are vampires.”…
I came across a lawyer, Tom Renz, who actually read Trump’s DOGE Executive Order and, expecting some illegal power grab, found it to be airtight. Turns out Trump and Musk didn’t create anything. Obama did. Obama created United States Digital Service (USDS) in 2014. It was meant as a bureaucratic patch job to fix the Obamacare
website meltdown.
Fast forward to 2025. Trump rebrands it DOGE (United States DOGE Service). Keeps the acronym, keeps the funding, but gives it
a whole new mission: Find the Receipts Legally untouchable because it was already fully funded and operational. Trump invokes 5 USC 3161, which allows him to create temporary hiring authorities. DOGE teams get embedded inside every single federal agency. Each team consists of a lawyer, HR rep, a zoomer nerd, and an investigator. They report to DOGE,not the agency they’re embedded in. But wait, there’s more! Trump invokes 44 USC Chapter 35, which governs federal IT and cybersecurity oversight. Since USDS was originally an IT oversight body, DOGE now has full access to all
federal data systems. Yes, that’s right. All of them. His executive order is written to block legal challenges. Includes language that overrides conflicting executive orders. Orders every agency to comply. Refusal means they violate presidential
authority. Congress can’t defund it because it’s not a new program, just a repurposed one. DOj can’t sue for overreach because Trump used existing laws exactly as written. Democrats trying to file legal challenges run into standing issues because DOGE operates
within existing frameworks.
Obama literally built the perfect Administrative (read: Deep) State IT backdoor. Trump and Musk just hacked the system and took the admin controls. Musk now has legal oversight of every major agency’s internal systems. The Administrative State can’t stop it
without rewriting multiple federal laws. They legally outplayed the system and there’s nothing anyone can
do about it.
Obama created DOGE.
Love your inside information on this! Way to go Trump and Musk!
DOGE – Democrats Officially Getting Exposed (thanks to Officer Tatum)!
Media not reporting widely “In an unprecedented judicial ruling that’s sending shockwaves through Washington, a judge has given Elon Musk the green light to bring his unique brand of innovation and disruption to three federal agencies: the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), sources have confirmed” So Vermonters tax money was wasted, again!
Unlike DOGE, USDS did not allow a bunch of 19-25 year-olds to have access to personal financial information on millions of citizens.
You folks want to treat government like a business. Any CEO, who hired an expert to improve efficiency and allowed that expert to begin firing staff en masse without a formal study, would be fired by the stockholders.
So John you have no confidence in the US Military I see