Warren, Warner Call for GAO Investigation into DOGE Activities at SEC
Call for investigation follows breaking news today that DOGE is coming aboard SEC
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment, sent a letter to Government Accountability Office (GAO) Comptroller Gene Dodaro calling for an investigation into recent activities by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). They pressed for answers about the harms to American investors as a result of recent large-scale staff departures, cancelled contracts, and the breaking news today that DOGE staff have begun onboarding at the SEC. The letter follows yesterday’s Senate Banking Committee hearing where Democrats on the committee outlined deep concerns over SEC Chair nominee Paul Atkins’s judgment leading up to the 2008 financial crisis and financial conflicts of interest.
“The SEC is the nation’s primary enforcer of securities laws and works to ‘protect investors; maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets; and facilitate capital formation’ … Given the importance of the SEC, we are concerned by recent reports regarding the Trump Administration’s efforts to shrink the agency in the name of government efficiency,” wrote the Senators.
The Senators continued: “According to recent reports, the Commission is “facing a staff exodus across key departments” after over 600 SEC employees—or roughly 12% of the agency’s staff—agreed to voluntarily leave the agency in response to DOGE-driven efforts to “slash the federal workforce.”
“It is essential that Congress and the public understand how the Trump Administration’s recent actions have affected the SEC’s ability to carry out its mission and statutory obligations,” wrote the Senators. “Therefore, we request that GAO conduct a review of actions that have occurred at the SEC since January 20, 2025.”
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