The Oversight Struggle

If Democrats flip the House or Senate, they’re planning to launch major investigations into the Trump administration. But here’s the tea: getting answers might be a total nightmare.

A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO)—Congress’ nonpartisan watchdog—dropped in late September, and the vibes are off. It details how the administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been shielded from transparency. Multiple agencies, including the CFPB, VA, Department of Education, NOAA, SEC, and SBA, straight-up refused to cooperate with investigators regarding how much access DOGE team members had to sensitive government systems.

The “No Cooperation” Era

The GAO report is wild because these agencies wouldn’t even name which DOGE operatives were hanging out in their offices, even when those names were already public record. For example, the CFPB refused to list the six DOGE members detailed to them, despite WIRED previously identifying people like Nikhil Rajpal, Chris Young, and Gavin Kliger. Other agencies like the SBA and VA were even less helpful, ignoring requests for info on system access granted to DOGE affiliates.

It’s not just limited to the DOGE probe. Senator Ron Wyden says the Commerce Department is currently blocking a GAO investigation into AI-related national security risks.

Why It’s So Hard to Force Answers

Historically, Congress used subpoenas and contempt charges to force officials to talk. But law professor Emily Berman points out that these tools are losing their bite. Since 2012, even when officials were held in contempt, it rarely led to real consequences.

Congress is technically limited because if someone ignores a subpoena, it relies on the Department of Justice—part of the executive branch—to actually prosecute them. If the executive branch is the one being investigated, they’re clearly not going to help out.

Why it matters

We’re seeing a massive power shift where the executive branch is grabbing more control and keeping more secrets, leaving Congress with limited moves. Representative Jamie Raskin has suggested using the "power of the purse"—aka threatening to cut funding—as a way to force compliance, but that’s a blunt instrument that’s hard to wield effectively. Real talk? If agencies keep ghosting the investigators, Congress is going to have to get creative, because the traditional playbooks just aren’t hitting the same anymore.