NPR reports:

The Department of Government Efficiency is continuing its attempts to expand its reach beyond executive branch agencies, this time seeking to embed in an independent legislative watchdog that finds waste, fraud and abuse in the government.

But the U.S. Government Accountability Office, a legislative branch entity that helps audit government spending and suggest ways to make it more efficient, rejected that request on Friday by noting that GAO is not subject to presidential executive orders.

The request to GAO had cited President Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order creating DOGE, which, despite its name, is not a formal agency.

DOGE’s request to GAO and its response was first reported by NOTUS.

A spokesperson for GAO confirmed DOGE’s outreach, and reiterated that “as a legislative branch agency, GAO is not subject to Executive Orders and has therefore declined any requests to have a DOGE team assigned to GAO.”

In an announcement to employees posted Friday afternoon, GAO leadership said they sent a letter to Acting Administrator of DOGE Amy Gleason and notified members of Congress, according to a copy of the notice shared with NPR by an employee not authorized to speak publicly.

The GAO regularly releases reports that highlight ways to improve government efficiency, like a May 13 review of federal programs with fragmented, overlapping, or duplicative actions it says could save over $100 billion in spending. But there’s been little overlap between GAO’s work and DOGE’s actions so far.

“DOGE’s attempted intrusion into an independent, nonpartisan legislative branch agency is a direct assault on our nation’s sacred separation of powers,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, which oversees GAO, in a statement to NPR. “DOGE cannot and must not have any access to GAO. Oversight Democrats are monitoring this situation closely and stand behind GAO’s well-established status as a critical legislative branch agency.” [Continue reading…]