Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency initiative sought last week to gain access to the government’s central publishing operation, a congressional offshoot that provides public access to federal documents.
The Government Publishing Office is the fourth legislative branch agency that President Donald Trump’s administration has recently attempted to access. DOGE made an inquiry about placing a cost-cutting team at GPO, and leadership of the legislative branch agency declined, according to two people on Capitol Hill with oversight responsibility for the agency.
The GPO prints official documents and provides digital access to publications across the legislative, executive and judicial branches. While it services all three branches of government, the GPO is overseen by Congress and funded alongside other congressional support agencies.
A GPO spokesperson declined to comment.
GPO Director Hugh Halpern testified last month to House and Senate spending subcommittees that the agency’s head count is currently 1,644 — down from 2,284 in fiscal 2010 when its budget was 8.2 percent higher.
Last week DOGE made attempts to place a downsizing team at the Government Accountability Office, a congressional watchdog that roots out waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government, and the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights, which fields and manages complaints about discrimination, harassment, accessibility and other workplace issues. Both legislative branch agencies declined access to DOGE teams.
“Everybody has been saying ‘get lost,’” New York Rep. Joe Morelle, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, said of legislative branch agencies who have been approached by DOGE. “As they should — they have no business.”
House Administration Chair Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) said Monday evening that his panel already works with legislative support agencies on possible improvements.
“There’s efficiencies we can create at all these agencies while also maintaining Article One authority, so I think we’re in a good spot,” Steil said in a brief interview.
The White House also launched a purge of officials at the Library of Congress, including Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden and the head of the copyright office two weeks ago and attempted to install hand-picked replacements from within Trump’s Department of Justice.
