A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from obtaining access to certain Treasury Department payment records.
Treasury officials ‘will not provide access to any payment record or payment system of records maintained within the [Treasury] Bureau of Fiscal Service,’ Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote in a temporary restraining order.
That program handles an estimated 90% of federal payments.
The order comes after the Justice Department on Wednesday agreed in a proposed court order to limit access to the sensitive records to only two ‘special government employees’ within DOGE, who will have read-only permission. Kollar-Kotelly approved the motion in a brief order Thursday.
Several government employee unions brought suit over who could access the material as part of a government-wide evaluation of programs and systems, led by DOGE.
The lawsuit claimed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent allowed improper access to Elon Musk’s team, potentially exposing personal financial information to unauthorized individuals.
Under the order, only Musk ally Tom Krause, CEO of Cloud Software Group, and Marko Elez – an engineer and former Musk company employee — will continue to have access to Treasury’s Fiscal Service, but they will not be allowed to make any changes to the program.
The order identifies both Krause and Elez as ‘Special Government Employee[s] in the Department of the Treasury.’