DOGE targets child support database full of income data
Representatives of the U.S. DOGE Service have sought access to a powerful database of nearly all U.S. workers’ earnings kept by the health department’s child support office, setting off another disagreement with career staff over demands for legally protected records, according to four people familiar with the matter.
Over the last several weeks, billionaire Elon Musk’s DOGE team has clashed with civil servants over attempts to access privileged information or systems kept by the Treasury Department, IRS and Social Security Administration, among other agencies.
Earlier this week, however, associates with DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, targeted what several experts and government officials described as perhaps the most sensitive of all — a system within a broader government database created to help enforce child support payments, which pulls a vast trove of information, including income data linked to nearly all workers. People familiar with the situation spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal debates.
It wasn’t immediately clear why DOGE sought the health agency’s database. But Musk’s team has expressed interest in recent days in checking personal tax records against federal benefits, grants and student loans — a measure that could enable it to link together traditionally siloed government systems to search for duplicative or wasteful payments.
The database kept at the Department of Health and Human Services is part of a system known as the Federal Parent Locator Service. DOGE was particularly interested in accessing a component known as the National Directory of New Hires, which draws on several data streams, said one of the people who spoke with The Washington Post. One data stream includes information about all new employees across the country; a second data stream includes quarterly wage data; and a third data stream includes information about unemployment insurance benefits. The data, which is reported by employers and state agencies, encompasses nearly all U.S. workers, the person said.
DOGE officials were rebuffed by a career civil servant, who questioned the group’s authority, two people said.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether DOGE had accessed the system. Spokespeople for the White House and HHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The database was created in 1996 to help parents with custody of their children and the government withhold regular child support payments from the income of parents without custody.
A January 2024 report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service says that the “sensitivity of the information” in the directory “necessitates that precautions be taken with regard to the security of the system.” The CRS report states that only certain entities can receive data from the system, including the Education Department (to collect student loan debt), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (to verify income and employment for housing assistance programs), and the Treasury Department (to collect delinquent debts), among other functions.
The system is protected by the same laws that protect the privacy of IRS tax records, and misuse or unauthorized access carries a fine of up to $1,000.
Musk has called DOGE’s efforts essential to root out government waste and fraudulent payments. Nonpartisan experts have expressed frustration in the past that government records are siloed, and it’s possible that enabling some federal systems to work together could allow Musk’s team to identify more instances of erroneous benefits disbursement.
Still, current and former health officials said they had serious concerns about DOGE’s request.
“This is private, confidential data, including Social Security numbers and earnings, of virtually all people in the country,” said Vicki Turetsky, who led the child support office during the Obama administration and oversaw the data system. “It is similar to income tax data and is kept confidential in the same way. … I don’t think you want your data to go to DOGE or to anyone else who isn’t authorized.”
Turetsky and others also pointed to federal statute, which restricts access to the database “to authorized persons, and restrict use of such information to authorized purposes,” such as child support enforcement.
“I don’t see any angle that DOGE could use to make a legal case for accessing that data,” said Turetsky, a trained lawyer.
It’s not clear whether DOGE could secure the same information from other parts of the federal government. DOGE has also sought out similar information from the Social Security Administration, two of the people familiar with the matter said. SSA has wage data and other information on its servers.