The Trump administration agrees to restrict access to the payment systems of the financial department

The lawyers of the Ministry of Justice have agreed to temporarily limit the employees associated with Elon Muskt Department of Government Efficiency by accessing information in the Ministry of Finance in the payment system.

The agreement takes place after a group of union members and pensioners sued the Ministry of Finance, in which it was claimed that the access of Doge to the massive payment and collection system of the Federal Government – and the personal data contained therein – violated the federal data protection law .

The Trump administration submitted an application on Wednesday evening to issue a proposed arrangement in which the agreed conditions were detailed in detail.

“The accused do not receive access to payment records or payment systems from records that are waited for by or within the office of the fiscal service,” says the proposed order.

The arrangement would enable exceptions for two special government employees in the Ministry of Finance – Tom Krause and Marko Elez – that they have “allowed access” as needed “to” perform their tasks “, provided that such access to payment documents is” only read ” .

The US district judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly signed the agreement on Thursday morning. The agreement remains until it rules the plaintiff’s application for an injunction that will be the subject of a hearing on February 24th.

Nandan Joshi, a lawyer of the plaintiffs, said: “We are pleased that the court quickly acted to arrange security measures to protect people’s personal data until the facts are interpreted. Americans who rely on social security and similar programs should be able to trust their government with the greatest care. Nobody should ever be exposed to improper purposes without their consent if their personal data is used for improper purposes, which is why we brought this case with us. “

The Ministry of White House and Justice did not immediately respond to inquiries about comments.

The lawsuit claims that the newly shaped finance minister Scott Bessent should not have given access to the safe system. Bessent “decided behind closed doors to enable individuals that are not involved in the processing of the government’s financial transactions in order to root around the notes of the office. Access to these records is illegal,” it says in their submission.

“And the longer the private information of the plaintiffs’ private information is accessible to non -authorized third parties, the greater the irreparable injury. Finally, as long as the sensitive data of the members of the plaintiffs for Mr. Musk and other members of Doge are accessible the more opportunity , so that this data is either accidentally or intentionally not revealed by a third party, “they added.

The lawsuit requests an order that reveals the financing of “Information about individuals” to Doge and the instruction of the agency “in order to call up and protect such information that has already been received by Doge or people associated with them”.

At a hearing on Wednesday in front of Kollar-Kotell, a lawyer of the Ministry of Justice denied that the Ministry of Finance shared the personal data of the Americans.

“The claim that this information will be passed on to third parties outside the Ministry of Finance is wrong,” said lawyer Bradley Humphreys. He said that two Doke officers who were classified as special employees of the government agents were granted the same status of Musk, access to the systems, but there is no plan for these two employees or another employee of Doge, who is in the treazury -Department works to share the information with musk or someone outside the Ministry of Finance.

Doges acts under Musk – a technical billionaire and an important ally of President Donald Trump – triggered the critical criticism of Democrats, who painted the Muschus as an un elected bureaucrat, accumulates the oversized power and redesigned the Federal Government without the necessary checks and compensation.

“Do not let us dye any words here: a billionaire that is not selected, not accountable with expansive conflicts of interest, deep connections with China and an indiscrete ax that delimits the perceived enemies D-Wash, said on Wednesday in a floor speech.

Musk, who leads Doge, has defended it as “something that urgently needs” and framed its efforts as a waste of the wasteful expenses.

“Doge is the wood chipper for bureaucracy,” he said on Monday on X.

Musk works as a “special employee” in the Trump administration, which means that he is not a full-time business worker. This categorization also indicates that Musk’s employment in the White House is limited to about a third of a year.

On the first day of his second term, Trump described the US digital service in the US efficiency of the ministry. He had previously announced that Musk would help lead the consulting group.

Musk has targeted the US Agency for International Development for Elimination and prompted the administration to bring humanitarian aid to standstill. He also turned his attention to the other wings of the federal government, including the financial protection office for consumers.

On Wednesday, the transport secretary Sean Duffy announced that Doge would also play a role in his department, and said to X that the company would “connect to our aviation system”.

This article was originally published on nbcnews.com