GAO shares its audit of DOGE ethics training, financial disclosures

Only a fraction of the 206 DOGE personnel identified by a congressional watchdog had paper trails associated with ethics and records management training and financial disclosures, a congressional watchdog reported Wednesday. The findings came as part of a Government Accountability Office report focused on identifying the employment statuses and administrative activities of personnel while a part of the notorious, and now mostly defunct, Department of Government Efficiency. According to the report, GAO obtained relevant training and disclosure records for just 64 of the DOGE personnel it identified. Of that number, 49 completed ethics training, 18 completed records management training, and 38 submitted financial disclosures. It also identified that 27 DOGE officials were “special government employees,” which means they could hold employment elsewhere while working for the federal government temporarily. GAO noted that type of designation creates difficult ethics issues. But GAO reported difficulty finding even that level of information as a result of lack of responsiveness from multiple federal entities and limited information it received, the report revealed.

The Technology Modernization Fund would be able to finance new projects through Dec. 11 under a provision in a Senate bill to avoid a government shutdown this fall. The current version of the fiscal 2027 Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill authorizes $5 million for the fund, and though the bill has not yet received a floor vote in either chamber, the TMF is prioritizing artificial intelligence and projects to support faster permitting with the money it has left. But the Senate version of the continuing resolution, moving through a legislative vehicle (HR 6500), cleared its first hurdle Monday night with a motion to invoke cloture 89-4. While the chamber is set to continue consideration throughout the week, the House is out until the last day of the month, and its “clean” version stands in opposition to the Senate bill’s authorizing extensions like the TMF.

The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon.

If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.