Dems Introduce the ‘BAD DOGE Act’ to Kill Elon Musk’s Organization

Last night California Congressman Dave Min introduced a new bill into Congress called Bolstering America’s Democracy and Demanding Oversight and Government Ethics Act or the “BAD DOGE Act” for short. The bill is one of a pair of new pieces of legislation introduced by Congress in the past 24 hours that’s aimed at reigning in Elon Musk as he rampages through the government.

The bills are so new that the text isn’t even part of the Congressional record yet, but you can read both of them in full on the websites of the Congresspeople who introduced them. The other, which was introduced by Rep. Suhas Subramanyam of Virginia is called The Legislative Enforcement Against Setbacks from Harmful DOGE Actions Act or “LEASH DOGE Act.”

Of the pair, BAD DOGE is more strident and forceful. It’s calling for an outright repeal of the Executive Order that created the department and uses the text of the EO itself to argue for its dismissal. “The DOGE Executive Order specifies that the USDSTO shall be headed by the USDS Administrator, who is to be appointed by the Office of Management and Budget, and shall be dedicated to advancing the President’s DOGE agenda,” the BAD DOGE Act says.

“In fact, both the USDS and USDSTO are being led by Elon Musk, who was not appointed as USDS Administrator,” the Act says. “There are no government records indication that Mr. Musk has any formal role with the Federal Government, or that he is complying with any disclosure or conflict-of-interest requirements that would apply to Federal employees or officials.”

In a legal filing, the White House has said that Musk is not an employee of DOGE, is not in charge of it, and doesn’t have the ability to make decisions. “Mr. Musk is not the U.S. DOGE Service Administrator,” the White House said in a legal filing in a case it’s fighting against the state of New Mexico right now.

This is, of course, bullshit to anyone with eyes and ears. Musk tweets about what DOGE is doing everyday and it’s following the playbook he used when he took over Twitter and turned it into X. Over the weekend and into Monday, Musk posted on X over and over again about making federal employees respond to an email about what they did last week. He’s in charge, even if he hasn’t been officially appointed to the position.

“Right now, people are terrified,” Min said in a statement on his website about the BAD DOGE Act. “They’re uncertain. I’ve talked with food banks, I talked with different environmental organizations, I talked with health services, with UC Irvine, who I represent, they’re all worried right now because many of them have already received notices that they’re going to lose funding. Illegally, again.”

“For example, UC Irvine, if the NIH freeze or cuts go through, they’re going to lose $125 million, which is an existential threat to their budget,” he said. “This is money that’s already committed, that they hired people based on it, they engaged in cancer trials, among other things, based on that funding promise. And Elon Musk is trying to take it away. You multiply that across the board.”

Min’s proposed legislation has four co-sponsors right now, all of them Democrats. LEASH DOGE Act has 12 co-sponsors, also all Democrats. It’s also less forceful.

BAD DOGE wants to repeal the EO and send Musk packing. LEASH DOGE wants a report. The Act would compel the Comptroller General to study what DOGE is doing and find out what the “long-term financial, public health, and safety interests” are. It also wants the report to look into the possibility that DOGE broke U.S. privacy laws. The deadline for the report would be December 31, 2025.

Thrilling.