Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin from Wisconsin wants to revoke DOGE’s high-level access to a database that controls payments and loans to American farmers.
Christian Blaza for NPR
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Christian Blaza for NPR
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat from Wisconsin, wants the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to revoke high-level access granted to the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, to a sensitive database that controls tens of billions of dollars in payments and loans to American farmers and ranchers.
In a letter first shared with NPR addressed to USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins, Baldwin writes “on behalf of Wisconsin farmers,” arguing that DOGE’s access to sensitive agricultural information is “an intrusion that not only breaches [farmers’] privacy, but also raises serious concerns about the future of USDA payments, our nation’s food security, and the consolidation of farmland and processing operations.”
While DOGE’s original figurehead, billionaire CEO Elon Musk, has left Washington amid an ongoing feud with President Trump, staffers linked to the government efficiency unit continue to embed inside U.S. federal agencies and policy processes.
Baldwin’s letter comes days after an exclusive investigation published by NPR revealed that one USDA staffer publicly tied to DOGE, Jordan Wick, recently got high-level access to what’s called the National Payment Service system, a database that controls subsidiary payments and loans issued to U.S. agricultural producers. The system is housed at the Farm Service Agency, a part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat from Wisconsin, attends a Senate Appropriations hearing on June 3.
Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP
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Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP
The access granted to Wick, a level no other individual at USDA has, allows him to view highly sensitive financial and personal information stored in the system, as well as alter or cancel payments and loans with little oversight. That’s according to a source who provided access logs to NPR and requested anonymity, fearing retribution from the Trump administration.
Agricultural experts interviewed by NPR were not only worried about the possibility of intentional disruption by Wick or others but also the potential for mistakes or accidents made out of lack of familiarity with complex, often archaic USDA systems that could jeopardize farmers’ files and livelihoods.
While it may take time for impacts of any changes to that system to be noticed by farmers or USDA staffers, due to the complex and seasonal nature of the payments, the source notified NPR of one recent change. In the last few months, over 200 farmers’ accounts whose birthdates were likely mistakenly listed as 1900 were flagged. Their birthdates were voided, which could lead to their loans being canceled.
Meanwhile, DOGE staffers are actively reviewing certain farm loans and guarantees, despite having no stated background in agriculture or finance, while USDA loan officers are trained for years in the field. News of this review process quickly sparked outrage among some Senate Democrats, who argued in a separate letter sent on May 6 that “creating more red tape for customers who often have no other options for credit could prevent farmers from getting crops in the ground, animals fed, or cause a beginning farmer to miss out on the purchase of their first parcel of land.”
A spokesperson for the USDA confirmed to NPR that Wick and others on the “USDA Efficiency team,” who are fulltime USDA staffers, are “review[ing] many loans, guarantees, and payments” in an ongoing effort to fulfill Trump’s executive order on government efficiency. “These reviews are prompt and without undue delay to the program recipient,” they wrote in an emailed statement. The spokesperson continued on to say that Wick and others have an “unmatched skillset” that has allowed them to investigate fraud and identify potential national security concerns. The spokesperson didn’t identify any specific examples. USDA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Baldwin’s letter, though Rollins has previously told staff to give DOGE “full access and transparency.”
Baldwin, in her letter to Rollins, writes that “farmers share sensitive financial information with USDA when seeking loans or disaster assistance,” trusting that “only trained Farm Service Agency staff and senior USDA officials have had access to this data.”
She identifies the USDA employees linked to DOGE as an “unappointed and unelected group of Washington insiders with no accountability to farmers,” whom she argues “should not be in charge of delaying disaster relief checks or blocking contracts,” particularly at a time when farmers face “volatile market conditions” and “increasingly severe weather.”
Baldwin also shares her concern about DOGE’s track record of accessing sensitive information at other agencies, referencing another NPR investigation into a whistleblower account of DOGE potentially removing sensitive labor data from the National Labor Relations Board.
“Farmers deserve to know that their private information is protected and will not be exported for unauthorized, and potentially illegal uses,” she wrote. “In the wrong hands, sensitive data about our nation’s agricultural sector could be taken advantage of to exploit vulnerabilities in our food supply chains.”
“I urge you to take immediate steps to restore the public’s confidence in the security of USDA’s payment systems” and “rescind DOGE’s access to farmers’ private data as well as their involvement in payment and loan decisions,” Baldwin wrote.
