NEW: Rep. Dave Min, Sen. Ben Ray Luján Legislation to Hold Elon Musk, Special Government Employees Accountable, Prevent Them from Using Position for Financial Gain

Washington, D.C. – Representative Dave Min (D-CA) and Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) introduced the Special Government Employees Transparency Act of 2025, legislation that would create transparency and accountability for special government employees (SGE), which was first reported by The Free Press. Rep. Min and Sen. Luján’s bill would ensure that certain SGEs, like Elon Musk, are subject to public financial disclosures and would ensure they abide by the same ethics rules as federal employees after 130 days.

“Elon Musk and DOGE are operating without any accountability or oversight, and that is unacceptable. This legislation would increase transparency, holding Musk and his cronies responsible to the American people,” said Rep. Min. “I am grateful to work with Senator Lujan on this necessary legislation. No one is above the law, and no one should be using the federal government for their personal gain.”

“Accountability is critical in government, that is why special government employees should be held to ethical standards that prevent them from using their position for their own financial gain,” said Senator Luján. “This legislation would boost transparency and accountability necessary to ensure special government employees don’t abuse their power. I’m proud to partner with Congressman Min on this important legislation to make certain that special government employees, like Elon Musk, are held to the highest ethical standards and don’t use their position to line their pockets.”

An SGE is an officer or employee in the executive branch of the federal government who is appointed to perform limited, services to the government, with or without compensation, for a period not to exceed 130 days during any period of 365 consecutive days. The Special Government Employees Transparency Act of 2025 would provide additional transparency and accountability regarding SGEs:

1. 130-day limit: The bill would automatically convert any individual serving as an SGE to regular employee status after the individual has served 130 days in any 365-day period.
2. Public disclosures: The bill would require public release of the financial disclosure reports of all but the lowest-level SGEs.
3. Public database: The bill would require the executive branch to maintain a public database of individuals serving with potentially problematic SGE designations.

The legislation is cosponsored by Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and Representatives Gary Connolly (D-VA), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), and Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC).

The legislation is supported by the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), State Democracy Defenders Action, Public Citizen, and the Campaign Legal Center.

Full bill text is available here and read more below. 

The Free Press

Exclusive: Democrats Push to Make Elon Musk’s Financial Disclosure Public

Gabe Kaminsky

• Congressional Democrats plan to introduce legislation Thursday to force DOGE chief Elon Musk to disclose his finances publicly, according to a copy of the bill obtained by The Free Press.

• Since Musk is serving President Donald Trump as an unpaid Special Government Employee (SGE), he is under no current legal obligation to release documents that would detail his holdings and other financial details. This arrangement allows Musk, the world’s richest man, to skirt public scrutiny that other officials typically face over potential conflicts of interest involving things like domestic and foreign investments, and consulting gigs.

• A group of Democrats led by New Mexico Senator Ben Ray Luján and California congressman Dave Min seek to change that. On Thursday afternoon, the lawmakers will put forth a bill dubbed the “Special Government Employees Transparency Act of 2025.”

• The proposal seeks to amend federal rules to require the public release of financial disclosures for Musk and other Special Government Employees. A White House official told The New York Times in February that Musk planned to file a financial disclosure but that it would remain private.

• The bill would also require the executive branch to maintain a publicly searchable database of all SGEs, including their job titles, the agencies that employed them, as well as the dates of their appointments and anticipated terminations.

• “Accountability is critical in government, that is why Special Government Employees should be held to ethical standards that prevent them from using their position for their own financial gain,” Luján told The Free Press. “This legislation would boost transparency and accountability necessary to ensure special government employees don’t abuse their power.”

• Musk’s vast fortune and positions as the head of companies that receive lucrative federal contracts—particularly SpaceX—places him in a unique spot when it comes to potential conflicts. Musk is the CEO of the electric vehicle business Tesla and the rocket company SpaceX. Both companies do extensive business in China and SpaceX reaps tens of billions of dollars from the U.S. government.

• Min told The Free Press, “Elon Musk and DOGE are operating without any accountability or oversight, and that is unacceptable.”

• SGEs like Musk—the face of Trump’s expansive effort to cut spending—are allowed to serve in their roles for a maximum of 130 days [...] Under the Democratic proposal, any SGEs who serve for over 130 days, whether consecutive or not, would be automatically converted to regular employee status in the government. That would subject the former SGEs to more rigid federal ethics requirements.

• In the Senate, Luján and Min’s bill is being co-sponsored by senators Elizabeth Warren, Adam Schiff, Ron Wyden, and Mark Kelly.

• It is also being backed by the Project on Government Oversight, the Campaign Legal Center, and other watchdog groups taking aim at the Trump administration for its alleged unwillingness to hew to transparency norms.

• To Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, a lobbyist for the nonpartisan Project on Government Oversight, the SGE bill is, nonetheless, a common-sense proposal.

• “The special government employee system is riddled with loopholes and too easy to exploit,” said Hedtler-Gaudette. “Both Democratic and Republican administrations over the years have used it as a way to bring favored friends and advisers into their administrations without going through regular processes and vetting and all the public scrutiny that goes along with those processes.” [...] “This,” he added, “makes the problem of potential corruption and conflicts of interest even worse than they already are.”

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