PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Feb 24, 2025
Bolstering America’s Democracy and Demanding Oversight and Government Ethics Act or the BAD DOGE Act
This bill provides that Executive Order 14158 (relating to establishing and implementing the President's Department of Government Efficiency) shall have no force or effect.
People & committees
Rep. Min, Dave [D-CA-47] · D–CA
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Jul 17, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze H.R.1535 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine H.R.1535 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine H.R.1535 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine H.R.1535 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.
PlainBill explanation
Based on the full Introduced in House · 2025-02-24 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.
The proposed BAD DOGE Act would make Executive Order 14158, concerning the President’s Department of Government Efficiency, legally ineffective. It targets the order associated with the United States DOGE Service and its temporary organization. The bill also alleges that these organizations exceeded their authority and violated federal law and the Constitution; those statements are proposed congressional findings, not independently established facts.
Executive Order 14158 (90 Fed. Reg. 8441; relating to establishing and implementing the President’s Department of Government Efficiency) shall have no force or effect.
The United States DOGE Service (in this section referred to as USDS) (formerly known as the United States Digital Service) and the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization (in this section, referred to as USDSTO) created by Executive Order 14158 (90 Fed. Reg. 8441; relating to establishing and implementing the President’s Department of Government Efficiency) (in this section referred to as the DOGE Executive Order) are operating beyond the scope of their authorities and organizational purposes.
The USDS and the USDSTO, under the direction of Mr. Musk, are repeatedly violating a number of Federal statutes and provisions of the United States Constitution.
Section 1 would name the legislation the Bolstering America’s Democracy and Demanding Oversight and Government Ethics Act, or BAD DOGE Act.
This Act may be cited as the Bolstering America’s Democracy and Demanding Oversight and Government Ethics Act or the BAD DOGE Act.
The proposed findings describe the executive order’s agenda as improving government software, networks, and information technology systems. They also state that the temporary organization’s statutory purpose is limited to a specific study or project and that the order requires rigorous data protection standards.
The DOGE Executive Order specifically creates the USDSTO as a temporary organization in accordance with section 3161 of title 5, United States Code, which limits the purpose of such an organization to performing a specific study or other project.
This DOGE agenda is described in the DOGE Executive Order as a Software Modernization Initiative led by the USDS Administrator to improve the quality and efficiency of government-wide software, network infrastructure, and information technology (IT) systems.
The DOGE Executive Order additionally specifies that USDS shall adhere to rigorous data protection standards.
The proposed findings question Elon Musk’s appointment and compliance with employee rules. They also report access to federal personnel and payment data, employee buyout offers, attempts to dismantle two agencies without congressional approval, and removal of public health information. These are allegations presented in the bill.
The White House subsequently indicated that Mr. Musk is a special government employee but has not produced any evidence that he was retained in this role, or that he is complying with any rules or laws that would be required for a Federal employee or the USDS Administrator.
USDS, USDSTO, and Mr. Musk have reportedly gained access to OPM’s personnel files, gained control and access to BFS’s payments systems and associated data, sent a buyout offer to all Federal employees, attempted to dismantle the United States Agency for International Development and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau without congressional approval, and removed public health information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration websites, among other things.
Section 3 would make Executive Order 14158 have no force or effect. Its operative language applies to the entire order without stating an exception.
3. Repeal of Executive Order 14158 Executive Order 14158 (90 Fed. Reg. 8441; relating to establishing and implementing the President’s Department of Government Efficiency) shall have no force or effect.
The supplied action snapshot, updated July 17, 2025, records introduction in the House and referral to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on February 24, 2025.
Source snapshot updated 2025-07-17T19:27:28Z. 2025-02-24: Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. 2025-02-24: Introduced in House
A closer look
Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2025-02-24. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.
This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.
Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.
None identified in the reviewed text
No unrelated provision or policy change attached to appropriations was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.
Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.
None identified in the reviewed text
No congressionally directed spending for particular recipients or places was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version; earmark disclosures and accompanying committee materials were not supplied.
Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.
None identified in the reviewed text
No materially narrow benefit, special exemption, or preferential treatment was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.
Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: Jul 17, 2025. How PlainBill uses AI