New Mexico congresswoman pushes for more information on AI use on government data

Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury is demanding more information on how artificial intelligence is being used to examine government data kept by federal agencies.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk is leading an effort to cut government spending and root out waste, fraud and abuse for President Donald Trump. The Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency has been granted access to several federal agency data systems, starting with the Treasury Department’s payment system and continuing with the Internal Revenue Service, Health and Human Services and the Social Security database. Some of that access has been blocked by federal judges because of privacy and national security concerns.

Stansbury, D-N.M., believes Musk and the DOGE team are applying artificial intelligence to federal data.

“We are deeply concerned that they may be downloading American private and confidential data onto external databases where they are applying artificial intelligence systems to study and understand them,” Stansbury said.

The Treasury Department’s payment system information is of particular concern for national security, according to Stansbury, because it includes billions in payments the U.S. makes to soldiers, allies and foreign aid.

One concern is that Musk could be downloading personal, private and personnel data into his own AI company, xAI, she said, “and may not only bring it into systems that his own private business will profit off of, but also that he might utilize them for his own personal, political ends.”

Stansbury introduced a Resolution of Inquiry on Tuesday to compel the Trump administration to provide documents and communications about how the administration is utilizing data and artificial intelligence.

New Mexico Republican Party Chair Amy Barela called the resolution a political stunt meant to “stall President Trump’s progress in balancing the federal budget and cutting the wasteful government spending that has plagued our nation for far too long.”

“The American people are waking up. We see through these distractions. What Rep. Stansbury and others call ‘oversight,’ we recognize as obstruction,” Barela said in a statement.

The resolution has 14 days to be referred to a committee. If the committee takes no action, it will go to the House floor as a privileged resolution, forcing the House to take action.