Unions representing federal workers sued the Treasury Department and its head, Scott Bessentps88, on Monday in an effort to block Elon Musk and his team from accessing the federal payment system, saying that it amounted to an unlawful disclosure of the personal and financial information of millions of people.

The suit was the latest effort by unions to push back against a flurry of Trump administration directives aimed at undermining the federal bureaucracy. Administration officials have made offers to most of the civilian federal work force seeking resignations, and the dispute over the federal payment system was part of a wider effort to restrict the disbursement of money for programs approved by Congress.

Mr. Musk and his lieutenants, representing an outside advisory group aimed at reducing waste in the federal government, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, gained access to the Treasury Department’s payment system late Friday.

The move immediately became a key skirmish in Mr. Musk’s wider war on the federal bureaucracy. The Trump administration pushed out a top Treasury Department official who had refused to give Mr. Musk’s team access to the payment system, and former Treasury officials said they were not aware of a political appointee ever before seeking access to its details.

Monday’s lawsuit said that the system, which sends out money on behalf of the entire federal government and disbursed more than $5 trillion in fiscal year 2023, includes sensitive information needed to send payments like tax refunds,phl63 casino veterans’ benefits, salaries for workers and Social Security payments. Federal law heavily restricts disclosure of that data.

The suit accused Mr. Musk and his team that gained access to those records of violating the Privacy Act and the Internal Revenue Code, laws that restrict access to taxpayer and other personal information unless the person is an employee engaged in official duties that require having access to those records. The suit also said Mr. Bessent’s giving Mr. Musk’s team access to the payment system was “arbitrary, capricious,” and exceeded his statutory authority.

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His debunked claims about Haitian migrants stealing and eating their neighbors’ pets in Springfield, Ohio, helped stir a firestorm over immigration in that community, which has dealt with bomb threats and evacuations after Mr. Trump made his comments.

Speaking in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, where Vice President Kamala Harris has a slight edge in recent polls, Mr. Trump bristled at the notion that his struggles with women voters could cost him the election and suggested that his tough talk about immigration and economic proposals would resonate with them.

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