Obama-era holdovers hired to build Obamacare website resign rather than aid DOGE

"We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution across presidential administrations," the resignation letter, obtained by the Associated Press, stated. "However, it has become clear that we can no longer honor those commitments." The employees claimed that staffers within DOGE "were political ideologues who did not have the necessary skills or experience for the task ahead of them," the outlet reported.

In a statement on the resignation of the group of engineers, data scientists, and product managers, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, "Anyone who thinks protests, lawsuits, and lawfare will deter President Trump must have been sleeping under a rock for the past several years. President Trump will not be deterred from delivering on the promises he made to make our federal government more efficient and more accountable to the hardworking American taxpayers."

The USDS was established under the Obama administration in the wake of the chaotic rollout of Healthcare.gov, the website through which millions of Americans sign up for healthcare under Obamacare. All of the 21 who resigned previously had high roles at tech companies such as Amazon and Google.

They said they had joined the government out of a sense of duty to public service, but said that Trump allowing Musk to root out waste as the head of DOGE changed that. They said that they had been called into a series of interviews the day after Trump’s inauguration with DOGE.

"Several of these interviewers refused to identify themselves, asked questions about political loyalty, attempted to pit colleagues against each other, and demonstrated limited technical ability," the letter said. "This process created significant security risks."

Around 40 staffers in the former USDS were laid off earlier in February. "These highly skilled civil servants were working to modernize Social Security, veterans’ services, tax filing, health care, disaster relief, student aid, and other critical services," the employees wrote. Their removal endangers millions of Americans who rely on these services every day. The sudden loss of their technology expertise makes critical systems and American’s data less safe."

About 65 employees remained after the layoffs, with around one-third resigning Tuesday.

"We will not use our skills as technologists to compromise core government systems, jeopardize Americans’ sensitive data, or dismantle critical public services. We will not lend our expertise to carry out or legitimize DOGE’s actions."