A federal judge on Friday declined to block Elon Musk's government cost-cutting department from accessing the U.S. Department of Labor's systems, an initial setback for the government employee unions resisting his efforts to shrink the federal bureaucracy.

Those records contain personal data such as Social Security and bank account numbers for millions of Americans.

Despite voicing skepticism about giving DOGE access to sensitive Labor data on millions of Americans, a judge denied unions’ request for a restraining order blocking Elon Musk’s group.