Washington Democratic lawmakers are attempting to counter President Donald Trump’s efforts to restructure the government through executive power by hosting resistance-themed press conferences at home, protesting outside federal agencies, and using social media.
Democrats are trying to mobilize voters against Trump’s efforts to freeze federal loans and grants, dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development and other agencies, and grant billionaire Elon Musk, his government efficiency czar, access to Americans’ federal data. This is because Democrats are relegated to the minority in Congress and lack the legislative tools necessary to check Trump.
Congressional Democrats protested outside USAID on Monday. They showed up outside the Treasury Department on Tuesday. They addressed two crowds on Wednesday: one outside the Labor Department and another close to the Capitol. It all happens while Trump dominates the national conversation with one disruptive action after another, and Democrats are trying to find their voice and make a difference in a crowded media landscape.
At the Capitol protest, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., declared, “This is not America First, this is America in retreat.” Furthermore, we will not turn away from American ideals.
The demonstrations will help rally support and change public opinion, according to Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., who represents over 70,000 federal employees in his district adjacent to Washington.
Beyer told NBC News that people must understand the gravity of this situation. You destroy our entire society when you destroy the federal government. You cannot rule a nation if you abolish one of the three branches of government.
He was among a dozen Democratic senators who attempted to enter USAID’s Washington headquarters on Monday before congregating outside to express their disapproval of Trump and Musk’s decision to close the long-standing organization, which is in charge of sending $40 billion in food and other humanitarian help worldwide.
Anti-Trump protesters who feel the party is not stepping up to the plate have mocked Democrats during some of the demonstrations and online. “Do your job! At one point during the Capitol event, demonstrators yelled at lawmakers, “Do your job?”
People are reportedly frustrated. Rep. Greg Casar, a 35-year-old Democrat from Texas who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, stated, “I believe we will do more when people ask us to do more.” Many Democrats wanted time to reflect and take stock after the election. And that period of time is now over. Now, the world’s wealthiest billionaire has the ability to steal all of our public funds and information while profiting from it. Therefore, it’s time for us to return to the ring and leave the mat.
He declared, “We’re going to fight smarter than last time.” However, we must also fight more vigorously.
Outside the Office of Personnel Management, which is in charge of executive branch personnel, a few hundred demonstrators chanted on Tuesday, “Hey hey, ho ho, Elon Musk has got to go.” A handful of lawmakers later demonstrated on the steps of the Treasury Department alongside dozens of activists and supporters, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Representatives Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M.; Veronica Escobar, D-Texas; and Maxwell Frost, D-Fla.
We do not swear loyalty to the billionaires when we open the Senate each morning. We do not swear loyalty to Elon Musk. We don’t swear loyalty to Elon Musk’s eerie 22-year-old employees.Sen. Chris Murphy, a fervent Democrat from Connecticut, addressed the Treasury Department throng, “We pledge allegiance to the United States of America.”
We must go out to all Americans, Republicans, Democrats, and conservatives alike, and let them know that we only have days, not weeks or months, to prevent our democracy from being destroyed, Murphy stated.
Democrats use limited tools at their disposal
Compared to their House counterparts, Senate Democrats have a stronger check on Trump and his party. They can considerably postpone Trump’s judicial and executive branch candidates by using the 60-vote threshold to filibuster GOP legislation.
Some have suggested that Democrats should hold off on appointing any of Trump’s nominees to the State Department, while Sen. Brian Schatz, a Democrat from Hawaii, has vowed to halt all of his appointments.
Additionally, the party is taking a united stance against some of the other Trump nominations, such as Russell Vought for budget director, by voting unanimously against his confirmation on Wednesday and starting what they said would be a 30-hour session that keeps the Senate in all night.
House Democrats are more disadvantaged, and not all of them believe that Trump can be stopped by the public demonstrations in Washington.
Specifically, he wants to see Democrats unite around a message that they would not vote to extend the debt ceiling unless Trump reverses his unilateral spending cuts, said progressive Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who said Democrats need better, bolder strategies.
Without the Democrats, they are unable to pass a raise in the debt ceiling. In an interview, Khanna stated that all Democratic members of the House and Senate should state unequivocally that they will not support an increase in the debt ceiling unless President Trump and the Office of Budget and Management provide a firm pledge to spend every dollar that Congress appropriates.
“That’s fairly straightforward,” he replied, “and that’s Congress expressing our authority.” In other words, the Democrats are firmly stating our demands for the Constitution rather than merely shouting them into the air.
In order to put pressure on Trump to spend the funds that the legislative branch has instructed him to, Democrats are also looking at the crucial March 14 deadline for Congress to either finance the government or shut it down. Party leaders claim that if Trump can disregard the portion of the new spending agreement that he dislikes, there is no use in reaching a new agreement.
“If we don’t start establishing rules that the law is a law,” Casar added, “I don’t think you could ever get a budget in the United States Congress, under anyone.” If the president is not required to negotiate laws, how do parties do it? What were the chances of ever sitting down to bargain again?
Grappling with a moving target
As the party’s progressive base wants action, Democrats have been debating how aggressively to challenge Trump since he returned to the White House two weeks ago. The discussion took place during Wednesday’s House Democrats weekly caucus meeting behind closed doors.
“When Trump makes news, her team will quickly send out talking points to make sure the issues resonate back home in their districts,” a source in the room said of Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., who is in charge of Democrats’ messaging operation.
According to the source, Dingell informed her colleagues that even though the Trump administration has only been in office for 15 days, it is clear that two words best describe what Republicans are doing: chaos and corruption. We don’t have time to react to everything that occurs since the news cycle is so fast. We need to be focused and efficient, as Leader Jeffries has stated. (The minority leader of the House is Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.)
We must be prepared to leap in and hold Republicans accountable when Trump makes mistakes, whether they are related to the budget freeze, tariffs, or the next big thing—the elimination of the Department of Education. Dingell added that in reaction to Trump’s actions, Democrats hosted about 80 gatherings in their districts. Another thing I can say is that this drumbeat is effective nationwide.
Trump’s attempt to unilaterally slash or freeze spending has been nicknamed the Republican rip-off by Jeffries. However, a member of the progressive team, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., stood up at Wednesday’s meeting and inquired as to the meaning of that general term, according to the source.
Jeffries described the rip-off to colleagues in a letter last week, claiming that Republicans are taking grants, federal money, and financial aid as part of their crooked plan to reimburse millionaire benefactors and powerful corporations.
Democrats like Jeffries have stated that their party must go to the streets to confront Trump. At Wednesday’s rally outside the Capitol, California Representative John Garamendi, a Democrat, stated: We have to fight back. The streets must be where we are.
When Trump urged thousands of his fans to march to the Capitol and fight like hell in an attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 election results, bipartisan members of the House Jan. 6 committee accused him of inciting violence. Despite the fact that all of the protests have been peaceful, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt attempted to reverse the trend on Wednesday by accusing Democrats of instigating violence.
It is really concerning that Democratic officials are inciting violence and calling on Americans to come to the streets, and they ought to answer for their words, she said.