Democrats are prepared to shut down the federal government during next month’s spending fight after becoming enraged over the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) financial audit of government spending.
The Democrats’ tactic puts them into a precarious position of supporting waste, fraud, and abuse, three items DOGE is tasked with cutting.
“I cannot support efforts that will continue this lawlessness that we’re seeing when it comes to this administration’s actions,” Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “And for us to be able to support government funding in that way only for them to turn it around, to dismantle the government. That is not something that should be allowed.”
Democrats are particularly upset DOGE gained access to the federal payment system at the Treasury Department to monitor outflows of taxpayer funds. They are also angered about President Donald Trump’s decision to essentially defund many agencies, such as USAID, and layoff staffers.
“I’ve worked in government. I’ve worked through multiple government shutdowns. I would be the last person who would want to get to that stage, but we are at a point where we are basically on the cusp of a constitutional crisis,” Kim said.
“In a few weeks, the Republicans are going to try to figure out how they move forward and they have, for the last two years, needed Democratic votes for every single continuing resolution and they should not count on that this time,” Kim added.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries signaled last week he intends to leverage the March 14 federal funding deadline to try to prevent Trump from freezing or diverting appropriated funds, but Democrats are powerless to shut the government down.
Republicans control the House, Senate, and White House.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-ND) are tasked with organizing Republican support of the spending measure that must include Trump’s priorities.
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former RNC War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.
