Democrats have a chance to stand up to Trump—if they don’t blow it

Congress has one month to pass its spending bill or risk a government shutdown, and Democrats are hinting that they might take this opportunity to finally challenge President Donald Trump and reclaim some power.

Because the GOP has the slimmest of majorities in the House, and at least a few Republicans are likely to jump ship, Speaker Mike Johnson will almost certainly need some Democratic votes to pass anything. 

And in the Senate, where such a bill will need 60 votes to avoid a filibuster, even if all Republicans support it, Senate Majority Leader John Thune will need Democratic support as well.

This means that only a bipartisan deal can end up on Trump’s desk—and that’s how Democrats have a great opportunity to use the power they have, even in the minority. 

Last Sunday, Democratic Sens. Andy Kim and Cory Booker of New Jersey signaled that they are willing to band together to use a government shutdown to curb Trump, who has dismantled federal agencies and tried to enforce unconstitutional orders.

“I would be the last person to want to get to that stage. But we are at a point where we are basically on the cusp of a constitutional crisis, seeing this administration taking steps that are so clearly illegal and until we see a change in that behavior, we should not allow and condone that, nor should we assist in that,” Kim said in an interview on NBC News’ “Meet The Press.”

“We’re going to stand up against the kind of things that Donald Trump is doing that are hurting Americans, making us less safe and raising costs. We will look at every single tool in our toolbox,” Booker said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

If the government doesn’t pass its spending bill by the March 14 deadline, it will shut down. 

“Are Democrats willing to shut down the government over this gutting of federal agencies?” MSNBC host Ana Cabrera asked on her show “Ana Cabrera Reports.”

“The issue is, are the Republicans going to shut down the government? I’m negotiating in good faith on the Appropriations Committee with my colleagues in the House and the Senate,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, replied.

“We’re negotiating on that, but well, what we need to do is look at the assurances that, in fact, once we do come to an agreement that we will not have an interloper like Donald Trump or Elon Musk or, for that matter, the Speaker of the House saying the agreement’s off,” she added.

Other leaders, like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, are focused less on a government shutdown and more on how they can leverage the limited power they do have through appropriations, litigation, and communications. This entails shielding official government documents from the likes of Trump’s co-President Elon Musk, holding up Trump’s unlawful actions in the courts, and getting creative with how Democrats reach voters.

But Jeffries hasn’t entirely ruled out a shutdown.

Earlier this month, in a 10-point letter to his Democratic colleagues, Jeffries “made clear to House Republican leadership” that “any effort to steal taxpayer money from the American people … must be choked off in the upcoming government funding bill, if not sooner.”

Meanwhile, Democrats of different factions, from the Progressive Caucus to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, have hinted at using their votes to reign in Trump and Musk’s gutting of federal agencies and executive overreach.

Schumer sent a letter to his colleagues hinting at a shutdown on Monday.

“Legislation in the Senate requires 60 votes, and Senate Democrats will use our votes to help steady the ship for the American people in these turbulent times. It is incumbent on responsible Republicans to get serious and work in a bipartisan fashion to avoid a Trump Shutdown,” he wrote.

The next day, he took to the Senate floor to put the government shutdown onus on Trump and Musk.

“Since the inauguration, unfortunately, President Trump and Republicans have been actively working to shut down the government entirely on their own. Democrats do not want to shut the government down. It’s the Republicans who are in charge, and it is their responsibility to avoid a shutdown,” he said. 

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, also said that she won’t make it easy on the GOP—and other Democrats shouldn’t either. 

“It is the Republican majority’s responsibility to gather the votes necessary for them to pass their agenda. I do not believe that Democrats should be helping,” she said.

Democratic leaders like Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Schumer joined a rally outside of the Treasury Department in response to Musk’s hostile takeover of the department and other agencies. They reiterated that their offices are fielding a staggering volume of calls from constituents asking them to do more to oppose Trump. Using a must-pass funding bill to force Trump’s hand provides the perfect opening for Democrats to do exactly that.

Democrats diverted on whether they will actually go through with leveraging a potential shutdown to get what they need, but they seem to agree on one thing: Republicans are to blame. 

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