Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, on Monday said he would stall President Donald Trump's State Department nominees until USAID, the U.S. agency charged with delivering humanitarian assistance overseas, is back, according to The Wall Street Journal.
"I will oppose unanimous consent," he told the Journal. "I will vote no. I will do maximal delays until this is resolved."
The report was published Sunday night, hours before USAID staffers were instructed to stay out of the agency's Washington headquarters after billionaire Elon Musk announced Trump had agreed with him to shut the agency.
The fast-moving developments come after thousands of USAID employees already have been laid off and programs shut down in the two weeks since Trump took office. And they show the extraordinary power of Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, in the Trump administration. Musk announced closing of the agency early Monday, as Trump's secretary of state, Marco Rubio, was out of the country on a trip to Central America.
Schatz told the Journal that he expects the judicial system to stop Musk's attempt to close down USAID.
"You cannot wave a wand and eliminate a department established by federal law, so it will be reversed by a court," he said.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.