Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Tuesday that Democrats will push for language in next month's appropriation bills to undo and blunt cuts being made by Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, even if it forces a government shutdown, The Hill reported.
"The bottom line on this is that the Republicans are in charge, and we don't want a shutdown. It's up to them," Schumer said.
"But in terms of trying to get in the appropriations bills undoing lots of the many things that they've done that are wrong, yes, we're certainly going to make an effort to do that," he said regarding Musk's efforts to dismantle government agencies, including the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Congress has a deadline of March 14 to fund the government or risk another shutdown.
"Everyone knows theres waste in government that should be cut, but DOGE is using a meat axe. And they're cutting things that are efficient and effective," Schumer added.
However, a whistleblower told Newsmax last Saturday that USAID concealed activities from President Donald Trump during his first term and described "flagrant corruption" within the agency. Mark Moyer, former director of USAID's Office of Civilian-Military Cooperation, told Newsmax that federal employees used "their government jobs to get business for outside companies that they had financial stakes in."
Schumer's shutdown warning comes a day after he referenced a "Trump shutdown" in a "Dear Colleague" letter to Senate Democrats.
"Democrats stand ready to support legislation that will prevent a government shutdown," Schumer wrote in Monday's letter. "Of course, 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."
Calls to shut down the government in protest of the cuts that Trump vowed he was going to make have been growing from a number of Democrat lawmakers.
"I never support a shutdown, but I can see where it could happen in this situation. It's an extreme situation," said Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., according to The Hill.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said House Democrats are willing to shut it down if their Senate colleagues are not.
"If Senate Democrats don't have the gumption to do what is necessary in this moment, I believe that House Democrats will," Ocasio-Cortez told CNN.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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