Democrats in Congress are growing louder with threats to force a shutdown in March to put the brakes on President Trump’s and Elon Musk’s efforts to overhaul the federal government by freezing spending and dismantling agencies.
A growing number of Democratic lawmakers think the March 14 deadline for funding the government gives them the best leverage to pressure Trump and Musk to back off their plans to pick apart the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and other agencies.
But they are divided over how hard to push the threat of a shutdown, fearing that Democrats might get blamed for a funding lapse that would furlough hundreds of thousands of federal workers and interrupt government services across the country.
Democrats say they traditionally try to do everything to avoid shutdowns but now warn one may be inevitable if Trump doesn’t rein in Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“I never support a shutdown, but I can see where it could happen in this situation. It’s an extreme situation,” said Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.).
Durbin, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, pointed to Vice President Vance’s comments over the weekend suggesting the White House may not heed court rulings blocking its executive actions as a major provocation.
“One step away from a constitutional crisis. Let’s be very blunt about this. If he believes the executive branch can ignore the directives coming down from the judicial branch, it’s an invitation to a constitutional crisis,” he said.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) joined protesters outside the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which shut down operations Monday, to call for Americans “to fight back.”
Asked at the Capitol on Monday afternoon whether Democrats should wield a shutdown threat as leverage against the White House, she argued Trump has already crossed that line.
“Trump is shutting down government now, and it needs to stop now,” she said.
Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) came hardest out of the gate, declaring he’s not interested in supporting a government funding bill that would let Trump and Musk continue to “dismantle” the federal government.
“I cannot support efforts that will continue this lawlessness that we’re seeing when it comes to this administration’s actions,” he 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.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), a leader of the House Democrats’ progressive wing, said House Democrats are willing to use their leverage over spending legislation — and the threat to tank it — to maximum effect.
“If Senate Democrats don’t have the gumption to do what is necessary in this moment, I believe that House Democrats will,” she told CNN.
Ocasio-Cortez believes Democrats should demand a “very high” price to agree to a funding deal in the next few weeks.
With Democrats furious over Trump’s and Musk’s extraordinary use of executive power to freeze spending and push federal workers out of their jobs, there’s growing appetite within the party to show Republicans that both sides can wreak havoc for political effect.
Some Democrats think Republicans would get the majority of blame for any government shutdown, given their control of the White House and both chambers of Congress, even if Democrats don’t provide votes to keep the government open.
A Democratic senator who requested anonymity to discuss strategy said “we’re not going to be quiet in the face of the strategy of coordinated breaking of laws and running over the Constitution,” and that the March 14 deadline may be the best “leverage” they have.
“They’ll want to keep government open, but there will be conditions on our cooperation,” the senator said, warning that GOP lawmakers will need to put guardrails on Musk to get a deal.
Democratic leaders have come under intense pressure from members of their caucuses, donors and voters to ramp up their resistance to Trump’s agenda.
A group of six Democratic governors, including JB Pritzker of Illinois and Maura Healey of Massachusetts, told Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) in a recent phone call to fight harder against Trump’s nominees in retaliation for a freeze on federal grants and loans.
But leaders and more centrist Democrats are couching talk about a potential shutdown more carefully, hoping to deflect the blame to Republicans in case federal departments and agencies are shuttered next month.
Schumer in a letter to colleagues circulated Monday insisted Democrats don’t want a shutdown but floated the idea one might happen anyway unless Republicans make concessions to earn Democratic votes.
“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.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) got the discussion about using government funding as leverage over Trump started in a letter to colleagues last week when he said Trump administration’s efforts to freeze funding and lock out federal workers “must be choked off in the upcoming government funding bill, if not sooner.”
Jeffries, however, later backed off the threat, telling reporters: “I’m trying to figure out what leverage we actually have.”
“What leverage do we have?” he asked. “They control the House, the Senate and the presidency. It’s their government.”
Some Democrats are warning that Trump’s and Musk’s effort to dismantle USAID is not worth a pitched battle that could result in a broader government shutdown, which could make it easier for DOGE to eliminate federal jobs while workers are furloughed.
Democratic strategist David Axelrod has warned that Trump would be happy to have a battle with Democrats over foreign aid cuts because many Americans agree with him. A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted earlier this month showed that 56 percent of adults across the country support freezing foreign assistance.
Sen. Mark Warner (D), a prominent centrist from Virginia, questioned whether Trump would stick to concessions he might agree to on USAID or other locked-out federal workers in a funding deal next month.
“We have to see whether any agreement would actually be honored by this administration,” he said.
