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Democrats warn against GOP’s ‘dismantling of government’ as judges strike down president’s mass purge of the workforce
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House Democrats are demanding their Senate colleagues reject a Republican-drafted government spending bill that Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and a handful of Senate Democrats are backing.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, when asked if believes the Senate needs new leadership after Schumer said he would support the measure, said “next question.”
Donald Trump has praised Schumer for his vote, while dozens of Democrats have warned that the spending plan “legitimizes President Trump and the Republican party’s dismantling of government.”
The president will deliver a “law and order” address Friday at the Department of Justice, an agency he has stacked with his attorneys and purged of staff his administration considers disloyal.
Trump is meanwhile reportedly planning to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to speed up the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, a key campaign pledge that is off to a slow start.
On Thursday, the president suffered a fresh legal setback when two federal judges ruled that his administration must reinstate thousands of probationary employees fired by Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is reportedly already $2 billion short to keep up its current pace of operations through the end of this fiscal year, as it races to keep up with the Trump administration’s promises to rapidly deport millions of undocumented migrants.
Josh Marcus reports:
Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar has joined a growing list of Democrats rejecting a procedural vote to move forward with a spending plan that would avert a government shutdown, if approved by midnight:
She said in a statement: “I support the[31-day] short-term extension to keep the government open to complete bipartisan negotiations on the actual budget. I will not support the partisan proposal in part because it does not include Minnesota infrastructure projects, undercuts medical care and research, and makes major changes to reduce veterans’ health care, including for those exposed to burn pits.”
Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto will vote yes on a Republican-authored spending bill, putting Republicans a few votes shy of a vote that will open the voting process for the measure in the Senate.
Her statement follows an announcement from fellow Nevada Senator Jacky Rosen, who is voting against the measure.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries did not answer whether Democrats need new leadership in the Senate, after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he would back a Republican-endorsed plan to keep the government funded.
Asked whether he believes Schumer has “acquiesced” to Trump, Jeffries said “that’s a question that is best addressed by the Senate.”
“The House Democratic position is very clear,” he said. “We strongly oppose any efforts to cut the healthcare of the American people, veterans benefits and nutritional assistance, all of which are in the partisan Republican bill.”
Trump is trying to take a “chainsaw” to Social Security and federal health programs, he said.
Asked if he believes the Senate needs new Democratic leadership, he replied: “Next question.”
Democratic Senator Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, is urging her colleagues to vote against the Republican-drafted spending bill.
She called the “CR” — a continuing resolution — a “Complete Resignation.”
“If you refuse to put forward an offer that includes any Democratic input, you don’t get Democratic votes,” she said in remarks on the Senate floor before today’s vote. “We are going to keep fighting for the America we love.”
K-9 bomb sniffer dog units are the latest victims of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, just as the White House celebrated a national day honoring the heroic animals.
Mike Bedigan reports:
Dozens of House Democrats sent a letter to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to express their “strong opposition” to his support for Republican stopgap spending bill they call a “partisan continuing resolution that legitimizes President Trump and the Republican party’s dismantling of government.”
“If Republicans in Congress want to pass this bill, they should do so with their own votes. However, since they cannot, Republicans must work with Democrats to pass a clean [continuing resolution],” said the letter, which was signed by more than 50 House lawmakers.
“The American people sent Democrats to Congress to fight against Republican dysfunction and chaos,” they wrote.
After a brief court appearance this week, Mahmoud Khalil’s attorneys are now asking a judge to bring him back to New York after he was moved to a detention center in Louisiana, and for an order that blocks the Trump administration from similarly threatening noncitizens from removal from the country over support for Palestine.
A new filing fleshes out details from his arrest and detention, suggesting that Trump himself played a significant role overseeing the operation.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi decries a Republican-led spending bill as “a false choice between a government shutdown or a blank check” for Donald Trump and Elon Musk “that makes a devastating assault on the well-being of working families across America.”
She calls on Democrats to reject the resolution, defying her colleague Chuck Schumer. Pelosi argued Democrats should “ “listen to the women” and support a competing measure from Democratic appropriations committee officials Rosa DeLauro and Patty Murray.
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