Hakeem Jeffries threatens government shutdown to prevent Trump from cutting federal spending
The House Democratic leader called on his colleagues to fight the new Republican agenda.
Jeffries came to the Democratic leadership in January 2023/ Mandel Ngan.
Hakeem Jeffries anticipated that Democrats would not work with Republicans to make cuts in the federal government. In a letter sent to his colleagues as a 'battle plan' against the Trump Administration, the House minority leader also mentioned a government shutdown as an option to limit the president's agenda.
Democrats have been criticized by some opinion leaders for allegedly being too "permissive" during the early days of Donald Trump's return to the White House. "You can't get mad that Trump is trying to freeze government spending in the morning and vote for his Treasury secretary, who will destroy the economy, in the afternoon. Stop helping Trump," strategist Christy Setzer noted in this regard.
In this context, Jeffries presented the following ultimatum through a letter sent to his colleagues: there would be a government shutdown if the spending cuts are not reversed.
"First, I have made clear to House Republican leadership that any effort to steal taxpayer money from the American people, end Medicaid as we know it or defund programs important to everyday Americans, as contemplated by the illegal White House Office of Management and Budget order, must be choked off in the upcoming government funding bill, if not sooner," reads the letter released by the House Democratic leader.
In turn, Jeffries specified that Democrats will advance legislation to "prevent illegal access to the Treasury Department's Bureau of the Fiscal Service payment system," referring to the work being done by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to evaluate government spending items.
What is a government shutdown?
The logic comes from the National Constitution, specifically Article 1, Section 9: "No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law, and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time."
Once the shutdown is in effect, certain agencies directly cease to function. They may be all, some or one in particular. Their employees can't work and their pay is withheld until Capitol Hill comes to an agreement.
According to the latest congressional agreement on the government shutdown, the next deadline to advance legislation is Friday, March 14. Given the slim Republican majority in the House and the filibuster forcing Senate Republicans to reach 60 votes, Democrats are expected to have negotiating power on the eve of the next shutdown.
"The ultimatum, detailed in a letter to House Democrats, is a signal that Jeffries will use Democrats' leverage in the narrowly divided House to push back on the Trump administration. Historically, Republicans have found it difficult to stick together on government funding bills, with the Senate filibuster giving Democrats additional clout," explained from Politico.
Fighting Trump's agenda
The fourth point released by Jeffries refers expressly to the Democrats' work to block what is within their reach of the Republican agenda.
Specifically, he mentions his efforts "to combat several of the unlawful executive actions, including, but not limited to, ending birthright citizenship, the firing of Inspector Generals, terminations of federal civil service employees, the purge of the FBI and the suspension of funds appropriated by Congress. There are currently more than 20 different lawsuits challenging at least 11 executive orders."
LATEST
