Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries laid out four steps Tuesday for Democrats to fight against the agendas of President Trump and congressional Republicans.
Since the president’s victory in November, Democrats have struggled to find their footing. But the Democratic leaders found an early victory in their pushback against a widespread federal loan and grant freeze that has been blocked by a federal judge.
Mr. Schumer said Democrats have “four steps for recourse.” First, he said, Democrats can highlight issues like the funding freeze.
“There was an outcry, and Trump had to back off,” he said. “When we brought up the tariffs to the American people, there was an outcry, and Trump had [to] back off.”
Mr. Trump on Monday gave Canada and Mexico a one-month reprieve on his proposed 25% tariffs, in part because leaders in both nations agreed to his demands to bolster border security. His 10% tariffs on China went ahead.
The next step cited by Mr. Schumer and Mr. Jeffries, New York Democrats, is litigation. Mr. Trump’s executive actions, including his push to root out diversity, equity and inclusion programs from the government, make the Elon Musk-driven Department of Government Efficiency an official government agency and others, have attracted numerous lawsuits so far.
Mr. Schumer said the third step is oversight actions. In particular, Democrats plan to hold “shadow hearings” and call on whistleblowers to come forward from the Treasury Department to discuss Mr. Musk’s access to the agency’s payment systems.
And lastly, Democrats will try to legislate against congressional Republicans’ actions, he said.
“On appointments, they don’t need Democrats, but on legislation, particularly the funding resolution, they do need us, and we will insist that there be certain changes that undo these bad things,” Mr. Schumer said.
The four-step plan was laid out during a press conference where the Democratic leaders vowed to introduce a bill directly targeted at Mr. Musk and DOGE.
That measure, dubbed “Stop the Steal,” would deny access to special government employees who don’t have to disclose their conflicts of interest or any other ethics agreements and deny access to anyone with conflicts of interest or lack of appropriate clearance.
Mr. Jeffries argued that Democrats could use their leverage in the House against Republicans, who are headed for a zero-vote majority when Rep. Elise Stefanik, New York Republican, resigns after her confirmation as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
That leverage could come into play sooner than later for the upcoming government funding deadline on March 14, when Congress must have a plan hashed out to prevent a partial government shutdown.
“Even when they are at full strength, all we need is … three principled Republicans in the House, and a lot of the madness and extremism that has been unleashed on the American people can be halted, particularly as it relates to the upcoming spending agreement that we need to resolve in a bipartisan way,” Mr. Jeffries said.
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.