Democrats Open to Shutting Down Government Over Trump’s DOGE Activity, Senator Says

Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.), joined by other Senate Democrats, speaks during a press conference at the Senate steps of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 9, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

A Democratic senator has said that he and his fellow Democrats are open to shutting down the government in March if President Donald Trump’s recent actions to slim down the federal government are not halted.

“I cannot support efforts that will continue this lawlessness that we’re seeing when it comes to this administration’s actions,” Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) said in a Feb. 9 interview 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.”

The Trump administration has promised to root out fraud, waste, and other forms of abuse from various federal agencies, an effort currently led by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

“We’re going to find billions, hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud and abuse and, you know, the people elected me on that,” Trump said in a Fox News interview on Feb. 9. He described Musk as “terrific” and said he would soon focus on the Department of Defense, the country’s largest government agency.

Members of Congress have until mid-March to pass a measure to fund the government, including a spending package for the military and one for non-defense programs. Democrats have minorities in both the House and the Senate, while Trump has experience dealing with government shutdowns—with one lasting more than a month between December 2018 and January 2019.

“In a few weeks, the Republicans are going to try to figure out how they move forward, and they have, for the last two years, needed Democratic votes for every single continuing resolution, and they should not count on that this time,” Kim said in the interview, referring to a bill known as a continuing resolution, which funds the government on a temporary basis.

Democrats, he said, are willing to work against Republicans if the Trump administration continues to target government agencies such as the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Department of Education.

“They are simply trying to dismantle the government,” Kim said.

Other Democrats have expressed similar sentiments. CNN reported in an article published on Feb. 9 that Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) said, “Why would we ever believe them again on an appropriations deal?”

“It’s going to be harder for us to work together because it’s harder for us to trust each other,” he said.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told CNN that his party has to use “every point of leverage” that it has to force Trump’s hand, but he noted that “nobody wants a shutdown.” He said the Democrats “have leverage,” but he did not elaborate.

In response, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Democrats are attempting to initiate a government shutdown to have their demands met and accused them of “inflammatory rhetoric” regarding DOGE’s work.

Johnson’s office said in a statement last week that Democratic leaders have overreacted to House Republicans’ efforts to stop the flow of fentanyl into the country and to DOGE’s work by laying out “the foundation for a government shutdown.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) indicated that House Democrats are not making it a priority to block DOGE from accessing government payment systems.

“There are bipartisan negotiations that are underway right now to try to reach a spending agreement that meets the needs of the American people,” Jeffries told CNN on Feb. 9. “I’ve encouraged those bipartisan conversations to continue.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.