House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Feb. 3 published a 10-part plan for House Democrats to resist President Donald Trump’s moves to overhaul federal bureaucracy.
Lawmakers have until March 14 to make another short-term spending deal or finalize a budget to avoid a government shutdown.
“I have made clear to House Republican leadership any effort to steal taxpayer money from the American people ... must be choked off in the upcoming government funding bill, if not sooner,” Jeffries wrote in the letter.
As part of the strategy, Jeffries urged all House Democrats to engage in district-wide outreach as soon as possible this week for constituents affected by Trump’s policies. He said he will host a telephone town hall in his own district on the night of Feb. 3.
Jeffries also said Democrats will introduce a bill to prevent what they call “unlawful access” to the Treasury Department’s payment system. The plan follows reports that the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, an independent advisory body tasked with identifying ways to cut spending and trim the federal workforce, gained access to the system.
“There are currently more than 20 different lawsuits challenging at least 11 executive orders,” the congressman said.
The letter follows an Office of Management and Budget memo that put a hold on the disbursement of hundreds of billions of dollars in grants and loans pending a compliance review with Trump’s policies. The agency later rescinded the memo after a court injunction, but the White House clarified that only the memo calling for the freeze had been withdrawn—not the broader effort to review federal spending.
According to Leavitt, the review would not affect Social Security, Medicare, food stamps, and other welfare benefits that are going directly to individuals.
“Again, people who are receiving individual assistance ... will continue to receive that,” Leavitt said.
