Senators warn Trump and Musk on government shutdown
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Sen. Lisa Murkowski (center) talks to reporters in the Senate subway on Jan. 28. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Senate appropriators are putting President Trump and Elon Musk on notice that their threats to rewire Washington can have broader consequences, especially on funding the government by March 14.
Why it matters: Trump is a master at minting bargaining chips. But Senate appropriators know something about leverage and bending the federal government to their will.
- They are warning that Trump's weekend activities, including his threat to shutter the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), could have spillover effects on funding the federal government.
What they are saying: "It will have a hard impact on our ability to trust each other, because at the end of the day, the appropriations process begins and ends with a handshake," Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) told Axios.
- "What Trump is doing is reaching back to last year's approved appropriations and freezing them, pausing them, reshaping them," he said.
- "If this president can do that, the next president can do that. Why would any bipartisan group of senators be able to come to and keep an appropriations deal going forward?"
Senators are also concerned about the looming March 14 deadline.
- "Every day that things are more confused around here and we are not working toward getting these appropriations bills done, we should be worried," Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said.
- "We need to be able to talk with our colleagues on the other side of the aisle. We need to talk with the House. We need to get our top lines."
Between the lines: Trump and Musk spent the weekend trying to rewrite the code for government spending, gaining access to sensitive payment systems and putting anyone in their way on leave.
- Congress needs to fund the government by March 14 to avoid a shutdown, but they have yet to settle on a clear strategy.
Zoom in: Congressional Democrats are trying to seize on Trump's spending threats to galvanize their party.
- Last week, they mustered a unified front on the White House's OMB memo.
- This week, the focus is on USAID and Musk's access to the Treasury Department's payment system. "If the Treasury Secretary does not remove DOGE's access to the Treasury payment systems at once: Congress must immediately act," Sen. Chuck Schumer said on X.
- "That is why @RepJeffries and I will work together on legislation to stop unlawful meddling in the Treasury Department's payment systems. We must protect people's Social Security payments, Medicare payments, and tax refunds from any possible tampering by DOGE or other unauthorized entities," he said.
