Feeding off grassroots outrage, Democrats are flashing anger and making spectacles to show they're doing something about President Trump and Elon Musk's stunning moves to reshape the federal government.

Why it matters: Democrats aren't OK waiting for the usual checks and balances to play out in D.C.

• "No one f***ing cares about that," one senior House Democrat told us. "People want us to be doing more aggressive actions."
• "I totally understand the 'do something' voices but often they don't know the things we already are doing," Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) told us. "We need to do a better job showing them."

This list is just from today:

• House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) unveiled a 10-part plan to counter Trump that includes using the federal funding process to thwart his efforts to "defund programs important to everyday Americans."
• Democrats will introduce a bill to prevent DOGE, Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, from accessing the Treasury Department's payment systems.
• A group of Democrats was denied entry to USAID headquarters after speaking to protesters outside the building.
• Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said he'll place "blanket holds" on Trump's State Department nominees until efforts to shutter USAID are ended.
• Democrats on the House Oversight Committee sent Trump a letter demanding a massive trove of documents on his efforts to reconfigure and slash the federal bureaucracy.
• Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee urged chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) to probe Trump's inspectors general firings.
• House Democrats made an "unannounced visit" to an ICE detention center in New Jersey and questioned agents there.

Between the lines: The angry and outraged Democrats are now flirting with tactics they previously decried.

• Jeffries is warning that he'll use government funding – and the prospect of a shutdown – to stop Trump from gutting federal programs.
• Schatz putting a hold on all State Department to protest Trump's actions on USAID is an echo of Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) blocking military promotions to protest the Pentagon's abortion policy.

The bottom line: "We're going to use every legal, political and constitutional means at our disposal to stop this reign of terror targeting congressional programs and federal workers," Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said.

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— Andrew Solender and Hans Nichols

Senate appropriators are putting Trump and Musk on notice that their threats to rewire Washington will make it harder to fund the government programs the president does want.

Why it matters: Trump is a master at minting bargaining chips. But Senate appropriators know something about leverage.

• "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 us.
• "What Trump is doing is reaching back to last year's approved appropriations and freezing them, pausing them, reshaping them. … If this president can do that, the next president can do that," Coons said.

The bottom line: March 14 is the deadline to avoid a government shutdown.

• "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) told us.
• "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."

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— Hans Nichols

Director of National Intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard has wind in her sails ahead of tomorrow's Senate Intel vote.

• Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) announced her support today. She's a critical swing vote who worked against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
• That leaves Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) as the vote Gabbard allies are watching most carefully.

Between the lines: Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) — a close Trump ally who has been an advocate for nominees — told reporters he's feeling confident about Gabbard's chances. "Tulsi has done the work," he said.

• Senate Intel is set to vote tomorrow at 2pm ET on Gabbard's nomination.
• Conversations are ongoing between leadership and senators viewed as swing votes on both Gabbard and HHS nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

GOP leadership feels good that even the skeptics are still willing to engage.

• But Young and Cassidy were not eager to talk to about the upcoming votes when asked by reporters tonight.

The bottom line: "I think Todd [Young] is doing just what [Thom] Tillis did," Mullin added, referencing the North Carolina Republican's last-minute hesitancy before voting to confirm Hegseth.

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— Stef Kight

The U.S. Capitol Police opened nearly as many probes into threats against Congress last year as it did in 2021, the year of the Jan. 6 insurrection.

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— Andrew Solender