A batch of Democrats incensed with President Donald Trump’s latest decision to pause federal spending voted against his otherwise benign nominee for Transportation secretary on Tuesday, the first brick in what some of them promise will be a wall of opposition until funds are uncorked.
An OMB memo stipulating that federal agencies should temporarily halt paying out grants and loans as of 5 p.m. Tuesday threw Washington into chaos amid a scramble to figure out what exactly is being impacted. As the Capitol reeled, many Democratic lawmakers took their frustration out by voting no on Sean Duffy’s nomination to head the Transportation Department — despite having unanimously voted to move his nomination forward less than 24 hours before.
“Until I get clarity from this administration about their plans to continue implementing this order, I’m going to vote against nominees. Until I hear some better path forward on this,” said Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), adding that a federal court injunction would be necessary to ameliorate his concerns. And he questioned whether Duffy would simply be a vessel to implement the order.
“My core question is, well, will he implement this unconstitutional order to freeze all transportation project funding, like I’ve heard from the governor, the mayor, the county executive, the Department of Transportation in Delaware, saying, ‘Wait, what? You’re gonna lay off the construction workers who are rebuilding our highways?'”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) made a similar pledge, saying she will continue to vote no on Trump’s nominees until Senate Republicans “wake up … and tell Donald Trump he doesn’t get to own all of government.”
“We have a process for passing laws, and then those laws are enforced. Donald Trump thinks those laws don’t apply to him? He is wrong,” Warren said.
She added that she’s hearing from mayors in her state “who aren’t sure if they can spend the money that they are entitled to,” as well as from nonprofits “who don’t know if they can go forward with their work.” She mentioned a group in her state that receives some federal funding to help homeless veterans transition into permanent housing.
“They’re not sure if they can run their meal program tonight. That’s the kind of chaos that Donald Trump is creating,” Warren said.
Others didn’t go so far as to say they’ll oppose all future nominees, but made clear they would continue to play spoiler.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, (D-Ill.) said Democrats “would certainly not cooperate with the Republicans” if the plan is to endorse such a “power grab” from Trump.
“He’s trying to do a power grab so that he can become a dictator,” Duckworth said. “I’m not going to be party to us having to go back to him and say, ‘Can you give us money for this? Can you give money to that?’ This has already been appropriated by Congress. If we have the power of the purse, we’re not going to go down the route of where this is Trump’s decision of what gets funded,” she said.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said “we’re going to use every tool we have to uphold the law.” He added that he would “oppose, whenever I can, efforts by Republicans to support this illegal power grab.”
Earlier in the day, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and others in Democratic leadership called on Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) to delay the nomination of Russell Vought as director of OMB “until he satisfactorily answers questions regarding his advice to the President relating to the illegal impoundment of Congressionally appropriated funds — questions that have taken on greater urgency in light of OMB’s directive.”
The White House has insisted that its spending pause memo is not intended to apply to every program and that it is a temporary and prudent measure to reign in profligate spending.
