The only way to hold Trump accountable

This week the House passed legislation to fund the government through September 30 and thereby avert a shutdown at the end of this week.

The measure now goes to the Senate, where Democrats must decide whether to support it and thereby hand Trump and Musk a blank check to continue their assault on the federal government.

The House bill would keep last year’s spending levels largely flat but would increase spending for the military by $6 billion and cut more than $1 billion from the District of Columbia’s budget.

In normal times, I recommend that Democrats vote for continuing budget resolutions because Democrats support the vital services that the government provides to the American people: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, veterans services, education, the Food and Drug Administration, environmental protection, and much else.

In normal times, Democrats want to keep the government open.

In normal times, Democrats would be wrong to vote against a continuing resolution that caused the government to shut down.

But these are not normal times.

The president of the United States and the richest person in the world are already shutting the government down. They have effectively closed USAID and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. They have sent half the personnel of the Department of Education packing. They are eliminating Environmental Protection Agency offices responsible for addressing high levels of pollution facing poor communities.

They are usurping from Congress the power of the purse — the power to decide what services are to be funded and received by the American people — and are arrogating that power to themselves.

In 1996, when I was in Bill Clinton’s Cabinet, we opposed Newt Gingrich’s budget bullying. We also understood that Gingrich’s demands would seriously cripple the federal government. So Bill Clinton refused to go along with Gingrich’s budget resolution, and the government was shuttered for four long painful weeks.

Today’s situation is far worse. Trump and Musk aren’t just making demands that would cripple the federal government. They are directly crippling the federal government.

Why should any member of Congress vote in favor of a continuing resolution to fund government services that are no longer continuing?

Why should any member of Congress vote to give Trump and Musk a trillion dollars and then let them decide how to spend it — or not spend it?

Why should Congress give Trump and Musk a blank check to continue their pillage?

The real choice congressional Democrats face today is not between a continuing resolution that allows the government to function normally or a government shutdown. Under Trump and Musk, the government is not functioning normally. It is not continuing. It is already shutting down.

Today’s real choice is between a continuing resolution that gives Trump and Musk free rein to decide what government services they want to continue and what services they want to shut down — or demanding that Trump and Musk stop usurping the power of Congress, as a condition for keeping the government funded.

Trump, Musk, and the rest of their regime have made it clear that they don’t care what Congress or the courts say. They are acting unconstitutionally. They are actively destroying our system of government.

The spineless Republicans will not say this publicly. So Democrats must — and Democrats must insist on budget language that holds Trump and Musk accountable.

The House’s Republican-drafted budget resolution isn’t contingent on Trump observing existing laws. It does not instruct the president to stop Musk from riding roughshod over the federal government. It doesn’t tell the president and his Cabinet to spend the money Congress intended to be spent.

Members of Trump’s team are already saying that if a continuing resolution is passed, they will not observe laws that Congress has enacted and will not spend funds that Congress has authorized and appropriated. Marco Rubio, for example, says that even if the State Department is fully funded, he will void 83 percent of the contracts authorized for USAID.

Senate Democrats are needed to obtain the 60 votes necessary to pass the House’s continuing budget resolution through the Senate. But there is no point in Democrats voting to fund the government only to let Trump and Musk do whatever they see fit with those funds.

Senate Democrats have an opportunity to stop Trump and Musk from their illegal and unconstitutional shutting of the government. Democrats should say they’ll vote for the continuing budget resolution to keep the government going only if Trump agrees to abide by the law and keep the government going — fully funding the services that Congress intends to be fully funded and stopping the pillaging.

If Democrats set out this condition clearly but Trump won’t agree, the consequences will be on Trump and the Republicans. They run the government now. They are the ones who are engaging in, or are complicit in, the wanton destruction now taking place.

This is an opportunity for the public to learn what Trump and Musk are doing, and why it’s illegal and unconstitutional.

In 1996, when Bill Clinton refused to go along with Newt Gingrich’s plan to cripple the federal government, causing the government to shut down for a month, Clinton wasn’t blamed. Gingrich was blamed.

If you live in a state with a Democratic senator, please phone them right now and tell them not to vote for the continuing resolution that gives Trump and Musk free rein to continue shutting the government. The Capitol switchboard is 202-224-3121. A switchboard operator will connect you directly with the Senate office you request.