A Democrat senator said his party is prepared to shut down the government in a bid to stop Donald Trump’s administration from wreaking havoc on federal agencies and programs.
“I cannot support efforts that will continue this lawlessness that we’re seeing when it comes to this administration’s actions,” Kim said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Kim said Trump’s actions to “dismantle the government” were unlawful and called for his party to use its “leverage” to prevent further radical measures.
ADVERTISEMENT
“You have to look at what the Trump administration is doing right now,” Kim said. “They are simply trying to dismantle the government. So yes, if we have to take steps to be able to hold them accountable, use the leverage that we have to force it, I cannot support efforts that will continue this lawlessness that we’re seeing when it comes to this administration’s actions.”
He urged his counterparts in Congress to do everything they can to oppose Trump’s efforts to fire thousands of federal workers, a plan which is being executed by Elon Musk at the Department of Government Efficiency.
“For us to be able to support government funding in that way only for them to turn it around to dismantle the government, that is not something that should be allowed,” he said.
Host Kristen Welker pressed him further on whether he was prepared to deny Republicans the votes necessary to keep the government funded ahead of a key deadline next month.
“Just to be clear, Senator, you are open to voting yes to shut down the government to make this point?” Welker asked.
“This is on them,” Kim said. “This is about whether or not they can get the votes. They are the majority. And if they cannot govern then, you know, that’s for the American people to see.”
“I’ve worked in the government. I’ve worked through multiple government shutdowns,” he added, referring to his vote for Nancy Pelosi as House Speaker in 2019 after a shutdown paralyed the Trump administration in the first term. “I would be the last person to want to get to that stage. But we are at a point where we are basically on the cusp of a constitutional crisis seeing this administration taking steps that are so clearly illegal. And until we see a change in that behavior we should not allow and condone that, nor should we assist in that.”
Kim also slammed Trump’s extreme cuts at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as he warned the Republican leader would continue to run his “playbook” across other government departments and agencies if opposition did not strengthen.
“If the Trump administration gets away with this with USAID, they’re going to move it on to the Department of Education, they’re going to move it on to FEMA and other aspects of this,” he said. “And we have to show that this is illegal. This is not an action that the executive can do on their own, and that this is something that the American people deserve greater clarity.”
“You know, the Republicans are going to try to figure out how they move forward. And they have for the last two years needed Democratic vote for every single continuing resolution. And they should not count on that this time around,” he continued.
