Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., indicated Sunday that he is open to working with other Democrats to deny Republicans the votes necessary to keep the government funded ahead of a key deadline next month if the Trump administration continues reshaping federal agencies and programs.
“In a few weeks, the Republicans are going to try to figure out how they move forward, and they have, for the last two years, needed Democratic votes for every single continuing resolution, and they should not count on that this time,” Kim said in an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” A continuing resolution, or CR, is usually a bill that temporarily funds the government at previous levels until a new budget is agreed upon.
Kim added that he’d favor working against Republicans in this way if the Trump administration continues gutting government agencies like the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Department of Education the way it has in the first few weeks of President Donald Trump’s term.
“They are simply trying to dismantle the government,” Kim told “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker. “So yes, look, 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.”
Kim added that working together to fund the government “only for them to turn it around, to dismantle the government, that is not something that should be allowed.”
Kim isn’t the first Democratic senator to raise such concerns ahead of the March 14 funding deadline.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, told NBC News in a statement last week that it’s hard to negotiate with Republicans on a budget when the White House is slashing funding allocated for agencies that was approved during the previous budget cycle.
“Democrats and Republicans alike must be able to trust that when a deal gets signed into law, it will be followed,” she said.
Kim emphasized that if Democrats break from Republicans on government funding and the federal government shuts down, the GOP should be to blame.
“This is about whether or not they can get the votes. They are the majority, and if they cannot govern that, then you know that’s for the American people to see,” Kim said.
Already, rank-and-file Democrats have sought for leaders in their party to do more to push back against the Trump administration, though it’s unclear if voting against Republicans and shutting down the government would achieve that aim.
At a protest against Trump in front of the Capitol building last week where several Senate and House Democrats rallied alongside protesters, rallygoers at one point chanted, “Do you job! Do your job!”
“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 said on Sunday.
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