If you thought that Elon Musk wouldn’t dominate your life following the elections, you were wrong. Especially if you’re a member of Congress.
In an interview with The New Yorker, Hawaii U.S. Senator Brian Schatz admitted that Democrats “got off to a slow start” when it came to countering President Donald Trump’s early moves in office.
But as the week moved on, and Musk’s small crew of DOGE gained unprecedented, and likely illegal, access to agencies throughout the government, Democrats began to push back however they could.
U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury was among the members of Congress who attempted to enter various federal departments.
“I joined a senator and several House representatives to go to EPA because the EPA staff, a large number of EPA staff, have been put on administrative leave. We went to the EPA headquarters and demanded entry,” Stansbury said during a press call Friday. “The administration literally deployed Department of Homeland Security to come and block our entry into the EPA.”
She had similar experiences at the Department of Labor and USAID last week.
But along with the media spectacle of being blocked by law enforcement from federal agencies that Congress oversees, Stansbury said a key part of the push back against Trump is in the courts.
“Our strategy overall is we have to take it to the courts because that’s how you get an immediate injunction or a judge has to actually stop them from doing what they’re doing,” she said.
She said that, while Congress doesn’t have standing in many cases, state attorneys general, including Raúl Torrez in New Mexico, unions and nonprofit organizations are filing suits.
Still, the effort only goes so far.
“We have to continue to use the courts because it is the backstop in our constitutional republic, but the reality is we are in a constitutional emergency right now,” Stansbury said. “We have an executive branch that’s out of control and acting with impunity and without regard for the law and the separation of powers.”
Stansbury will be at the center of another effort to push back against Trump’s moves this week: The Oversight Subcommittee on DOGE will have its first meeting.
“As Democrats we’re worried that they’re using this hearing to tee up their arguments to further get Medicaid and other entitlement programs,” she said. “So we’ll be fighting back in that hearing as well.”
Odds and Ends
Sen. Martin Heinrich, along with Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, introduced legislation to end President Donald Trump’s emergency declaration over energy production.
“While Donald Trump focuses on repaying the corporate polluter executives who donated to his campaign, it is the American people who will pay the price of his sham ‘energy emergency,’” Heinrich, the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said.
Heinrich announced which Senate Appropriations subcommittees he will sit on, including serving as the ranking member of the Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch.
Sen. Ben Ray Luján reintroduced legislation that would bar ticket scalpers from using software to purchase a large amount of tickets to events, driving up prices. He introduced the legislation with Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee.
“Far too many Americans face excessive price-gouging for tickets from online bots and resellers, and I am committed to ensure Americans can enjoy live entertainment without the fear of being scammed,” Senator Luján said. “I’m proud to join Senator Blackburn in reintroducing our MAIN Event Ticketing Act which will strengthen protections for consumers and artists from scammers. I look forward to working with my colleagues to get this legislation signed into law.”
The House Majority PAC, a Democratic super PAC that focuses on U.S. House races, used Rep. Gabe Vasquez as an example of how Democrats can overperform in conservative-leaning districts. Vasquez won the race for New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District even as Trump won the district. House Majority PAC announced a $50 million fund to target working class voters.
The U.S. Senate passed a Heinrich-sponsored bill (along with Montana Republican Steve Daines) to designate last week as “National Tribal Colleges and Universities Week.”
Lujan and Heinrich signed onto a letter demanding that Department of Veteran Affairs Secretary Doug Collins protect veterans’ private information from DOGE.
Heinrich wants U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary-designee Brooke Rollins to share a plan to reduce egg prices for consumers. This includes how the USDA will address avian flu. See the letter Heinrich sent here.