On the recordMarch 14, 2025
Mr. President, well, as everyone knows, government funding expires at midnight tonight. As I announced yesterday, I will vote to keep the government open. I believe it is the best way to minimize the harm that the Trump administration will do to the American people. Clearly, this is a Hobson's choice. The CR is a bad bill. But as bad as the CR is, I believe allowing Donald Trump to take even much more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option. A shutdown would allow DOGE to shift into overdrive. Let me repeat: A shutdown will allow DOGE to shift into overdrive. It would give Donald Trump and DOGE the keys to the city, State, and country. Donald Trump and Elon Musk would be free to destroy vital government services at a much faster rate than they can right now and over a much broader field of destruction that they would render. In a shutdown, Donald Trump and DOGE will have the power to determine what is considered essential and what is not, and their views on what is not essential would be mean and vicious and would decimate vital services and cause unimaginable harm to the American people. Making matters even worse, in a shutdown, there is no check on their determinations, Trump and DOGE's determinations on what is essential and what is not. In fact, on February 26, OMB, led by Russell Vought, told Agencies to work with DOGE to create a list of nonessential workers so that they could reduce staffing even faster in a shutdown.…
Source
govinfo.gov




