Democrats find their voice fighting Trump's federal funding freeze
Trump’s haphazard attempt to impose a sweeping freeze on federal aid across the government awakened Democrats into furious opposition.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s flurry of actions in his first week knocked Democrats back on their heels, dividing the party over how to respond to major parts of his agenda and several of his high-profile nominees.
But on Monday, Trump’s haphazard attempt to impose a sweeping freeze on federal aid across the government awakened Democrats into furious opposition. The pressure, alongside the chaos and confusion it caused, spurred the White House to backtrack two days later and rescind the budget memo.
Trump’s move unwittingly handed Democrats the political gift of a unified message, focused on the pocketbook issues they believe can revive the party’s tattered brand and win back power after a bruising defeat in the election. It came after days of internal clashes about whether to resist or be conciliatory to parts of the president’s agenda. And it created jitters within the GOP, putting the party on defense as it sought to downplay the scope of the White House order.
“Yesterday was the first day I actually felt good about Dem messaging in, like, six months,” a Democratic strategist told NBC News. “Because it was an economic message and we were so unified.”
Democrats blamed Trump’s order for crashing Medicaid reimbursement portals, which went down across the country after the freeze. They warned that the White House directive could halt early childhood development, health care and housing funds. And Democrats said cancer research, police and fire programs could get caught in its crosshairs. All of that, they argued, was a lawless ploy to make way for Trump’s agenda of tax cuts for upper earners.
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