Democrats have leverage against Musk. They’re girding to use it.

By Andres Picon | 02/04/2025 06:41 AM EST

Democrats were seething Monday at Elon Musk’s efforts to gut agencies. The threat of a government shutdown in March is giving them a chance to fight back.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) at the Capitol.

Senate Appropriations ranking member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) on Monday. She said Democrats were "pulling the fire alarm" on recent Trump administration actions. Francis Chung/POLITICO

The Trump administration’s recent actions on spending and tariffs have thrown a wrench into Congress’ divisive government funding talks while threatening the future of a host of federal energy and environment programs.

Democrats could barely conceal their anger in a series of press conferences Monday. They rattled off the impacts President Donald Trump’s tariff proposals and Elon Musk’s legally dubious slash-and-burn efforts on congressionally appropriated funds could have on energy projects, agriculture, manufacturing and other sectors.

They also vowed to use every tool — including the fast approaching government funding deadline — to pressure Republicans to intervene. With Democrats in the minority, the government funding bill is one of the few leverage points the party has to extract concessions from Republicans and the administration and compel them to change course.

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“We are pulling the fire alarm,” said Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee. “It is up to Republicans, who are the majority in Congress … to decide whether they want to get out the fire hoses or sit in the fire, and I think we know what they need to do and we’re calling on them to do that.”

Asked whether the March funding deadline could provide such leverage for Democrats given that any funding deal will need Democratic support to pass, Murray added, “I don’t know that it’s a point of leverage; it’s a fact. On March 14, the government shuts down. Between now and then, we have to have an agreement.”

Working from New York, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries sent a letter to colleagues highlighting 10 ways in which Democrats will push back from the minority. Topping the list was a demand that “any effort to steal taxpayer money from the American people … or defund programs important to everyday Americans” is “choked off in the upcoming government funding bill, if not sooner.”

At the center of the rancor currently sweeping through the Democratic caucus are Musk and his surrogates, who over the past several days seized control of the Treasury Department’s spending system with the purported goal of rooting out payments for programs that Trump and his administration oppose. It’s not clear whether that includes renewable energy and climate initiatives.

The action this weekend followed a chaotic period last week in which the Trump administration ordered a pause on the disbursement of hundreds of billions of dollars in grants and loans. The Office of Management and Budget withdrew its directive, but funding remains frozen for a number of programs run by states and nonprofits.

Murray warned last week that the administration’s efforts to withhold funding could make it “virtually impossible for us to reach a bipartisan compromise on appropriations” and urged Republicans to get the administration to change course in order to avoid having a shutdown on their hands.

House and Senate Appropriations leaders jump-started talks on a government funding deal last month but have not reached an agreement on a top line funding number.

Democrats were also incensed Monday at the 25 percent tariffs that Trump announced against Canadian and Mexican imports, along with a 10 percent fee on Canadian energy. They were put on pause for 30 days as negotiations with those countries are underway, but they could become a longer-term issue.

A 10 percent tariff on Chinese goods remains in place, and economists and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are warning of the potential for the cost of energy, construction materials and other products to increase.

Concerns about Musk

Elon Musk speaks during a rally.
Tesla, X and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speaks during an inauguration rally at Capital One Arena in Washington on Jan. 20. | Jamie Kelter Davis for POLITICO

The efforts of Musk and his team to commandeer the Treasury’s payments system alarmed senior Democrats on Monday, who expressed concerns about how Musk, an unelected and temporary government employee — and the world’s wealthiest person — could use the system to undermine Democratic and even bipartisan priorities.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he and Jeffries would soon introduce legislation to “stop unlawful meddling” in the Treasury system. They joined other Democrats in blasting Musk’s actions as illegal. Schumer said that allowing Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency to have “a chokehold on Treasury payments is outlandishly dangerous.”

Murray raised concerns about Musk possibly using his new access to federal disbursements and other information to enrich himself or further entrench himself in the federal government. His company SpaceX has received more than $15 billion in federal contracts.

“Now that Trump has handed over Treasury’s checkbook, what if Elon decides he doesn’t like how Ford is getting federal funds to build an EV battery plant?” Murray asked. “What’s next? All Elon has to do is say, ‘Oh they’re woke,’ and he can convince Trump to illegally cut off those funds.”

“Maybe Elon will decide that he doesn’t like that Blue Origin — and not SpaceX — gets a contract, so he wants to gum up the works on their payments,” Murray continued, referring to billionaire Jeff Bezos’ private space exploration company. “Private corporations and competitors, take note.”

Tariffs would hit agriculture, energy

As Democrats carried out their media blitz Monday to hammer the administration, most congressional Republicans cheered Trump and Musk’s actions, celebrating what they described as a purging of government waste and inefficiencies.

At least one senior Republican, Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), raised concerns about the cost of potash rising due to tariffs and called on Trump to grant exemptions. It could portend future resistance from Republicans if the impacts of the tariffs hit farmers and other constituents.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) told reporters that a tariff on Canadian potash and other fertilizer inputs would increase fertilizer costs by as much as $1.70 an acre for corn and $1.42 an acre for soybeans.

Ernie Tedeschi, director of economics at Yale University’s nonpartisan budget lab, told reporters that his team found that the announced tariffs, if implemented, would increase prices by $1,250 per household, on average, in 2023 dollars, hitting the middle class the hardest.

“For specific products like energy and automobiles and lumber that are particularly targeted by these tariffs,” Tedeschi said, “the price effects are going to be particularly higher than that.”

“Make no mistake, President Trump has decided to increase costs for Americans on any purchases of heating oil, fuel and other goods and services from Canada,” said New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan.

“Let’s be clear about this. It won’t be Donald Trump who’s going to experience the pain or the increase in cost; it will be the family trying to warm their home in the middle of New Hampshire’s sub-zero winter that feels that pain and pays that price.”

Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee held an emergency call among members Monday afternoon to discuss the tariffs and Musk’s effort to get access to the Treasury system for disbursing payments for federal programs and workers, Punchbowl News reported.

Asked what steps Democrats would take against the tariff decisions, Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said, “Everything is on the table at this point.”