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Dems Reportedly Angry That Progressives Are Pushing Them to Act Like an Opposition Party
"Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer are architects of the crisis that allowed Trump's fascism to arise and succeed," argued one progressive organizer. "They have zero credibility to be leading the fights we face today."
Feb 12, 2025
House Democratic lawmakers reportedly used a closed-door meeting earlier this week to vent their frustrations with progressive advocacy groups that have been driving constituent calls and pressuring the party to act like a genuine opposition force in the face of the Trump administration's authoritarian assault on federal agencies and key programs.
Citing unnamed sources, including a senior House Democrat, Axiosreported Tuesday that the private meeting "included a gripe-fest" directed at "groups like MoveOn and Indivisible," which have "facilitated thousands of phone calls to members' offices" and pressured the party to use its considerable power to disrupt business as usual in Congress, including by opposing all unanimous consent requests from the Republican majority.
The unnamed senior House Democrat told Axios that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is "very frustrated" with the progressive organizations, which have urged people across the country to contact their Democratic representatives and pressure them to fight harder against the Trump administration and their Republican allies.
Britt Jacovich, a spokesperson for MoveOn, told Axios that "our member energy is high and this won't be the last any office hears from everyday Americans who want us to fight harder to push back."
Let's be clear: We are not going anywhere. We are committed to this fight, come hell or high water.
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— MoveOn (@moveon.org) February 11, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Reports of internal Democratic frustrations with grassroots progressives come days after Jeffries questioned the leverage his caucus has to stop the Trump administration and unelected billionaire Elon Musk from imposing their will on the federal government.
"They control the House, the Senate, and the presidency," Jeffries told reporters late last week. "It's their government."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), meanwhile, has said Democrats are "not going to go after every single issue" in the fight against President Donald Trump.
"We are picking the most important fights and lying down on the train tracks on those fights," Schumer toldThe New York Times earlier this month.
That's not the kind of all-out confrontational approach that rank-and-file Democrats clearly want from their elected representatives. According to a CBS News/YouGov survey released earlier this week, 65% of Democratic voters want the party to "'oppose Trump as much as possible," up from 46% in January.
The poll also found that just 16% of Democratic voters have "a lot" of confidence that congressional Democrats "can oppose Trump effectively."
"Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer are architects of the crisis that allowed Trump's fascism to arise and succeed," progressive organizer Aaron Regunberg wrote Tuesday. "They have zero credibility to be leading the fights we face today—not in their record, their competency, or their recent performance. Quite simply, they have to go."
"Forcing recorded votes is possible. Frequent quorum calls are possible. A wide variety of dilatory motions are possible. In short, harassing the majority is possible. If they think it's a bad idea, say so. If they say it's not possible, they're lying."
Andy Craig, director of election policy at the Rainey Center, urged Americans to keep up the calls to Democratic lawmakers, noting that progressive demands "are 100% doable."
"Objecting to unanimous consents is possible," Craig wrote early Wednesday. "Forcing recorded votes is possible. Frequent quorum calls are possible. A wide variety of dilatory motions are possible. In short, harassing the majority is possible. If they think it's a bad idea, say so. If they say it's not possible, they're lying."
Times editorial board member Mara Gay noted in a column earlier this week that both Schumer and Jeffries "have struggled to shed the familiar rhythms of business as usual" even amid Trump's lawless onslaught, which experts say has sparked a full-blown constitutional crisis.
On Tuesday, Senate Democrats did not object to a GOP unanimous consent request to advance the confirmation process for Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's pick to serve as Director of National Intelligence.
"Holy shit. Schumer and the Senate Democrats couldn't object to a basic UC (unanimous consent) time agreement to slow down a nominee like Gabbard?" progressive strategist Murshed Zaheed asked late Tuesday. "Disgraceful and humiliating surrender from these Democrats as they continue to hit your inboxes and messages begging (spamming) for money."
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Warren Says Trump and Musk Pushing to Gut CFPB as 'Payoff to the Rich Guys'
"If they succeed, CEOs and Wall Street will once again be free to trick, trap, and cheat you," said the Democratic senator.
Feb 10, 2025
As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's website went dark and its offices were shuttered on Monday, with the agency's chief operating officer telling staff it would be shut down for the week, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren was among the progressive leaders calling out the attack on the CFPB as one whose real target is working families across the country.
Chief Operating Officer Adam Martinez's message to staffers followed a weekend directive from Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought, which ordered the agency to "cease all supervision and examination activity."
As Common Dreamsreported Saturday, President Donald Trump's billionaire backer, Elon Musk, posted the words "RIP CFPB" on his social media platform X, late last week. Musk has a vested interest in shutting down the agency due to his plan to partner with Visa on a peer-to-peer payment system on X—the kind of financial venture that CFPB would oversee as it fights to ensure Americans aren't overcharged and scammed by big businesses.
In addition to helping ensure the federal government won't hold Musk's new business accountable, said Warren (D-Mass.), Trump is intent on securing "a payoff to the rich guys who invested in his campaign and who want to cheat families and not have anybody around to stop them."
"If you have a bank account or a credit card or a mortgage or student loan, this is code red. I am ringing the alarm bell," said Warren in a video posted to social media. "If they succeed, CEOs and Wall Street will once again be free to trick, trap, and cheat you."
President Trump campaigned on lowering costs. But he’s letting billionaire Elon Musk and Project 2025 Architect Russ Vought kill the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. If they succeed, CEOs on Wall Street will once again be free to cheat you out of your savings.
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— Elizabeth Warren (@warren.senate.gov) February 10, 2025 at 9:30 AM
The agency shut down this week as the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents CFPB workers, filed two lawsuits against Vought in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia over the Trump administration's takeover of the agency.
The union is seeking to block the Department of Government Efficiency( DOGE), the advisory body led by Musk, from gaining access to CFPB employee data.
It also alleges that Vought's halting of the agency's operations "reflects an unlawful attempt to thwart Congress' decision to create the CFPB to protect American consumers."
Trump's attempt to shut down the agency is "another scam," said Warren—a former law professor who proposed and then helped build the CFPB before joining Congress.
"For years, Republicans have tried and tried again to repeal it in Congress and they have failed every single time," said the senator. "Congress built the CFPB, and no one other than Congress—not the president, not Musk, not Vought—can shut it down."
Trump, Musk, and other powerful CEOs want the CFPB shut down, Warren said, because "this little agency has forced giant banks and corporations to give back more than $21 billion directly to families they cheated."
In a statement, government watchdog Accountable.US said the attack on the agency is "a direct gut punch to American consumers, and a long-awaited gift to big banks that have been lobbying against the CFPB since before it was established by the landmark law to protect consumers in the wake of the 2007–08 Great Recession. It pauses ongoing investigations into cases of fraud and predatory practices by banks that rip off American consumers."
The group also noted that attempts to shut down a bureau that has directly financially benefited working families and held Wall Street accountable is just the latest evidence that, despite the populist tone he struck during his campaign, Trump is breaking his promises "to lower costs and protect American consumers."
Accountable.US also pointed to the $3,900 more the typical U.S. family would pay in taxes under Trump's tax plan and the executive action the president rescinded that was aimed at lowering prescription drug costs.
"Attacking the CFPB is the latest reminder that Trump's Washington will always put the interests of big banks, corporations, and his billionaire donors ahead of the American people," said Accountable.US executive director Tony Carrk. "In its more than a decade as an agency, the CFPB has put billions of dollars back into the pockets of American families and held big banks accountable for predatory practices that scam consumers and raise their costs. Gutting the agency all but confirms that Trump and Musk are reimagining the government to service themselves at the expense of Americans—who will without a doubt see their costs rise as a result of these efforts."
While DOGE has swept through the offices of numerous government agencies in recent weeks, claiming it's cutting costs for American taxpayers and improving efficiency, organizer Leah Greenberg said the attack on CFPB and other agencies "isn't about saving money."
"It's about making it easier for the ultrarich to keep scamming the rest of us, unchecked and unchallenged," said Greenberg, co-founder of the progressive advocacy group Indivisible. "And let's not forget: Musk isn't just any billionaire throwing his weight around—he has clear conflicts of interest with massive financial stakes in industries regulated by the very agencies he's trying to dismantle."
Warren said Democratic lawmakers "will not let up in Congress or the courts until we win this fight."
"There is power in fighting back," said the senator, "so please call your representative and most of all, get the word out. We are here to fight for the little agency that fights for us."
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'Cowardice and Abdication': Democrats Grant Unanimous Consent to Adjourn Senate for 3-Day Weekend
"We're in a right-now hour-by-hour constitutional emergency and they have a duty to be at their posts."
Feb 07, 2025
Senate Democrats spent much of this past week warning of the authoritarian threat posed by President Donald Trump and his unelected billionaire wrecking ball, Elon Musk, and vowing to dispense with business as usual in the face of an escalating constitutional crisis.
But when Thursday night rolled around, not one Democratic senator objected to the GOP's request for unanimous consent (UC) to adjourn the chamber for a three-day weekend, infuriating advocates who are pushing the minority party to use every opportunity to obstruct Trump's nominees and far-right policy agenda.
"Letting an adjournment for the next four days go uncontested isn't just missing an opportunity to be annoying and waste time, though that's reason enough," Andy Craig, an election policy fellow at the Rainey Center, said Thursday. "It is granting the principle of the matter: We're in a right-now hour-by-hour constitutional emergency and they have a duty to be at their posts."
"The Senate adjourning for a long weekend right now isn't just some mundane procedural question," Craig added, "it is an act of cowardice and abdication, and it should be opposed as such in a way that clearly communicates that."
Under intensifying grassroots pressure to act like a real opposition party, Democratic senators did begin to slow-roll the chamber's procedures this week, including by using up all 30 hours of floor debate on the nomination of Russell Vought, the Project 2025 architect confirmed with only GOP votes on Thursday to lead the Office of Management and Budget.
Senate Democrats, led by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), also objected to several unanimous consent requests Thursday evening, forcing the chamber to hold procedural votes to move forward with additional Trump nominees. Democrats also successfully delayed consideration of Kash Patel, Trump's nominee to lead the FBI.
Those are the kinds of tactics that progressives, including members of the party, are imploring Democrats to deploy at every turn as Trump and Musk continue their lawless rampage through the federal government with the approval of Republicans in Congress.
"No business as usual. No handshakes with extremists. Democrats must use every tool available to delay and defy the Trump-Musk coup. Anything less is complicity."
Democrats don't have the votes to tank Trump nominees in the Senate, but they do have myriad tools at their disposal to grind the chamber to a halt.
"That means doing more than engaging in performative acts of Resistance before heading home for a long weekend," Vanity Fair's Eric Lutz wrote Thursday. "Mitch McConnell didn't spend his time as minority leader conducting half-assed chants outside the halls of power; he was inside, scheming and maneuvering and using whatever power he had to obstruct, obstruct, obstruct. That's how you turn we will win from a rally slogan to a reality. McConnell got a Supreme Court seat out of it. Have Schumer and the Democrats been doing anything nearly as politically productive to this point?"
Craig acknowledged Thursday that forcing a roll-call vote on a motion to adjourn for the weekend would not, in itself, have done "much more than annoy" the Republican majority.
But, he asked, "would forcing a roll-call vote on everything usually handled by UC grind the Senate to a standstill?"
"Yes, and that's not just something Schumer is refusing to do," Craig added. "Every single Democratic senator is refusing to do it."
As Senate Democrats relented without objection to the GOP's motion to adjourn for a three-day weekend, Republicans reportedly planned to work through the weekend on a sweeping reconciliation bill that's expected to propose massive tax cuts for the rich and devastating cuts to Medicaid and other critical programs.
"Speaker Mike Johnson said he'll be working Saturday and through Sunday's Super Bowl taking place in New Orleans—in his and Majority Leader Steve Scalise's home state of Louisiana," Roll Callreported Thursday. "Trump, who hosted House GOP leaders for several hours to discuss reconciliation earlier in the day, is slated to attend the game Sunday."
Musk and his cronies, meanwhile, have set their sights on the Social Security Administration amid mounting legal challenges to their infiltration of federal departments and access to critical data and payment systems.
Sarah Dohl, chief campaigns officer for the progressive advocacy group Indivisible, warned in the wake of Vought's confirmation vote Thursday that "Senate Republicans just handed the power to slash essential programs—like school lunches for hungry kids, Medicaid that keeps nursing homes open, and food assistance that helps families put dinner on the table—to a man whose entire mission is economic sabotage in service of billionaires like Elon Musk."
"But let's be clear: This fight doesn't end today," said Dohl. "The next wave of extremists—including Tulsi Gabbard, Kash Patel, RFK Jr., and Linda McMahon—must be met with even stronger resistance. No business as usual. No handshakes with extremists. Democrats must use every tool available to delay and defy the Trump-Musk coup. Anything less is complicity."
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