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In just a few weeks, a breaking point in our current national situation will be reached. The federal government is about to run out of funding. While Republicans in the House and Senate bicker among themselves over how they will cut taxes for rich people, the funding deadline is drawing closer.
If the government doesn’t have funding, it will shut down.
In this context, the transcript of Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) on Face The Nation shed some light on the central role that Elon Musk and DOGE may play in a government shutdown.
Here is the transcript:
MARGARET BRENNAN: So there was this email that went out yesterday to federal employees. We know that at the FBI and the State Department, management inside those agencies have told employees don’t respond to the personnel email saying respond with your five bullet points. Can people working at the State Department feel safe not responding? Are they putting their jobs at risk?
SEN. VAN HOLLEN: I don’t think so, because what we are witnessing are illegal actions by Elon Musk and a number of courts, as you know, have issued temporary restraining orders on their efforts to seize important private information, but also on their overall conduct. So what the head of management at the State Department said is, Elon Musk doesn’t have the authority to require State Department employees to answer these questions. That has to happen in the chain of command–
MARGARET BRENNAN: Even though the President says he wants them to be more aggressive?
SEN. VAN HOLLEN: So the reality is we don’t- we don’t know what the President meant, but as you pointed out, you’ve got Elon Musk taking a chainsaw to the federal government and important services, and there’s no article four in the Constitution that gives Elon Musk that authority, and the way that he’s been sort of quote delegated authority is there- it is illegal, and the actions he’s taking are illegal, and we need to shut down this illegal operation.
Video of Van Hollen:
It is not an accident that Van Hollen used the idea of a shutdown of Musk and DOGE. One of the things that Democrats want is a check on Trump’s power in exchange for any votes on government funding.
Democrats want Musk shut down, but they don’t have the votes to do it on their own, so they need a way to pressure Senate Republicans and make them choose between taking the fall for a government shutdown or taking the fall for Elon Musk’s DOGE. Both options are extremely unpopular.
If Democrats are going to shut down DOGE, the path to getting Musk out of the Executive Branch runs through a government shutdown.
What do you think about Sen. Van Hollen’s remarks? Share your thoughts in the comments below.