Mark Warner said today his U.S. Senate office got a phone call from a domestic-violence shelter serving multiple counties in Virginia that “may have to close their doors if President Trump doesn’t reverse course” on the pause on federal grants and loans set to go into effect at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
So much for the likes of Warner and Virginia’s other Vichy Democrat, Tim Kaine, for thinking that they can reach across the aisle to work with a wannabe dictator.
Trump, following the Project 2025 script that his people were able to convince the MSM was just Trump Derangement Syndrome writ large, had his budget office put a halt to trillions of dollars in government spending, putting everything from domestic-violence programs to Meals on Wheels, from homeless shelters to suicide hotlines, at risk of having to shut down.
“This order is a potential 5-alarm fire for nonprofits and the people and communities they serve,” said Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the National Council on Nonprofits.
Keep in mind, Trump is throwing his weight around here like he’s Ronald Reagan in 1984, but Trump won the 2024 election by the fifth-smallest margin in U.S. history, and he has the tiniest of majorities in Congress – it only takes two House Republicans and four Senate Republicans voting the other way to block whatever he wants to do.
ICYMI
- Senate Democrats pretend to do something about withdrawal from Paris Agreement
- JD Vance vote confirms failson Pete Hegseth as new Secretary of Defense
- Friday Night Massacre: Trump fires 17 IGs, to keep the nerds from nosing around his grift
- First order of business: Trump directs federal employees to return to office
- Trump makes second stab at reworking Schedule F, reviving political spoils system
Which is to say, he hardly has a mandate, but you wouldn’t know that from a read of the memo cutting everybody off, which spells out that the pause applies to “financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal.”
Warner and Kaine issued a joint statement blasting the “reckless and illegal order,” which isn’t much, but there’s not much else they can do.
“In every corner of Virginia alone, there are enormous, game-changing economic developments projects happening right now that depend on federal spending appropriated by Congress,” the senators said.
“Whether it’s Helene recovery in Southwest, semiconductor manufacturing in Northern Virginia, pharmaceutical jobs in Richmond, renewable energy in coastal Virginia or the Microporous expansion in Southside, every one of these projects is in part the result of federal funding from laws we fought tooth and nail to pass in Congress, and could now be endangered thanks to President Trump’s mess.
“We call on the administration to immediately reverse course and allow the dollars Congress approved to continue reaching the places where it is so badly needed before millions of Americans are forced to pay the price for President Trump’s chaos,” the senators said.
This joint statement has the value of the proverbial warm pitcher of spit, but then, what else can they say, and more to the point, what else can they do?
The 2026 midterms are an eternity away; I’m going to suggest here that Democratic governors might need to consider targeting a couple of vulnerable swing-district House Republicans in their midsts with a cushy appointment to open their seats up for special elections; that, or money Democrats might need to just buy them out.
Don’t @me about that being undemocratic; nothing about Trump 2.0 is remotely democratic.
ICYMI
- Donald Trump, with his anti-DEI orders, has us, again, fighting over the crumbs
- Federal judge blocks Trump effort to use Sharpie to end birthright citizenship
- Senate Democrats make doomed effort to fight Trump tariffs: Get ready for higher costs
- Trump ends directive aimed at lowering prescription drug costs for people on Medicare, Medicaid
- Locals among the 1,500 J6ers pardoned by Trump: ‘Hostages’ who were done a ‘grave injustice’
For a hint as to what happens if we allow what we’re seeing through eight days of Trump 2.0 to continue unchecked, let’s go to the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, Brendan Boyle, D-Pa.
“Senate Republicans are rushing to confirm Russell Vought as OMB director – a nominee who has repeatedly promoted radical, unconstitutional theories suggesting the President can unlawfully withhold funding already approved by Congress,” Boyle said. “This is the same playbook they’ve used before, and we know exactly where it leads: flagrant violations of the law and blatant disregard for Congress’s constitutional authority over federal spending.”
“Let me be clear: Congress holds the power of the purse,” Boyle said. “Much of the funding the administration seeks to pause was approved on a bipartisan basis. Distributing this funding to the American people is a legal requirement.”
Clarification: it’s only a legal requirement if the slim Trump majorities in Congress agree that it’s a legal requirement.
We are already heading down the slippery slope toward regime.
Video: Trump threatens to cut off trillions in federal spending
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Chris Graham
