“There has to be a political price to pay” for Elon Musk’s takeover of federal agencies, said the congresswoman.

Hours after Democratic lawmakers warned that billionaire Elon Musk’s takeover of federal agencies marks “what the beginning of dictatorship looks like,” outrage erupted over lawmakers being barred from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Vowing legal action to halt Musk’s “outrageous” power grab, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took aim at fellow Democrats who, she argued, are acting as if a constitutional crisis isn’t unfolding.

“No Democrat should be voting to advance [President Donald] Trump’s nominees while all of this stuff is going on,” the New York Democrat declared during a 90-minute Instagram Live session Monday night. “There has to be a political price to pay, and we have a responsibility as a party to block everything that is happening while they’re setting a literal match to the federal government.”

Democrats help confirm energy secretary despite warnings

Ocasio-Cortez’s video detailed Musk’s growing control over Treasury Department payment systems and USAID, as well as his push to cut billions in social services to extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts for the wealthy. Her remarks came as the Senate voted to confirm fracking company CEO Chris Wright as energy secretary—despite widespread opposition.

Seven Democratic senators—Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.)—joined Republicans in confirming Wright, along with Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who caucuses with the Democrats.

Ocasio-Cortez stressed that Democrats must force the Trump administration and the GOP to “fight for every single step. The slower they go, the less they can break.” She called for total obstruction in the Senate, urging lawmakers to “block every damn thing that we can” and refuse to approve nominees.

A call to resist Trump’s nominees

Ocasio-Cortez encouraged voters to pressure their senators to reject Trump’s remaining nominees, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for health and human services secretary, Pam Bondi for attorney general, and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) for United Nations ambassador.

Though Democrats, holding 47 Senate seats against the GOP’s 53, lack the votes to outright block nominees, they could delay confirmations or push for withdrawals—just as former Rep. Matt Gaetz’s attorney general nomination was scrapped amid sexual abuse allegations. At the very least, historian Keith Orejel noted, Democrats should show “a gesture of resistance.”

Sen. Brian Schatz takes a stand against Musk’s influence

Grassroots organizers praised Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) for announcing a blanket hold on all Trump administration State Department nominees until Musk’s intervention in USAID is reversed.

“Until and unless this brazenly authoritarian action is reversed and USAID is functional again, I will be placing a blanket hold on all of the Trump administration’s State Department nominees,” said Schatz. “This is self-inflicted chaos of epic proportions that will have dangerous consequences all around the world.”

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) backed Schatz’s move, stating, “We’re all in this together.” The blanket hold signals to Senate leadership that nominees will be contested at every turn, effectively slowing down the confirmation process and other Republican legislative priorities.

Stefanik’s nomination as U.N. ambassador could be directly stalled by the hold, a move that Leah Greenberg, co-founder of the advocacy group Indivisible, applauded. “There is no reason for business as usual,” she said, “while Elon Musk is fueling a constitutional crisis.”

At a minimum Democrats could just stop voting for these fucking nominees as a gesture of resistance. But they aren’t even capable of that. https://t.co/vffRZjsGsv

— Keith Orejel (@keithdorejel) February 4, 2025

Last modified: March 3, 2025