Democrats channel their outrage over DOGE, Ukraine and more in marathon Senate session

[February 21, 2025]  By LISA MASCARO

WASHINGTON (AP) — The budget resolution from Republicans was on the agenda in the Senate, but the late-night debate encompassed so much more.

Democrats used the overnight session that ended early Friday morning as a platform for their outrage over what President Donald Trump has wrought during his first month in office, and their warnings of what is still to come.

From the billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency slicing through the federal workforce to Trump’s attacks on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the GOP plan to extend tax breaks including for the wealthy and cut safety net programs, far more than the $340 billion budget framework on border security and deportations came under scrutiny.

Out of power in Washington, D.C., the Democrats instead brought to the Senate floor pages of amendments, keeping the chamber long into Thursday night and early Friday morning.

“People don’t send us here to make their lives worse. But that’s exactly what Trump and Musk are doing,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., launching the debate.

“They are looking at our most pressing problems — and making them so much worse. And this budget proposal will only add fuel to the fire."

Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Budget Committee, test-drove a new term — “Trumpflation” — and asked what in the president’s “big, beautiful, bill” would help Americans.

“Take this plan and put it in the ‘woodchipper,’” Merkley said, repurposing Musk’s quip about chopping up the federal government. “There’s nothing ‘beautiful’ about destroying programs families depend on."

As the “vote-a-rama” dragged into the wee hours Democrats proposed amendments to bar tax breaks for billionaires and millionaires, reverse DOGE firings of public workers and program cuts to government services, preserve Medicaid, help Ukraine and on and on.

Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado offered an amendment to reinstate the fired federal employees at the Forest Service, National Park Service and other public lands agencies.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., sought to prevent reductions in government programs fighting avian flu at a time of soaring prices of eggs.

Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire wanted to ensure the U.S. commits to supporting Ukraine in the fight against Russia.

But none of them were being approved.

Still, Democrats preferred talking about almost anything but Trump's plans for deporting immigrants and beefing up border security, the main provisions of the $340 billion budget framework, which also includes funding for the Pentagon and Coast Guard.

Those immigration-related issues divide the Democrats, who struggled during the fall election to counter Trump's deportation plans and still have not formed a ready response.

Health, Education, and Labor Committee Ranking Member Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., questions Linda McMahon, President Donald Trump's nominee for Secretary of Education, during a committee hearing on her nomination, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Republicans happily pointed out the disconnect as they marched their budget framework to passage. It was approved, 52-48, on a mostly party-line vote, a key step in the budget process. One Republican, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, opposed it, as did all Democrats.

The package now must sync up with one from the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson is working up Trump's “big, beautiful bill” with some $4.5 trillion in tax breaks and up to $2 trillion in spending cuts.

Nearing daybreak, when Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., offered an amendment to prevent “unvetted and unaccountable” DOGE workers to access Americans' private information in government databases, Republicans brought it down on a voice vote, with a thundering no.

After the various prohibitions on billionaire tax breaks didn't pass, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts tried to block breaks for those earning $10 million. It was turned back. Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona suggested the cap be set at $100 million. It failed. Sen. Angus King of Maine tried $500 million. Nope.

GOP Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana assessed the whole evening as comparable to “professional wresting” and chided Democrats for drifting off topic. He said the bill was about border security not the tax cuts, which would be addressed later.

At the start of the evening, Sen. Bernie Sanders, a former chairman of the Budget committee, spent some time discussing his own ideas, including his plan to expand Social Security benefits and extend Medicare health care coverage to provide seniors with access to dental, vision and hearing aid benefits.

The Vermont senator said it's unacceptable that millions of seniors can't afford eyeglasses, hearing aids or dentures.

“That should not be happening in the United States of America in the year 2025," Sanders said.

Then he zeroed in on Trump's remarkable suggestion it was Ukraine that started the war, rather than Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of the country in 2022.

“Really?” an incredulous Sanders asked, urging fellow senators to speak out. “That is, as I hope every member of the Senate knows, an absolute lie.”

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