President Donald Trump’s pedal-to-the-metal start to his second term is challenging a pledge by some Democratic lawmakers to work with his administration when possible.
With his freezing of federal grants and loans; firing of federal government employees; issuing of 1,500 pardons related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot; and other early moves, the hard-charging president has flooded the zone and put Democrats on their heels.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who caucuses with Democrats, on Tuesday called Trump’s grant-freezing directive “a dangerous move towards authoritarianism and … blatantly unconstitutional.” But without majority status in either chamber, Democrats have few options on their own to stop Trump’s most contentious edicts.
