1. United States
2. N.Y.
3. Letter

VOTE NO TO THE REPUBLICAN BUDGET BILL. Unless the Democrats can negotiate significant changes in the bill, including sharply limiting the President's power to withhold or reallocate funds approved by Congress for specific programs, you must vote No on the bill and urge your colleagues to do so as well. This is what James Fallows, a leading thinker on government and public policy, says: For Democrats in Congress: This ‘continuing resolution’ is actually a blank check for Musk, Trump, and destruction.  Do not vote Yes on it. Make the GOP own a government shutdown instead—rather than allowing them to dismantle the government. Tom Malinowski, a former State Department official and two-term Democratic Congressman from New Jersey, said in a recent interview that, like most Democrats, he was trained to believe that government shutdowns are a stupid idea. It’s the radical Republicans who want to shut down the government. But this is a bizarre situation in which the president of the United States and this billionaire are already shutting down the government. Ask yourself, why as a Democrat in Congress do I vote for a continuing resolution to fund programs that are not continuing? Do not! It really is just a blank check. It’s like giving Trump and Musk a trillion dollars and saying, Spend it as you like. Again, please take stand and vote NO. Thank you.