Democratic members of Congress said they were denied entry into the US Agency for International Development office as Elon Musk and President Donald Trump have targeted the agency.
Members of the House and Senate rallied in front of the Ronald Reagan Building which houses USAID. Sen. Chris Van Hollen told reporters that he and other Democrats were not allowed into the building. He said he would work with Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii to block State Department nominees as long as USAID is in danger.
"We will do everything we can to block State Department nominees from going forward until this illegal action is reversed," he said. But Van Hollen said that because no Republicans are on their side, they will need to rely largely on the courts.
Democratic lawmakers protested in front of the Washington, D.C. office on Monday to protest attempts by the Trump administration to shut it down.
A crowd including several congressmen and women gathered in front of the Ronald Reagan building where USAID is housed.
Elon Musk, an advisor to President Donald Trump who leads the advisory Department of Government Ethics, repeatedly criticized USAID over the weekend, calling it “criminal.” Two top security officials at USAID were reportedly placed on leave after they refused to share information with Musk’s DOGE.
As a result, Democrats, largely from the House delegations representing Maryland and Virginia, where many federal workers live, gathered in front of USAID’s office.
“We would like to see firsthand what is happening to this essential agency that does such good work on the American people,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio responded to criticisms of attempts to shut down USAID by saying that he was now the acting director of USAID.
“There are a lot of functions of USAID that are going to continue, that are going to be part of American foreign policy, but it has to be aligned with American foreign policy,” he said. He also said that employees at USAID had not used taxpayer dollars properly.
That led to fury from Democrats.
“You keep America safe and you help people all around the world,” Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts told USAID workers. “And I want to apologize, I want to say I'm sorry that you have to put up with this offensive bulls*** coming out of this White House.”
Democrats stressed that the only way to get rid of USAID would be to pass a law eliminating it, rather than the executive branch unilaterally shutting it down.
Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia repeatedly stressed the need for the agency and said Musk had a vested interest in shuttering it.
“Its elimination only helps our adversaries, Russia and China, who want to see our global influence reduced at any cost,” he said. “Is it a coincidence then that Elon Musk, the world's wealthiest man with billions of dollars of investment in China, is doing China's bidding?”
Other Democrats who are either immigrants or the children of immigrants talked about how USAID helps. Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, who was born in Somalia, said she had benefited from the agency’s work when she lived in a refugee camp because of the country’s civil war.
“It is the essential programs that USAID provided that kept my family and I fed and safe,” she said. “It is the resources that so many people around the world rely on.”
Omar said that programs like USAID improve the reputation of the United States abroad.
“Oftentimes people interact with our country through the military that does not create love for us, and It certainly does not keep us safe when the world,” she said. “When the world interacts with Americans through programs that provide essential need, they get to see the heart and compassion of the American people.”
Rep. Yassamin Ansari, a freshman Democrat from Arizona, told the crowd that it reminded her of stories she heard from her parents who escaped from Iran.
“Never in my wildest dreams, could I have imagined that in the United States of America in the year 2025 we would be witnessing an unelected billionaire, Elon Musk, and oligarchs and so many unelected individuals taking complete control of our Federal Government,” she said.
Democrats have begun to push back more aggressively against Republicans, largely after the Trump administration put in place a freeze on grants and loans that a federal court later blocked. In a letter to colleagues, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries laid out his plans to push back on Trump’s actions.
“I have made clear to House Republican leadership that any effort to steal taxpayer money from the American people, end Medicaid as we know it or defund programs important to everyday Americans, as contemplated by the illegal White House Office of Management and Budget order, must be choked off in the upcoming government funding bill, if not sooner,” he wrote.
The House of Representatives had been out of session last week and will begin voting this week. Republicans hope to pass the requisite spending bills to keep the government open by the March 14 deadline after opting to pass a continuing resolution at the end of last year.
Democrats hope this gives them leverage given the slim Republican majority in the House of Representatives.
