Shutting down the government seems like a counterintuitive way to protest DOGE reducing the size of the government. From Ben Whedon at justthenews.com:
President Donald Trump appears to have found his leverage against congressional Democrats for the upcoming budget battles in the form of the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Senate Democrats made an about face this week and supported a continuing resolution to keep the government funded at current levels until Sept. 30, despite its inclusion of $10 billion in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) funding and a $6 billion hike in defense spending.
After the House passed the provision earlier this week, Democrats initially refused to agree to anything proposed by Trump or the razor-thin GOP House majority, but Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Thursday told the conference that he would support the measure. That led to 10 Democrats joining with Republicans to overcome the 60-vote filibuster threshold.
Why the reversal?
The turnaround came as Democrats voiced concerns over handing Trump too much power through a shutdown and as Elon Musk stoked fears that the government would simply permit a shutdown indefinitely to accomplish the goal of dramatically reducing the size of the government.
