'Terrorizing Americans': Dems slam Trump's federal firings as shutdown pain worsens

WASHINGTON — In the midst of this government shutdown, President Donald Trump’s war on the federal workforce isn’t just angering his Democratic counterparts on Capitol Hill — it also seems to be uniting them.

While a federal judge temporarily halted the administration’s firings on Wednesday, damage has been done. And Democrats are more furious with Trump now than they were throughout the two impeachment trials that marked his first administration.

“When he says he's going after 'Democrat programs,' he seems to mean poor people, folks with disabilities, folks who are already struggling. I don't think that's the brand he thinks it is," Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA) told Raw Story.

"We're here, and with respect to how that plays out, I don't think cruelty is a winning argument. I don't think terrorizing Americans or bullying companies and law firms and universities is a winning argument."

Even so, the president doesn’t look to be backing down anytime soon.

‘Empowered to be autocrats’

In March, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) gave Republicans the votes they needed — including his own — to avert a government shutdown.

Times have changed.

"A lot has changed since March, and one of the big changes is all of the layoffs, all of the gutting of federal services,” Scanlon said.

"I've spent a lot of time over the last couple of weeks with the federal employees in my district and they're saying, 'No, he's he's already done so much damage, there has to be a line in the sand.'"

Last weekend, the Trump administration gutted federal special education programs: the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS).

In response, Democrats only dug in more.

“It continues this pattern of going after the most vulnerable," Scanlon said.

"I spent a decade advocating on behalf of kids in special ed, with special needs, and, of course, there's the overlay there with Medicaid because so many of the services they need are supplied through Medicaid.”

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) still refuses to gavel his chamber back into session, a move Democrats say is only empowering President Trump, his deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and budget director Russ Vought.

While almost all House Republicans are staying away from this overheated Washington, on Wednesday, House Democrats came out in force on Capitol Hill — and feeling talkative.

"Trump, Miller and Vought do not give a damn what the law says or what the Congress has instructed them to do,” former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) told Raw Story.

"They somehow have the idea that they have been empowered to be autocrats, and I would be shocked and extraordinarily disappointed and concerned for our democracy if the courts don't hold these [firings to be] unconstitutional. This has never happened before."

This time, Democrats say, it’s just different.

"The public is smart enough — and [it’s] why our democracy has worked for a long time — to know the difference between a disagreement and an autocratic response," Hoyer said.

While recent government shutdowns have focused on specific policy disagreements, this one seems to be about nothing — at least to Trump and co, who are cutting special education workers never mentioned in recent policy debates — and, to Democrats, everything all at once.

“Does this shutdown feel dumb?” Raw Story asked Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT),

“Yeah. There's no reason,” DeLauro said. “There is no reason for this shutdown.”

DeLauro’s the ranking member — the top Democrat — on the House Appropriations Committee, and she says Democrats aren’t even tempted to cave because the GOP never even consulted them on this fall’s continuing resolution, or CR.

“Johnson just jammed you guys?” Raw Story pressed.

“Right,” DeLauro said. “Look, I believe Johnson takes his orders from the president because the president says, ‘It's a waste of time to talk to Schumer and to [House Minority Leader Hakeem] Jeffries.’ He also said, ‘Let's jam this Republican CR down the Democrats’ throat.’

“That's not a good faith negotiation.”

“What do you make of the cuts this weekend?” Raw Story asked. “It seems like they want it to be as punitive as possible?”

“Oh God,” DeLauro said. “No, no, no, it really is and most of what most of what they're doing is illegal. Moving money around. It's illegal.”

‘Not ping-pong balls’

“I have a lot of government workers in my district, which people don't realize," Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) told Raw Story.

"They are not ping-pong balls in the midst of this. That's not the way government is supposed to work.

"A lot of government employees are just angry. And we’ve got to understand that they make all of our lives better every single day, and we need to appreciate what they do for us and I don't see how that's contributing to anything."

Still, Democrats are "unified” in their shutdown stance.

"Yeah," Dingell said. "We're here. We should be at the table having bipartisan discussions with them."