The Democratic Women’s Caucus denounced the actions President Donald Trump and his task force called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have unilaterally taken to enact policies without the oversight of Congress and claim these actions are harmful to women and children.
The Democratic Women’s Caucus is made up of nearly 100 members of Congress that advocate for favorable policies for women and children within their respective committees of jurisdiction in Congress, from the government oversight committee to the ways and means committee.
During a press briefing on Friday, congresswomen from eight districts spanning from California to Georgia criticized actions taken by Trump and Elon Musk, who the president tapped to lead the DOGE, they argue have jeopardized federal healthcare programs and put the operation of federal research and public health agencies at risk.
Rep. Hillary Scholten, from Michigan, said the rights of women and girls and their access to critical resources have come under attack amid the chaotic start to Trump’s second term.
“The chaos of this administration does nothing to help women and working families across the country,” Scholten said. “They think that by freezing federal funding and seizing independent agencies taking money that was democratically allocated through Congress to help working families, that they are going to somehow help working families. They will distract us from the fact that they're nominating Cabinet picks who believe that women don't belong in the workforce, in voting booths or military uniforms,” she said.
The caucus sent a letter to Trump in his first week requesting a meeting within his first 100 days and asking him to work with them on policies to support women and children. He has not replied, the caucus leaders said Friday.
The caucus members talked at length about Trump’s attempted freeze on all federal grants, which only lasted a day before a federal judge in D.C. temporarily blocked the order, but nonetheless has continued to affect the operations of healthcare grant recipients.
Nationwide, state Medicaid portals were inaccessible for a period of hours on Tuesday, Jan. 29. The next day, Republicans lawmakers, Trump and health secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the freeze was not supposed to impact Medicaid.
The Democratic congresswomen fielded calls from constituents across the country. A woman in Maryland called her congresswoman, Rep. April McClain Delaney, to say she hadn’t been able to start a clinical trial because of the funding freeze. Rep. Deborah Ross, from North Carolina, said the funding freeze attempted to target funding for women's shelters and survivors of abuse in her state.
Rep. Nikema Williams of Georgia said she received reports that maternal and child health centers of excellence across the country received cease and desist letters from the federal government.
“I heard from one constituent that she is afraid that her son will literally die because of Elon Musk's attempt to take away Medicaid funds,” Williams said. “She called the office in tears because she didn't know what would happen if her son, who receives SSI [Supplemental Security Income] and Medicaid, is not able to continue to get the life-saving treatments that he gets every month.”
Williams also cited the Trump administration’s removal of reproductive health resources from federal websites; his pardon of people found guilty of having blocked the entrance of a reproductive health clinic; and his support of legislation to penalize healthcare workers for providing emergency abortion care under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act.
The lawmakers also expressed grave concern about Musk’s access to the nation’s payment systems via the Treasury Department.
Rep. Judy Chu, California, said she and fellow Ways and Means Committee member Rep. Gwen Moore of Wisconsin tried to approach Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent when he came to the Capitol last Wednesday for a meeting on tax cuts Chu said could jeopardize Medicaid and SNAP.
Chu and Moore planned to express their concern about Musk’s access to federal payment systems. She recounted that staff for House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, prevented them from accessing Bessent and cordoned them in a room with Johnson. Chu is chair of reproductive health for the Democratic Women’s Caucus.
“The speaker admitted that he did not know if Musk's actions were even legal or what information his team had access to and was manipulating, but he still refused to take action to stop him,” Chu said.
The Ways and Means Committee decides how Americans’ tax dollars should be used. The committee also shares jurisdiction over federal healthcare programs.
During the press briefing, Chu said: “If [Musk] remains in our government systems, he could unilaterally freeze federal funds for programs that women and families rely on,” she said. “He may have already stolen women's private personal data, including sensitive health information. They could turn off funding for new mothers to help feed their babies, funding designated for community health clinics that provide a full range of reproductive care to women, funding for SNAP benefits and school lunches that feed hungry kids, we will not stop until we get answers.”
The Democratic Women’s Caucus also attempted to subpoena Musk last week to suss out the actions he’s taken within federal payment systems, Shontel Brown, a House member from Ohio, said at the event.
“They claim that all of this chaos and confusion is about finding waste, fraud and abuse,” Brown said. “Elon Musk isn't finding waste. He's blocking spending he doesn't personally agree with. Elon Musk isn't finding fraud. He is recklessly accessing sensitive payment systems and our personal data. Elon Musk isn't finding abuse. He's blatantly breaking laws with no transparency or accountability.”
Scholten and Brown introduced a bill last week that clarifies that Musk’s DOGE is subject to the Freedom of Information Act. “We want to see the emails that talk about why they're doing this and who they're cutting. We want to see all those internal communications,” Scholten said.
Lawmakers from states that house federal health care agencies like the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Institute of Science and Technology in Maryland and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Georgia are concerned about mass layoffs in these workforces.
“The work of these institutions and their highly trained, government funded scientists, engineers and doctors, result in medical breakthroughs which save lives and further technical innovation,” Delaney said. “These institutions have saved millions of Americans' lives, and they will continue to do so.”
Delaney explained the critical work of the NIH to research diseases that disproportionately affect women, like breast cancer, cervical cancer and heart disease. In addition to pioneering therapies like the human papillomavirus vaccines and exploring the use of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy for breast cancer, the NIH devoted $2.8 billion to cardiovascular research in fiscal year 2023, she said.
Democrats may have leverage points coming up during the negotiations for a government spending bill and the debt ceiling.
“I have said since the election, they might have a technical majority. They do not have a governing majority,” Scholten said. “They need Democrats. They need Democratic women to vote with them in order to accomplish what they need to accomplish … We have made clear throughout this week that we're not going to just roll over without some serious concessions from the Republicans.”