Kim, Booker take harder stance on Trump nominees amid DOGE, funding battles

The two Democratic senators from New Jersey, Andy Kim and Cory Booker, were prepared to overlook some of the president’s Cabinet picks in the early days of the second Donald Trump administration. For example, both voted with the rest of their Senate colleagues for Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and in a few instances, they even deviated from the majority of their fellow Senate Democrats, such as when Kim backed South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, who was vocally pro-Trump, for the position of Secretary of Homeland Security.

However, both senators have adopted a much tougher position against Trump’s nominations, even those who received support from a majority of Democratic senators, after the Trump administration started to take aim at federal organizations like the US Agency for International Development. Booker and Kim did not vote for any of the eight nominees the Senate has confirmed since last Tuesday, although Booker missed two votes.

The Senate’s votes, the two senators told the New Jersey Globe yesterday, are directly related to Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency’s attempts to freeze federal funding and limit government power, which will often be supervised by the Cabinet nominees the Senate is voting on.

They are currently attempting to undermine our Constitution, and many of these Cabinet members are promising to comply with Trump’s wishes, Kim stated. I don’t think that’s in the best interests of New Jersey.

Booker concurred, “I think we’re trying to make a lot more of a discerning decision given everything that’s going on.” It’s truly about what this administration is doing, not necessarily about the specific candidate.

As an example, Kim and Booker were both ready to support the nomination of Sean Duffy, a former congressman from Wisconsin who now resides in New Jersey, to head the Department of Transportation. However, Kim, Booker, and 20 of their Democratic colleagues withdrew their support after the Trump White House issued an order that sought to freeze large amounts of government money, including for infrastructure and transportation projects.

Russell Vought, one of the designers of that spending limit, was elected director of the Office of Management and Budget yesterday evening. Vought, a pivotal figure in Project 2025, was unanimously opposed by Senate Democrats, and Booker and Kimeach spoke on the Senate floor for an hour about the risks of confirming him.

In his remarks, Kim stated that there is a crisis of confidence in our government. The Trump administration is driving this crisis with the sole intention of allowing the wealthy and well-connected to operate under their own set of regulations while you, the American people, continue to struggle to make ends meet. We are at a crossroads because of this crisis: will we take the required actions to combat corruption and rebuild confidence, or will we further undermine our institutions and bring about a golden age of corruption?

Pam Bondi, the former attorney general of Florida and current attorney general of the United States, was also up for voting this week. Although Democrats, including Booker, a member of the Judiciary Committee, expressed concern about Bondi’s close personal ties to Trump—she represented him in his first impeachment trial as a defense lawyer—and Trump’s efforts to weaken the Justice Department’s independence, she was confirmed 54-46.

Prior to the vote, Booker issued a statement saying, “I cannot support Trump’s nominees for key leadership positions at the Justice Department given his actions and the clear attacks on the independence, transparency, and accountability of the Justice Department.” As a clear protest of Trump’s broader actions against the significant standards and traditions of the Justice Department, I will vote against Ms. Bondi for attorney general.

Kim stated early in the Cabinet confirmation process that he thought newly elected presidents should have some degree of autonomy in assembling a federal leadership team.

According to Kim, “I generally believe that the president has some leeway to build their team when it comes to the executive branch.” That is a prerogative, in my opinion, and I hope that future Democratic presidents will be treated with the same decency.

Kim clarified, however, that he has a limit to how much he will support a nominee if he doesn’t think they are qualified to run a federal agency, and the Trump administration has been consistently hitting that barrier.