WASHINGTON — Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer ruled out shutting down the federal government to push back against President Donald Trump’s efforts to dismantle large swaths of the executive branch and consolidate power within the White House.

Schumer laid out his strategy to oppose Trump in a letter to his colleagues Monday after New Jersey Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim, both Democrats, warned in separate interviews Sunday that the country is facing a constitutional crisis and said they would consider enabling a government shutdown as one of the few tools in their arsenal as part of a congressional minority. The strategy discussion comes as Trump and a team led by billionaire Elon Musk have gutted congressionally mandated federal agencies and Vice President JD Vance signaled they were prepared to ignore court orders from federal judges.

A temporary funding stopgap passed last year expires March 14, and legislation to fund the government beyond that would require 60 votes in the Senate, meaning Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., needs some Democratic votes to join his 53-47 majority if he hopes to keep the government open just a few months into Trump’s second term.

“Democrats stand ready to support legislation that will prevent a government shutdown," Schumer wrote in the letter to his conference. "Congressional Republicans, despite their bluster, know full well that governing requires bipartisan negotiation and cooperation. It is incumbent on responsible Republicans to get serious and work in a bipartisan fashion to avoid a Trump Shutdown.”

Instead, Schumer wrote, his strategy is to use congressional oversight committees to investigate the Trump administration and hold hearings, work to protect and amplify whistleblowers, support outside litigation from states and other organizations, and rally grassroots support and public outrage against the administration’s actions.

With Republicans in control of both houses of Congress and the White House — in tandem with a 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court — options are limited, but some Democrats have called for more drastic measures than the procedural and public relations strategies embraced by Schumer and his House Democratic counterpart, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries. 

In the weeks since he returned to office, Trump has effectively halted substantial functions of federal agencies responsible for funding health and science research, protecting consumers from predatory business practices and distributing foreign aid abroad, while also freezing tens of billions of federal dollars intended for infrastructure projects across the country and attempting to purge the federal bureaucracy of thousands of workers. The president, Musk and other senior officials have said their next targets include the Education and Labor departments, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the CIA and large chunks of the military.

On Sunday, Kim and Booker both said they would be open to letting the government shut down in an attempt to force Trump to halt his efforts. Democrats have argued, in public appearances and on the floor of Congress and in lawsuits, that Trump’s dismantling of federal agencies that were created and funded by laws passed by Congress undermines the legislative branch’s constitutional authorities. 

"We are at a point where we are basically on the cusp of a constitutional crisis seeing this administration taking steps that are so clearly illegal," Kim said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday. "And until we see a change in that behavior, we should not allow and condone that, nor should we assist in that.”

Booker expressed similar sentiment in a Sunday appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” promising Democrats will “do whatever we can to stop Donald Trump from hurting Americans, from making us less safe, less secure and from raising our costs.”

"We are in a crisis right now, and Democrats will use every tool possible to protect Americans," Booker said of a potential shutdown. 

In the House, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said on Fox News on Sunday that he wouldn’t seek bipartisan support to fund the government despite only being able to lose two Republican votes before needing Democrats to pass a funding package.

“The Democrats, frankly, are flailing right now," Johnson said. "They don’t have an identified party leader, they don’t have a real vision for the party, and the blitz of all the Trump executive actions have them at just a dizzying pace."