Senate Democrats are showing no signs of slowing down in their push to combat President Trump’s potential acceptance of a Qatari jet to serve as the next Air Force One as they look to pressure the president and the GOP and scuttle any potential deal with the Gulf nation.
Members admit the tools available to them are limited. But that has not stopped them from heaping criticism on the move and trying to leverage pressure points over how best to possibly nix the arrangement, which has angered Democrats and made Republicans uneasy.
Here are five ways the party is trying to address the deal head-on in the coming weeks and months.
Follow the Leader
In the 10 days since news of the potential gift worth $400 million emerged, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has played a key role leading the chorus in opposition as precious few Republicans have jumped to Trump’s side on the matter.
The New York Democrat has made two initial salvos against the push — the most recent coming this week when he unveiled a new bill that would bar a foreign-owned aircraft from being used as Air Force One.
Specifically, the Presidential Airlift Security Act would prohibit taxpayer funds from being used to retrofit any such plane as the presidential aircraft.
On top of that, Schumer announced plans last week to place a hold on all political nominees for the Department of Justice (DOJ), which has reportedly deemed the potential transaction as “legally permissible.”
Whether such efforts will bear fruit remains to be seen. The DOJ hold could affect dozens of nominees, though it only has a direct impact on a few at present.
As for the bill, members hope that it, along with other proposals, could win consideration on the coming National Defense Authorization Act process or another larger bill.
If nothing else, Democrats hope they can put Republicans in an increasingly tough spot. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) labeled the effort as “bold.”
“Makes sense to me,” Durbin told The Hill.
Going after arms sales
Top Democrats are also using arms sales to a pair of nation-states Trump visited on his Middle East trip last week in a bid to gum up the president’s plans on the matter.
A group of Democrats led by Sen. Chris Murphy (Conn.) moved to block a $1.9 billion arms deal with Qatar. The potential luxury jet deal was mentioned specifically in the rollout of the resolution.
The effort, which is also aimed at $1.6 billion worth in arms agreements with the United Arab Emirates, was filed as a joint resolution of disapproval, meaning Democrats will force floor action.
That would put Republicans in a bind as numerous members have said or indicated that they have issues with the possible arrangement, ranging from safety concerns to those centering on espionage and security.
Murphy told The Hill on Tuesday that there is no update on the timing of the votes but pressed that the party’s overall messaging on the issue isn’t going anywhere, as Democrats have the wind at their sails when it comes to the plane.
“Regular Americans are pretty upset about this chat,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), noting that while they might not know about other items coming to the floor connected to Trump’s Middle East dealings, such as on stablecoin, a luxury jet is easy to comprehend.
“But they understand the gift of a private jet to the president,” Murphy said. “This is a conversation that regular Americans are having — not just us.”
Bondi questions
Trump is not the only one in his administration under scrutiny for the deal. Democrats also have their sights set on Attorney General Pam Bondi’s role in giving him the green light to potentially accept the gift, especially given her ties to the gulf state.
Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote to Bondi last week over her decision to deem the gift as “legally permissible.” Durbin pressed that she should have recused herself from any decision due to her past lobbying work for the Qatari government.
“[T]here are serious questions about whether you should have recused yourself from this matter,” Durbin wrote in a letter a week ago, pointing to her decision not to list Qatar as a conflict of interest during her committee hearing process.
“When I asked you about this during your confirmation hearing, you refused to commit to recusing yourself from matters involving Qatar, but you did commit to ‘consult with the career ethics officials within the Department [of Justice] and make the appropriate decision,’” Durbin continued, noting multiple senior ethics officials have since been removed and replaced with political appointees “who are beholden to you for their positions.”
The Illinois Democrat also urged the attorney general to provide information to the panel by next week about who she consulted with about her potential conflict of interest and any related records.
Questions have simmered over the plan for the jet.
The Defense Department would accept the gift, and it would trigger a lengthy and expensive undertaking to get it safe and secure enough to carry the president. It would then be donated to Trump’s presidential library at the end of his term.
Durbin also noted in the letter that Congress should be the entity deciding whether the U.S. will accept such a gift.
Unanimous consent requests
Democrats have already made a habit of highlighting their pushback on the Senate floor by trying to pass bills via unanimous consent, no matter how futile the process is.
In one of the party’s most immediate attempts to spotlight their opposition, Sens. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) both took to the floor to pass items aimed at the plane
Schatz’s resolution last week condemned “any acceptance of Presidential aircraft, or any other substantial gift, from a foreign government,” labeling the potential arrangement as “gross,” “reckless,” “corrupt” and “wrong,”
“This is the most blatant, obvious, ridiculous, gross corruption that I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” he continued.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) blocked that request, arguing Democrats are “losing their minds” over a still-unfinished deal.
But in a sign that few Republicans are lining up behind Trump on the matter, the Alabama Republican quipped to The Hill recently that GOP leaders had to go all the way through the conference to get to him in order to block the request for unanimous consent.
Blumenthal said on Tuesday that he expects the party to use the unanimous consent tool frequently on the issue in the coming days and weeks.
Highlighting the Emoluments Clause
Democrats are expected to go back to their playbook during Trump’s first term and invoke the Emoluments Clause to combat what they say is the enrichment of the president and his family at the expense of the U.S.
The constitutional clause prohibits lawmakers from accepting gifts from foreign countries without approval from Congress — an item that Democrats cited frequently over nations trying to curry favor with Trump and his family by staying at his properties.
The issue came up again last week when Blumenthal tried to pass a resolution of his own that would authorize a Senate-led lawsuit to enforce the clause.
Tuberville blocked that unanimous consent request as well.
But that is not expected to be the end of that road.
“There are a series of unmistakable ways that this administration is degrading and demeaning standards of basic integrity,” Blumenthal said on Tuesday.
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