Dems defend Social Security on Tax Day
Plus: Chris Van Hollen’s empty rescue mission, Greg Meeks and Steny Hoyer’s Russia sanctions bill and AOC’s banner week.
👋🏾 Hi, hey, hello! Congress may be in recess, but there’s no shortage of major news. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) applied a time-honored Senate tradition to block consideration of two Trump nominees for the powerful U.S. attorney offices in New York. … 12 self-styled moderate and swing-district House Republicans sent a letter to GOP leadership warning they would oppose a final budget bill that includes deep Medicaid cuts, even though they each voted for two versions of the framework that requires $880 billion in cuts to the program. … President Donald Trump wants the IRS to rescind Harvard’s tax-exempt status after the Ivy League institution rejected demands from his administration to dismantle its diversity programming and limit student protests in exchange for continued federal funding. (Trump’s IRS also plans to end the program for free direct tax filing.) … The president’s aggressive tariff policies prompted warnings from the World Trade Organization this week about a potential 1.5 percent decline in global trade this year—a slowdown with ripple effects across economies and industries still recovering from the pandemic. … ICYMI: In my weekly COURIER column, I unpacked how elected Democrats’ attempts at a nuanced stance on tariffs are confusing and frustrating to some party strategists and activists. … Keep reading for what else is worth knowing from beyond the Hill this week—straight from my notebook to your inbox.
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Dems rally to defend Social Security
Hill Democrats marked Tax Day with a coordinated Social Security Day of Action on Tuesday, spotlighting the program’s importance while accusing Republicans of trying to dismantle it under the guise of reform.
Allow me to explain: The timing was intentional. Democrats say Tax Day highlights a foundational truth: Americans pay into Social Security with every paycheck—and every return—and deserve a retirement guarantee, not a privatization scheme or service rollback.
In his own words: I was on the ground in Brooklyn, where House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) responded forcefully to GOP claims that Social Security is headed toward insolvency.
“Social Security is under threat because of Republican attacks against it,” he said. “Republicans believe that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme. It’s not a Ponzi scheme. Project 2025 is a Ponzi scheme.”
In the know: While Project 2025 doesn’t explicitly call for benefit cuts, the Heritage Foundation-backed blueprint supports reforms that would shrink them for many Americans, including raising the retirement age, imposing means testing, and trimming cost-of-living adjustments.
How we got here: Under Elon Musk’s leadership, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has upended the Social Security Administration. Office closures, workforce cuts, privacy concerns, and fraud accusations have disrupted a program that hasn’t missed a payment in 90 years.
“This notion of widespread waste, fraud and abuse is the tell as it relates to Republican efforts to dismantle Social Security as we know it,” Jeffries said.
The big picture: Former President Joe Biden used his first public speech since leaving office to defend Social Security and blast Republican efforts to undermine it. Former SSA Commissioner Martin O’Malley, during a press Q&A the same day, warned it could take years to undo the damage done by DOGE’s mass personnel departures.
“The important thing about this fight, however, is that people have woken up to the threat, and people are becoming mobilized,” he said the day before he launched a new PAC on Social Security. “And there is a midterm election coming up in two years where we could put the brakes on this.”
Looking ahead: Tuesday’s Social Security push is part of a broader messaging blitz by House Democrats. They held a second Medicaid Day of Action today and are launching a Cost of Living Week of Action beginning Monday to spotlight safety net programs and frame the GOP budget as a threat to working families.
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Van Hollen comes up empty in Abrego Garcia rescue attempt
Sen. Chris Van Hollen flew to El Salvador this week to visit Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland resident wrongly deported by the Trump administration in defiance of a federal court order.
The Maryland Democrat left without even a phone call. Now, House Democrats are seeking formal authorization to travel there themselves, before the administration’s inaction further erodes the guarantee of due process that has long underpinned the American justice system.
Allow me to explain: After the Salvadoran vice president declined to arrange a meeting or call with Abrego Garcia—who remains detained in a high-security prison despite no criminal convictions—Van Hollen said he would ask the U.S. embassy to press for access formally.
Meanwhile, House Democrats, led by Reps. Maxwell Frost (Fla.) and Robert Garcia (Calif.) sent a letter to Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) requesting authorization for an official congressional delegation to El Salvador.
The CODEL would grant lawmakers security support and formal oversight authority they wouldn’t have if traveling independently.
What they’re saying: “We’re trying to figure out a way,” a House Democrat who wants to make the trip told me. “We want to check on his safety and let people know we are not forgetting him.”
On whether it would be safe for them to go without official authorization: “Let’s hope,” the member added.
How we got here: Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who had been legally residing in the U.S. since 2011, was deported last month due to what Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) described as an “administrative error”—despite being granted “withholding of removal” by an immigration judge in 2019 to protect him from gang violence in El Salvador.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg directed the Trump administration to return the deportation flights, but officials allowed them to proceed, citing that the planes were already airborne and outside U.S. airspace when the order was issued.
The Supreme Court later unanimously ruled the deportation was unlawful and ordered the administration to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s release and resume his immigration proceedings as if the removal had never occurred, though it did not mandate his immediate return, leading to sharply divergent interpretations of the ruling.
Not so fast: The White House believes immigration is a winning issue for the president and the Republican Party.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt held an unscheduled briefing featuring the mother of Rachel Morin, a Maryland woman who was raped and murdered in 2023 by an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador.
Morin gave an emotional account of her daughter’s death and called for stricter immigration enforcement.
Looking ahead: Boasberg filed an order this week finding probable cause to hold the Trump administration in criminal contempt for defying his March directive to halt deportations under the Alien Enemies Act.
He rejected the administration’s airspace argument as “willful disobedience” and set an April 23 deadline to either regain custody of the deportees or identify the officials responsible.
Although failure to comply could lead to contempt prosecutions—with Boasberg prepared to appoint an independent attorney if DOJ declines to act—legal experts note that Trump could potentially pardon any officials found in contempt.
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Meeks and Hoyer target Trump’s Russia stance with sanctions bill
House Democrats are ramping up pressure on the White House and Republican leaders to match Congress’s bipartisan resolve in confronting Russian aggression, with Reps. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) and Steny Hoyer(D-Md.) introducing sweeping new sanctions legislation days after Moscow’s Palm Sunday missile strike on the Ukrainian city of Sumy.
Allow me to explain: The bill mirrors a Senate proposal by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and would sustain military aid to Ukraine, target Russian oil exports, and bar President Trump from unilaterally lifting sanctions.
What they’re saying: “The US-led international response to Russia's illegal, full-scale invasion of Ukraine has isolated Moscow as a global pariah, devastated the Kremlin’s capacity to fund this war, and provided essential support to the Ukrainians fighting for freedom,” Meeks said. “Now is not the time to ease up on this successful approach nor put pressure solely on the victim, Ukraine.”
Hoyer added, “Our allies in Ukraine are on the front lines of freedom—fighting not only for their nations’ sovereignty but also against authoritarianism worldwide. We must not give aid and comfort to our enemy, Russia, and we must remain steadfast in the battle for democracy.”
In the know: Russian forces launched a devastating missile attack during Palm Sunday on the Ukrainian city of Sumy, resulting in the deaths of at least 36 civilians, including two children, and injuring over 100 others.
The attack targeted a densely populated area and struck a trolleybus filled with passengers. Ukrainian officials reported that the missiles used were equipped with cluster munitions, a type of weapon known for causing widespread harm to civilians.
In response to the attack, President Trump described the incident as “a horrible thing” and said, “I was told they made a mistake,” a characterization that’s drawn significant criticism from Ukrainian leaders and Western allies who accuse Trump of parroting Russian propaganda.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the strike as deliberate terrorism and invited Trump to visit Ukraine to witness the destruction firsthand.
A closer look: The relationship between Trump and Zelenskyy has become increasingly strained, impacting U.S.-Ukraine relations amid the ongoing war.
Trump and Vice President JD Vance publicly criticized Zelenskyy during a February 2025 Oval Office meeting, leading to the abrupt cancellation of a planned minerals agreement.
Following this confrontation, the Trump administration briefly suspended military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine, raising concerns about the future of U.S. support.
The bottom line: The international community has largely condemned the Sumy strike, with leaders from France, Germany, and the United Kingdom labeling it a war crime and calling for increased pressure on Russia to cease hostilities.
The incident has further strained relations between the U.S. and its European allies, who are concerned about the Trump administration's perceived leniency towards Russia.
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AOC’s banner week intensifies speculation on her future
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) spent the week barnstorming the West on their Fighting Oligarchy tour, drawing massive crowds and elevating AOC’s national profile at a moment when Democrats are in flux and searching for new leadership.
Allow me to explain: The grassroots enthusiasm comes on the heels of AOC’s record-shattering $9.6 million Q1 fundraising haul and rising speculation about her political future: A challenge to Schumer in 2028 or a potential White House run in a cycle with no clear Democratic standard-bearer.
For context: She more than doubled her previous high-water mark ($4.4M in Q2 2020).
The contributions came from 266,000 individual donors giving an average of $21. Nurses and teachers were the top professions, and 64 percent of the donors were first-time donors.
AOC has $8.2 million on hand and is one of just three House Democrats to have paid her DCCC dues in full. (She contributed $275,000 to the party’s voter protection program the day after losing the race for top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee.)
These numbers are even more striking given that she doesn’t take a dime from lobbyists or corporate PACs.
In the know: The Fighting Oligarchy tour is a full-throated push against corporate power and in favor of policies like Medicare for All, wealth taxes, and campaign finance reform.
Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez packed venues from Los Angeles (36,000) to Folsom (26,000) to Missoula (9,000+).
They made surprise stops at Coachella and brought their message to deep-red strongholds like Bakersfield and Nampa, where thousands showed up to hear them take on Trump, billionaires, and inequality—and pitch a grassroots path to democratic renewal.
With appearances from 84-year-old folk icon and civil rights activist Joan Baez and 79-year-old rock legend Neil Young—musicians who made their names during the Vietnam era—the tour’s resonance extends beyond the Gen Z and millennial base it’s often associated with.
A closer look: AOC is sharing the stage with the most recognizable figure in the progressive movement—and, in some cases, commanding even louder applause.
These stops outside New York give her a chance to test her voice with broader audiences.
She’s not running for anything beyond her House seat—yet—but this tour doubles as a national audition: Can she connect with rural voters in Montana and suburban ones in California? Can she own the stage like a presidential candidate? So far, yes.
There’s no mistaking the symbolism.
From the tour name to the style and messaging, Sanders is clearly handing her the keys to the house he built.
He hasn’t formally anointed her, but this is a passing of the torch in motion.
Not so fast: Not everyone in the party is applauding though.
Longtime Democratic strategist James Carville—who helped elect Bill Clinton in 1992 and now plays the role of cranky party uncle on cable news—brushed off the tour as a sideshow.
“When you beat a Republican, come back and see me,” he said this week on CUOMO, the NewsNation show hosted by Chris Cuomo.
Meanwhile, Chris’s brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, echoed the critique on The Daily Beast Podcast, arguing the tour exploits “fear” and “anger” without offering a governing strategy and warning Democrats have lost their foundation.
Both men built their political brands outside today’s progressive base—and both seem more focused on criticizing the party’s left flank than adapting to its energy.
The bottom line: As Democrats search for direction post-2024, the tour offers one path forward: Confrontation, not triangulation, with concentrated wealth and power. Whether the party embraces it remains to be seen. But AOC is positioning herself as the face of that fight.