Good morning. It's Sunday, March 9th, and you're watching Velshi on MSNVC.

I'm Charles Coleman Jr. filling in for my friend Ali Velshi, and we've got a lot to talk about.

Now, I may feel like you've seen this movie before,

but we are just five days out from the possibility of another government shutdown. House Speaker

Mike Johnson has just unveiled a funding bill that he hopes will prevent a shutdown from happening,

but it's already on shaky ground. Democrats are slamming the Republicans' plan, saying that it will further

enable Donald Trump to abuse his power and hand a blank check to the unelected, unaccountable

billionaire Elon Musk that would ultimately help him continue to slash and burn through the

federal government. The Republicans' plan is a temporary fix, also known as a continuing resolution,

or a CR, that will fund the government until September 30th. It adds $6 billion to defense

spending, which includes money to boost President Trump's mass deportation agenda. Meanwhile,

it cuts $13 billion from non-defense programs. Democrats were quick to criticize the Republican

bill, noting that it could give the president and Elon Musk more control over how federal

funds are spent. Now, the issue here for anyone who's rusty on their seventh grade civics

is that the framers of the Constitution gave the power of the purse to Congress, not some guy named Elon.

Rosa Delario, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, remarked that the bill is, quote, a power grab for the White House and further allows unchecked billionaire Elon Musk and President Trump to steal from the American people.

Earlier, Delario joined my colleagues on MSNBC's The Weekend and had this to add.

It's a blank check to Elon Musk and to President Trump.

And it just, it allows them, what I call this is stealing.

This is stealing taxpayers' dollars that were intended to go to

American families and to businesses. Now, in a separate statement, House Democratic leadership

added that they will be voting against the bill when it comes to the floor this week. That will put

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