What's Next For Democrats? Border Wall Shutdown, SCOTUS Confirmation And 'Trumpcare' Fight Loom

The Democratic party was set to hit its two-month mark into Donald Trump's presidency this week, and some of its most challenging fights ahead were becoming clear.

This week, the full potential effects of the American Health Care Act, otherwise known as "Trumpcare," were clarified. The Republican party's Obamacare replacement would cause some 24 million Americans to lose their coverage by 2026, according to estimates from Congressional Budget Office, or CBO.

Read: How Many People Will Lose Coverage Under 'Trumpcare?'

Trump and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan have defended the bill, saying it will cut into the country's deficit. Ryan even called it an "act of mercy" that gave people choices, but Democrats have begun to push back.

"This is a remarkable figure," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said to reporters about the CBO's projection. "It speaks so eloquently to the cruelty of the bill the speaker calls an act of mercy."

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., tweeted that the bill was "heartless [and] irresponsible" for giving a tax break to millionaires while removing healthcare for millions.

With the AHCA receiving its fair share of criticism on the right as well, Democrats were reportedly planning to use the bill for political gain. "We are on offense and united," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told Politico. "They are on defense and divided, the opposite of what people would have predicted a month or two ago."

Democrats have also begun to suggest that they would threaten a government shutdown over funding for Trump's proposed border wall along the southern border of the United States. It could cost more than $20 billion.

Read: Obama vs. Trump: Whose Approval Ratings Were Better?

Prominent Senate Democrats wrote a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to indicate they could hold up the budget over the wall and other issues like Planned Parenthood funding, reported the New York Times this week.

"We believe it would be inappropriate to insist on the inclusion of such funding in a must-pass appropriations bill that is needed for the Republican majority in control of the Congress to avert a government shutdown so early in President Trump’s administration," wrote the group, which included Schumer, according to the Times.

While that strategy might be coming together, Democrats can't seem to figure out what to do about Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch. There is no clear consensus about whether the party should vigorously oppose Gorsuch or how they would go about doing so, Politico reported this week.

The political news site noted that "the sole strategic decision the Democratic Caucus has made about Gorsuch ahead of his confirmation hearings is to make no decision at all."