Democrat Senate Minority Leader and New York Senator Charles Schumer is facing a significant challenge to his leadership role in the Democratic Party.
Many Democrats are furious that Schumer caved into Republicans and voted to invoke cloture so that the continuing resolution to fund the government could be passed.
Prior to the cloture vote — which ended debate on the spending bill — Schumer said that he changed his stance in order to prevent President Donald Trump from taking more power, though some analysts believe he understood that his party would ‘own’ a subsequent government shutdown.
“He wants full control over government spending. He isn’t the first president to want this, but he’s the first president to cower his party into submission. So, this Republican rejection leads us to a decision,” the Minority Leader said.
“And it’s not really a decision, it’s a Hobson’s Choice: either proceed with the bill before us, or risk Donald Trump throwing America into the chaos of a shutdown. This, in my view, is no choice at all,” Schumer said, though Republicans, nearly to a member, voted to pass the legislation and keep the government open.
“While the CR bill is very bad, the potential for a shutdown has consequences for America that are much, much worse. For sure, the Republican bill is a terrible option. It is not a clean CR. It is deeply partisan. It doesn’t address far too many of this country’s needs,” the senator said.
“But I believe allowing Donald Trump to take even much more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option,” he added.
Since his vote, Schumer has been hammered by Democrats. Some criticized him by name, and others, like former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, hinted at it.
“Donald Trump and Elon Musk have offered the Congress a false choice between a government shutdown or a blank check that makes a devastating assault on the well-being of working families across America,” the former Speaker said.
“Let’s be clear: neither is a good option for the American people. But this false choice that some are buying instead of fighting is unacceptable,” she added.
“I salute Leader Hakeem Jeffries for his courageous rejection of this false choice, and I am proud of my colleagues in the House Democratic Caucus for their overwhelming vote against this bill,” she said in a thinly veiled criticism of those who voted in favor of the legislation.
“Democratic senators should listen to the women. Appropriations leaders Rosa DeLauro and Patty Murray have eloquently presented the case that we must have a better choice: a four-week funding extension to keep government open and negotiate a bipartisan agreement,” Pelosi continued.
“America has experienced a Trump shutdown before – but this damaging legislation only makes matters worse. Democrats must not buy into this false choice. We must fight back for a better way. Listen to the women, For The People,” she said.
“He’s done a great deal of damage to the party,” Ezra Levin, co-founder of the liberal group Indivisible, said to Politico on Friday that they had scheduled an emergency weekend call to “seriously consider if the current [Democratic] leadership is equipped to handle the moment we’re in.”
Democrat House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries simply responded “next question” when a reporter on Friday asked him if Schumer should stay on as Democrat leader in the Senate.
And New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that voting for the legislation was a “terrible mistake.”
“I believe that’s a tremendous mistake,” she said to CNN anchor Jake Tapper. “First and foremost, the American people, if anyone has held a town hall or has seen what has been happening in town halls, the American people, whether they are Republicans, independents, Democrats, are up in arms about Elon Musk and the actual gutting of federal agencies across the board. This continuing resolution codifies much of this chaos that Elon Musk is wreaking havoc on the federal government.”