The stunning and fierce revolt against Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for backing down from Republicans in a shutdown battle is being magnified by the resounding silence from Democrats refusing to come to his defense.
Democrats, including House leaders and senators, repeatedly declined to answer questions on whether they maintain confidence in Schumer as Senate Democratic leader. The lack of response only compounded the outrage, primary threats, and calls for his ouster from within the fractured party.
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), a swing-state senator who’s presented Democrats with messaging blueprints on how he says they can win future elections, offered reporters at the Capitol silence when pressed three times by the Washington Examiner if he remained supportive of Schumer.
Sens. Chris Coons (D-DE) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) offered similar mute responses.
On the other side of the building, House Democratic leaders, including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), repeatedly declined to address questions about their faith in Schumer.
“Next question,” Jeffries twice told reporters, failing to come to the aid of his Senate counterpart and fellow New Yorker.
He later said his conversations with Schumer would “remain private” and scolded reporters for pressing him a third time.
“You keep engaging in these parlor games because you want to take the focus off the American people,” Jeffries said. “What we’re saying is we look forward to continuing to work with our Senate colleagues, all of them, in opposition to the extremism that’s being unleashed on the American people.”
Schumer led nine other Democrats to help Republicans overcome a 60-vote filibuster and advance a Trump-backed spending bill to fund the government through the remainder of the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30. The move paved the way for Republicans to pass the legislation with a simple majority, sending it to President Donald Trump’s desk to be signed before a midnight shutdown.
But the Democratic Party’s base saw Schumer’s extension of bipartisanship an act of betrayal as the Trump administration takes an axe to the federal workforce, agency spending, and previously funded projects by Congress. Democrats initially demanded a four-week extension in the hopes of finalizing a full-year budget with Republicans and attaching additional guardrails for the administration.
Democratic lawmakers, operatives, former officials, and ticked-off voters flooded social media with calls for repercussions for any Senate Democrats who helped advance the GOP-crafted bill and avert a shutdown.
Schumer, acknowledging the lose-lose situation Democrats faced, feared a shutdown would send the administration’s overhaul of the government into overdrive.
“[Republicans] could keep us in a shutdown for months and months and months. That is a really important point. There is no off-ramp,” Schumer told reporters. “Anyone who thinks there might be an off-ramp knows it depends on the Republicans, and I don’t trust them at all. I think they want a shutdown, and I think they want to use a shutdown to decimate the federal government.”
Critics, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), called Schumer’s reasoning a “false choice.”
“No self-respecting Democratic lawmaker who takes his or her responsibility to their constituents and the constitution seriously can vote for this despicable Trump/Musk power grab CR,” Susan Rice, domestic policy adviser for former President Joe Biden, wrote on social media. “Why should Dems roll over and play dead when they were completely cut out and presented with a s*** sandwich? Why give Trump a bipartisan imprimatur to gut the government? WTF?”
Rice added, “[Schumer] please grow a spine. And quickly.”
Still, Schumer’s post remains safe. He was reelected unanimously as Democratic leader by his caucus in December and would require a majority of his members to remove him. His greatest threat would come from the outside in the form of a primary threat, but he’s not up for reelection until 2028. The Democratic feud has spurred fresh calls from the base for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), 35, to challenge the 74-year-old.
Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO), who voted against advancing the funding measure, described his party’s dilemma as a “s*** sandwich.” When prompted on his confidence in Schumer, he offered a simple :yeah.”
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) did not provide a direct answer but extended a more personal defense.
“[Schumer] and I came to the Senate together. We work very well together,” Wyden told the Washington Examiner. “We’re the only members really left in our class of Democrats. We work very well together.”
GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN: WHAT HAPPENS IF CONGRESS DOESN’T PASS A STOPGAP SPENDING BILL
Other Democrats offered Schumer a full-throated defense, even as they took a stance that could have led to a shutdown by voting “no” on the funding bill.
“I understand the reasons that Sen. Schumer and some of my colleagues feel differently, and my frustration and fury is directed at the Hobbesian choice we face,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said.