Pressure mounts for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to step down after he voted in favor of the Republican spending bill that prevented the government shutdown last week. Several Democratic Party leaders have called for Schumer, a senator from Brooklyn, to step down for disregarding the party's stance to oppose the bill, according to USA Today,
One of Schumer's vocal critics is Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md). Speaking at a townhall in Maryland on Tuesday, Ivey told constituents: “I respect Chuck Schumer. I think he had a great, long-standing career. He’s done a lot of great things. But I’m afraid that it may be time for the Senate Democrats to pick new leadership as we move forward.”
Ivey expressed support for Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, also a Brooklyn politician.
“I think Hakeem Jeffries will continue to hold the House Democratic caucus together..it’s the Senate that’s the open question,” Ivey said. “And ironically they're the ones that actually have the leverage. So if we can make sure that we get the right leadership in the Senate to get it done this time, and hold them together and vote with the House Democrats, we can actually have an impact.”
Schumer, an independent candidate and seven other Democrats voted in favor of the bill, despite Jeffries urging them not to.
Other critics include Senator Elizabeth Warren and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Warren said Schumer was wrong to vote with the Republicans, however, she was mum on whether he should keep his job or step aside. Pelosi said the Democrats should have negotiated with their opponents instead of voting with them, adding that Schumer gave in too easily.
"I, myself don't give away anything for nothing," she said at a press conference on Tuesday. "I think that is what happened the other day. We could have, in my view, have gotten them to agree to a third way, which was a bipartisan legislation...They may have not agreed to it, but at least the public would have seen them not agreeing to it," she said.
Schumer defended his stance in an interview with The View, saying a government shutdown would have severely affected essential services including subways, Medicaid and social security. He said there would have been no "exit strategy" for months outside of president Donald Trump, his ally Elon Musk and DOGE.
"It would have been so bad, that I felt I had to do this. What does a leader do? If you are a leader and you see a crisis down the road, your job is to stand and say 'we cannot do that'," he said.
