Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he’s “not stepping down” from leadership in an interview aired Sunday amid mounting pressure from within his party to abandon his post.
Why it matters: He’s remaining defiant as Democratic lawmakers and outside groups pile on calls for him to step aside. But Schumer, who dealt a key blow to former President Biden’s reelection bid, argued he’s “absolutely” not making the same mistake Biden did when he hesitated to step down.
- “I did this out of conviction,” Schumer said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” about his spending bill vote that angered some Democrats.
- He added his caucus has “all agreed to respect each other” over their differing opinions.
- Despite Schumer’s public confidence, some House Democrats are urging their colleague Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) behind closed doors to challenge him for his Senate seat in 2028.
Driving the news: Schumer acknowledged that the GOP-led funding bill that passed with support from some Senate Democrats was “certainly bad” but contended a government shutdown would be “15 or 20 times worse.”
- He argued that a shutdown would give the Trump administration “sole power” to determine what is “essential,” granting them latitude to further “eviscerate the federal government.”
- Schumer further contended there would be no “off ramp” for a shutdown, and that only “those evil people at the top of the Executive Branch” could turn the lights back on.
What he’s saying: “It was a vote of principle,” Schumer said.
- “Sometimes when you’re a leader, you have to do things to avoid a real danger that might come down the curve,” he continued. “And I did it out of pure conviction as to what a leader should do and what the right thing for America and my party was. People disagree.”
The other side: People do disagree, with many House Democrats viewing Schumer’s vote as a show of weakness rather than of resolute leadership.
- Progressive “Squad” Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Ocasio-Cortez added their fuel to the House fire Thursday, with Omar characterizing the Senate support for the GOP bill as giving up “our first point of leverage” at a town hall.
- Ocasio-Cortez called for “a Democratic Party that fights harder for us” at a rally alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in Nevada.
- While neither directly called for Schumer’s resignation, other House Dems have openly backed a changing of the Democratic guard.
Zoom in: Sanders, in an interview aired Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” said the bill’s passage “should not have happened, period.”
- He noted that “Schumer is the leader of the party” — but the “bottom line,” he said, is a broader issue beyond the Senate minority leader.
- “It’s not just Chuck Schumer,” he said, taking aim at “a Democratic party … dominated by billionaires” that is out of touch with the issues of everyday Americans.
Asked about Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) dig that she doesn’t “give away anything for nothing” — something she believed “happened the other day” — Schumer told NBC’s Kristen Welker, “what we got … is avoiding the horror of a shutdown.”
- If Democrats had “asked for things,” he said, Republicans “just would’ve said no.”
The big picture: The Democratic leader is steadfast in his self-defense. But the battle is bigger than him.
- The growing Schumer scorn underlines the party’s urgent divide over how to handle President Trump‘s (at times legally dubious) executive steamroller.
- Schumer agreed Sunday that the U.S. is in a constitutional crisis in the early days of Trump 2.0.
- “Democracy is at risk,” he said, later adding, “Now, we have to fight that back in every single way.”
Go deeper: Resistance backlash upends Chuck Schumer’s book tour
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with comments from Sen. Bernie Sanders.