The radical wing of the Democrat Party is irate with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for allowing his colleagues to vote alongside Republicans to reopen the government. In total, eight Democrats, not including Schumer, voted to reopen after the Trump administration and Senate leadership offered to rehire recently fired government workers and to suspend reductions in force (layoffs of government employees) until late January at the earliest. Politico’s Jordain Carney details the negotiations, which were spearheaded for the Democrats by Sens. Jeane Shaheen (NH), Angus King (ME), and Maggie Hassan (NH), and by Sens. Susan Collins (ME) and Katie Britt (AL) for the Republicans, alongside GOP leadership headed by Majority Leader John Thune (SD). The final Democrat to join the eight who voted with the GOP to end the shutdown was Tim Kaine (VA). Carney writes:
Things began to shift late last week, as Democrats’ elation over their big Election Day wins began to wear off and the reality of a record-setting shutdown — including unpaid federal workers, worsening air travel delays and missing food aid — began to set in.
Kaine gave a proposal Friday to Thune’s team and Collins, he recounted in an interview Monday. That sparked around-the-clock negotiations over the RIF language over the weekend, including direct talks starting Sunday morning between Kaine and Britt, an appropriator and key emissary between the various negotiators and the White House.
“I think I got off the phone at 12:30 a.m. [Sunday], I think Susan Collins was up for an hour past that and then at 5 a.m. I started getting text messages about this,” Britt said. “Tim Kaine and I talked a number of times both on the phone and in person.”
While senators were hammering out the RIF language, Collins and other appropriators were working to lock down another piece of the shutdown puzzle: a three-bill funding package that included money for veterans programs, food aid and other agencies, as well as Congress itself. Agreeing to the three bills, Democrats and Republicans believe, was key to helping rebuild enough trust to notch a broader deal to end the shutdown.
Senators and staff “worked night and day, literally,” Collins said Monday night after the bill passed. “It shows the Senate can work, we can produce the results that are needed.”
At the same time, Shaheen, King and Hassan led the effort to privately persuade their fellow members of the Senate Democratic Caucus that the agreement was the best offer they were going to get from Republicans, who hadn’t shifted in six weeks on their refusal to negotiate over the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies.
In the end, that wasn’t enough to get most members of the Senate Democratic caucus — including Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who told members involved in the talks about two weeks ago he could not support the deal they were sketching out, according to a person granted anonymity to discuss details of the negotiations.
Schumer continued privately urging them to hold out even as they moved to concede this week, the person added. But the senators had seen enough.
“This was the option on the table,” Shaheen said Monday. She added that some Democratic colleagues who voted against the deal privately told her, “I’m so glad you did that, but I’m not going to vote with you.”
Despite his no vote, many Democrats are angry at Schumer for allowing the negotiators to give in to the GOP. There are calls for his replacement as Minority Leader. Time Magazine reports:
To many on the left, however, that approach amounted to surrender and effectively throwing away any leverage just as the White House faced mounting pressure to yield. “America deserves better,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote on X, adding in a later post that “now is not the time to roll over.”
“Accepting nothing but a pinky promise from Republicans isn’t a compromise—it’s capitulation,” added Texas Rep. Greg Casar, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, in a statement.
A handful of House Democrats publicly called on Senate Democrats to pick a new leader.
“The Democratic Party needs leaders who fight and deliver for working people. Schumer should step down,” said Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat.
“Senator Schumer is no longer effective and should be replaced,” added Rep. Ro Khanna, who represents the Silicon Valley region of California. “If you can’t lead the fight to stop healthcare premiums from skyrocketing for Americans, what will you fight for?” Rep. Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts Democrat who is running for the Senate, said, “Tonight is another example of why we need new leadership.”
Action Line: It would appear the GOP “won” this shutdown fight, giving up nothing they wanted at the beginning of the battle, and only rolling back measures they took to stem the spending during the shutdown itself. The big loser appears to be Schumer, who got none of what he demanded and now faces calls to resign as Minority Leader. Click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.
