Democrats Are Outraged at Chuck Schumer’s Fecklessness

Congressional Democrats faced perhaps their biggest challenge yet this week when presented with a funding bill that would stave off a government shutdown—but effectively give Donald Trump and Elon Musk free reign to hack the federal government to bits. The GOP’s continuing resolution (CR) lacks language to stop the Trump administration from cutting congressionally approved spending; Trump has made clear he sees the CR as a mandate to direct or withhold any federal funding as he sees fit. 

And there’s one particular person he’s thanking for the CR’s now inevitable advancement on Friday: “Congratulations to Chuck Schumer for doing the right thing,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. Schumer on Thursday said he would vote yes on, as he put it, the “very bad” CR because a shutdown would be “much worse.” Yet, importantly, polling has shown most voters would blame Trump and Republicans—aka, the party in power—for a shutdown, not Democrats. And I would actually argue that Trump and Musk wiping out the federal government is infinitely worse than a shutdown to slow or obstruct this administration’s agenda. Schumer’s support for the CR sends a message of defeat and disunity from Congressional Democrats, many of whom are now openly outraged at the Senate Minority Leader.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) called the move “a huge slap in the face,” explaining to reporters on Thursday, “There are members of Congress who have won Trump-held districts in some of the most difficult territory in the United States who walked the plank and took innumerable risks in order to defend the American people, in order to defend Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare.” The calls for Ocasio-Cortez—a New York Democrat like Schumer—to primary the 74-year-old have been growing for years, and are currently reaching a fever pitch. 

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— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) March 14, 2025

Every House Democrat but one (Rep. Jared Golden of Maine) opposed the CR. It now needs 60 votes to pass the Senate, but Republicans hold just 53 seats. Since Trump took office in January, top Democrats like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have seemingly thrown up their hands, insisting the GOP’s House and Senate majorities mean Democrats have no power to stop Trump’s agenda. But the CR was a perfect example of the power that Democrats do, indeed, have—it’s the same power Congressional Republicans have been able to flex with ease whenever they were in the minority. Democrats have leverage to make important demands—like, say, reigning in Musk and DOGE, or requiring that Trump not withhold congressionally approved spending. But according to Schumer, “A shutdown would give Donald Trump the keys to the city, the state, and the country.”

Actually, that’s what passing the CR does. To Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi’s point, Schumer’s arguments in favor of the CR present a “false choice,” she said in a Friday statement: “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.” Pelosi continued, “America has experienced a Trump shutdown before—but this damaging legislation only makes matters worse. Democrats must not buy this false choice. We must fight back for a better way.”

Deservedly so, the backlash directed at Schumer has been swift and massive. Early Friday morning, about 100 protesters gathered outside his home in D.C. One speaker who addressed the crowd was a woman who’s battling cancer and is one of thousands who were enrolled in a clinical trial that was cut by DOGE. One unnamed, senior House Democrat told Axios on Thursday night that “people are furious” and some House Democrats are considering a march on the Senate floor in protest. “There were many battleground Dems in the House … that were uncomfortable, semi-uncomfortable, with the vote. The Senate left the House at the altar,” another House Democrat told the outlet, effectively echoing Ocasio-Cortez.

Planned Parenthood Action Fund CEO Alexis McGill Johnson on news of Dems supporting CR: “The world needs resistance—like actual resistance to tyranny—and we cannot be complicit in that process. So I do think that we don’t have an elected body that is representing where the electorate is right now.”

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— Susan Rinkunas (@susanrinkunas.com) March 14, 2025 at 12:47 PM

It’s not just progressives who are outraged at Schumer. Noted centrists and party moderates, from former DNC chair Jaime Harrison to political consultant Neera Tanden to the Pod Save America bros, all advocated for Congressional Democrats to reject the CR. As Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s (D) chief of staff, Anne Caprara, put it on Bluesky: “The fight going on in the Democratic Party right now is not between hard left, left and moderate. It’s between those who want to fight and those who want to cave.” She continued, “Team Fight stretches across all ideological aspects of the Party. Misread this at your own peril.”

Schumer has, indeed, entirely misread this political moment, just as he’s misread the entirety of Trump’s second term so far. Speaking at protests against Musk and DOGE in January, he helped lead chants of “We will win!” and “We won’t rest!” Now, here we are. With the first leg of his book tour coming up on Wednesday, perhaps Schumer fears that a government shutdown would, as Justin Timberlake once put it, “ruin the tour.”