Schumer Caves on Shutdown, Dems Revolt

Writing in an opinion piece for Friday’s New York Times, the Senate Minority Leader, Chuck Schumer, tried desperately to defend his decision to vote for a lousy Republican-approved continuing resolution to fund the government through September. He writes: “As bad as passing the continuing resolution would be, I believe a government shutdown is far worse.”

He offered four primary reasons for his decision.

• “First, a shutdown would give Mr. [Punk] and Mr. [Muskrat] permission to destroy vital government services at a significantly faster rate than they can right now.”
• “Second, if we enter a shutdown, congressional Republicans could weaponize their majorities to cherry-pick which parts of government to reopen.”
• “Third, shutdowns mean real pain for American families.”
• “Finally, a shutdown would be the best distraction [Felonious Punk] could ask for from his awful agenda.”

His reasoning seems to make sense on some level and he’s apparently convinced enough Senate Democrats to follow him so as to completely avoid a government shutdown at midnight tonight. However, the move is not popular among his fellow Democrats, especially those in the House who overwhelmingly voted against the continuing resolution.

This could make today’s vote interesting. According to one senator,  “people are furious” and some rank-and-file members have floated the idea of angrily marching onto the Senate floor in protest. While the senator didn’t say whether that ‘rank-and-file’ would include members of the House, it would certainly make the vote challenging to have such a raucous demonstration on the Senate floor.

One House Democrat went so far as to say, “The Senate left the House at the altar.” The divide between the House and Senate is testy this morning and its unlikely that House members are going to be quiet about the situation.

“I know I speak for so many in our caucus when I say Schumer is misreading this moment. The Senate Dems must show strength and grit by voting no,” said Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.).

Said Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.): “I don’t know where Schumer is coming from. … It doesn’t look good for the leader.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez posted on social media: “I think some in the Senate have convinced themselves that the backlash to folding will be limited to “the left” and therefore ignorable. Those people are deeply and profoundly misreading the moment and the stakes. Virtually every swing district House Dem walked the plank to vote NO for a reason.”

“I have also never had so many people from home personally texting me—ANGRY,” said another House Democrat.

Such an uprising among Democrats isn’t surprising for a party still smarting over losing the presidential election last year. With a general concession that Dems ‘blew it’ at the polls last November comes the stark reality that they may be the last line of defense against the efforts of a tyrannical president who seems hell-bent on destroying the Constitution.

“We have time to correct course on this decision. Senate Democrats can vote no. We can correct course, and that is the most important thing in front of us right now,” Ocasio-Cortez said on CNN. “There are members of Congress who have won [Punk]-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 and Medicaid and Medicare,” she said. “Just to see Senate Democrats even consider acquiescing to Elon [Muskrat], I think is a huge slap in the face. And I think there is a wide sense of betrayal if things proceed as currently planned.”

No matter what happens on the Senate floor today, the battle among Democrats is far from over. Schumer is up for re-election next year and Multiple Democrats in the Congressional Progressive Caucus and others directly encouraged Ocasio-Cortez to run on Thursday night after Schumer’s announcement, giving him a strong primary challenge. One member said that Democrats in Leesburg were “so mad” that even centrist Democrats were “ready to write checks for AOC for Senate,” adding that they have “never seen people so mad.”

Here’s the deal: Republicans need eight Democrats to vote for the continuing resolution in order for it to pass. While Schumer is not likely to change his mind, other senator’s votes could be up for play. Without those eight votes, the CR doesn’t pass and the government shuts down at midnight.

The ultimate question may be how willing grassroots Democrats are to suffer through the pain of a shutdown and fight back against any Republican efforts to take advantage of the situation. With the economy already in a correction, a government shutdown could accelerate the sell-off, sending prices strongly into bear-market territory. With all the layoffs and tariff-fueled price increases, a shutdown could stretch the boundaries of what the market is willing to bear.

There’s no question that Republicans have Democrats over a barrel. There’s no winning in this situation. Bad things are going to happen either way.

So, the question becomes an individual one: How are you willing to respond?