Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, will be facing a political test when Congress reconvenes this fall as lawmakers will be considering a new funding bill to avoid a government shutdown.
Newsweek reached out to Schumer’s office for comment via email.
Why It Matters
Democratic voters across the country have become increasingly frustrated with what they view as a feeble response from congressional leaders to President Donald Trump’s agenda amid his second term in office. Democrats in Congress lack a majority in the House and Senate, limiting their ability to block his agenda from passing, but voters have pushed for stronger action from elected officials.
Schumer faced a tsunami of Democratic backlash in March after he declined to block a Republican-led stopgap bill to avoid a government shutdown. Schumer and eight other Democrats voted in favor of a procedural motion to allow debate on the bill but ultimately voted against its passage. That vote, however, allowed it to pass the filibuster and become law, Democratic critics say.
What To Know
Congress has until October 1 to pass a series of bills to fund the government through fiscal year (FY) 2026. Republicans have slim majorities in both chambers—a 219-212 advantage in the House and a 53-47 advantage in the Senate—meaning any vote on the package may again prove to be a tight vote.
This presents challenges for both parties—Republican leaders will have to appease both swing-district moderates and Make America Great Again (MAGA)-aligned conservatives
However, Democrats like Schumer will also be facing a test as he seeks to appease the Democratic voter base, while also working with Republicans to get some concessions in the bills.
In March, Democrats from across the spectrum expressed frustration with Schumer and other Democrats advancing the spending bill despite a lack of concessions made by Republicans to earn his support on the bill, which critics argued cut critical programs. Democrats called for Schumer to face a future primary or step down as party leader, which he has declined to do.
Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, also a New York Democrat, sent a leader to GOP leadership urging a meeting to “discuss the need to avert a painful, unnecessary lapse in government funding and to address the healthcare crisis Republicans have triggered in America.”
“The government funding issue must be resolved in a bipartisan way,” they wrote. “That is the only viable path forward.”
In the past, Democrats largely compromised “out of a calculation that the blame for a government shutdown could land more on them than on the Republicans,” Grant Davis Reeher, professor of political science at Syracuse University, told Newsweek.
“They run the same risk if they try to turn this new set of negotiations into a bigger fight over the Constitution and basic principles. That will appeal to the core base of their party, which wants to see more backbone, but it’s not clear how it play with the entire country,” he added.
Reeher said that the Senate, where legislation generally needs to pass the 60-vote filibuster to end debate on a bill, presents Democrats a stronger chance of mitigating some of Republicans’ desires to cut spending.
Democrats’ strategy on the legislation will largely depend on whether their goal is to mitigate future spending cuts or to walk back cuts already made to programs like Medicaid or public broadcasting, Reeher added, noting they would need to be more aggressive in the second strategy.
Anne Danehy, senior associate dean and associate professor of the practice at Boston University’s College of Communications, told Newsweek that Schumer may be “stuck in a tough position,” and that how he communicates about his decision-making process and vote is critical.
Democrats have two opposing philosophies on how to approach this sort of legislation, she said.
One side of the party believes Democrats should not “give Republicans anything” to show they disapprove of the “dismantling of the federal government, Danehy said.
“You have others like Schumer who are saying, ‘We don’t have a lot of choice here. We need to gain something or we lose everything, so we need to compromise or the American people could really suffer,'” she added.
Danehy warned that more Democratic outrage on the matter would further break down the party’s influence, which should be a concern for leadership as negotiations on the spending bills begin.
Reeher and Danehy questioned whether a more progressive Democrat could successfully primary Schumer in 2028 if he chooses to run again, even if he again faces outrage from parts of the base.
“There’s been a lot of talk about a credible primary challenge, but I don’t see that happening or at least being successful. Senator Schumer is not Joseph Crowley; he remains very attentive to New York State issues and to local communities,” Reeher said. “He won’t look past a potential threat. And a credible challenger would be risking a lot in taking him on.”
Others, however, have floated potential candidates like Representative Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez of New York who represents parts of the Queens and the Bronx in Congress, as a potential alternative candidate to Schumer in 2028—if she doesn’t run for president, that is.
Some polls have suggested Ocasio-Cortez could have an early advantage over Schumer. A Data for Progress poll, which surveyed 767 likely New York voters from March 26 to March 31, showed Ocasio-Cortez leading Schumer 54 to 36 percent.
But the primary is still years away, and the political landscape may change after the 2026 midterms when Democrats are hoping to reclaim control of the House and Senate. So, it’s quite unclear what issues may be at the forefront of Democrats’ minds come 2028.
What People Are Saying
Grant Davis Reeher, professor of political science at Syracuse University, also told Newsweek: “We’ve seen from polling that a lot of the Republican and Trump initiatives so far are not terribly popular, and that the public has some real concerns about some of the spending cuts, and the war on the federal workforce. Democrats should keep the focus on those things going into the midterms and not let the question of who is to blame for stalled negotiations on keeping the government running interfere with that focus. In that sense, I tend to agree with Senator Schumer.”
Senator Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told NBC News host Kristen Welker on a Meet the Press interview in March: “I knew when I cast my vote against the government shutdown that there would be a lot of controversy. And there was. But let me tell you and your audience why I did it, why I felt it was so important. The CR [continuing resolution] was certainly bad…But a shutdown would be 15 or 20 times worse. Under a shutdown, the Executive Branch has sole power to determine what is, quote, ‘essential.’ And they can determine without any court supervision.”
What Happens Next?
Negotiations may begin over the coming weeks, and Congress has until October 1 to pass some sort of spending bill to keep the government open. Whether they will have to continue relying on temporary stopgap measures or can successfully pass the appropriations bills is yet to be seen.
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