Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries met over the weekend to begin to mend a deep rift within the Democratic Celebration after the Senate chief allowed passage of a Republican stopgap spending invoice.
The 2 Brooklyn Democratic congressional leaders sat down face-to-face of their house borough after a grueling week through which Schumer broke with fellow Democrats and voted to move a invoice that stored the federal government open previous a Friday night deadline.
With Congress on a break, Schumer Monday canceled a collection of occasions this week to advertise his e book about combating antisemitism. Democratic protesters had threatened to make use of the appearances to assault him and organizers blamed the cancellations on safety considerations.
A deliberate dialog with Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx) at a Manhattan synagogue was additionally scrapped.
Spokesmen for Schumer and Jeffries didn’t reply to requests for remark Monday about their assembly a day earlier.
The cancellations of occasions in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and different cities got here amid widespread criticism from the occasion’s liberal base over Schumer’s vote to maneuver ahead with Republican spending laws final week.
The rift deepened after Home Republicans narrowly handed the spending invoice that largely prolonged spending at present ranges till September.
Particulars of such payments are sometimes negotiated between the 2 events, significantly as a result of votes within the Senate require 60 votes to move, successfully requiring acquiescence of the minority occasion. If the invoice had not handed, the federal government would have shut down indefinitely.
Schumer stated he agreed with fellow Democrats that the GOP-written spending invoice was “terrible.”
However he asserted a shutdown would have been far worse, and tough to finish. A shutdown would have given Trump much more energy to make cuts, Schumer stated, successfully supercharging his effort to slash authorities spending and even ax entire businesses.
Home Democrats historically work intently with their colleagues within the Senate, so it was extremely uncommon for them to publicly slam Schumer.
Jeffries, who has maintained very pleasant ties to Schumer for years, even took the weird step of refusing to say if he nonetheless had confidence in Schumer’s management.
Schumer insists he nonetheless has the help of fellow Senate Democrats. And a few insiders be aware there have been possible many Democrats who voted in opposition to the spending invoice whereas privately urging their chief to fall on his sword to keep away from a cataclysmic shutdown.
The rift displays intense difficulties confronted by Democrats as they search to answer Trump’s election victory and his wide-ranging political onslaught within the first months of his second time period within the White Home.
Many Democratic base voters are angrily urging leaders to take stronger stances in opposition to Trump’s actions. However others advise mendacity decrease for some time, anticipating Trump’s unpopular actions will backfire on Republicans and the political winds will shift of their favor.
Initially Printed: March 17, 2025 at 2:15 PM EDT
