A high-profile member of the “Squad” is taking on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) after he announced on Thursday that he would not vote to stop a Republican-backed stopgap bill to avert a partial government shutdown.
CNN reported that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is mobilizing Democrats against Schumer’s plan and noted that some of her colleagues are privately urging the leftist firebrand to consider a primary challenge against him.
Ocasio-Cortez did not directly answer when CNN’s Jake Tapper asked if she thinks Schumer is a “weak” leader, but she did contend that not voting against invoking cloture on the Republican continuing resolution would be a “mistake” for Democrats.
“But we have — we have time between now and tomorrow, and I hope that individuals that are considering that — reconsider it, I genuinely do. I don’t think it’s what New Yorkers want. I don’t think it’s what the country wants,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
A partial government shutdown, in which non-essential federal employees will be furloughed, is set to begin at the end of Friday if a funding bill is not passed in time. The GOP-led House narrowly passed a six-month counting resolution earlier this week.
However, the Senate needs a three-fifths majority — or 60 votes — to invoke cloture and overcome a filibuster on the GOP’s six-month continuing resolution. Because Republicans have a 53-47 majority, a bipartisan front is needed to proceed.
Schumer said that he believes the GOP funding patch is “very bad,” but he insisted “allowing” President Donald Trump “to take even much more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option” and therefore would not support that outcome.
Prior to Schumer, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) was the sole Senate Democrat to openly state that he would not support blocking the Republican stopgap bill. Many others have released statements declaring their opposition to the GOP proposal.
House Democrat leaders broke with Schumer, releasing a statement that endorsed a four-week continuing resolution their party has offered as an alternative to the Republican measure and bluntly stating, “House Democrats will not be complicit.”
Schumer said during an interview on MSNBC that he “knew” he would be criticized, but the Senate minority leader insisted he “felt obligated for the country, for my Democratic caucus — to the people — to explain how bad a shutdown would be.”
