Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) bucked calls from members of his own party to step down after he voted to support a Republican spending bill to keep the government open.
Schumer made the remarks during a Sunday interview on NBC News’ “Meet The Press” with host Kristen Welker when he was asked if he was “feeling pressure to step down.”
“Look, I’m not stepping down,” Schumer fired back. “And let me just say this, Kristen. 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,” he continued. “The CR was certainly bad, you know, the continuing resolution. But a shutdown would be 15 or 20 times worse. Under a shutdown, the Executive Branch has sole power to determine what is ‘essential.’ And they can determine without any court supervision. The courts have ruled it’s solely up to the executive what to shut down. With Musk, and DOGE, and Trump, and this guy Vought, they would eviscerate the federal government.”
Welker later pressed Schumer over whether he was “making the same mistake that President Biden did” when he decided to run for re-election and later had to bow out at the last moment because of a disastrous debate performance against President Donald Trump.
“No, absolutely not,” Schumer said. “I did this out of conviction. And, look, in my caucus, we have a disagreement as to some people voted one way, some people voted the other. But we’ve all agreed to respect each other because each side saw why the other side felt so strongly about it. And our caucus is united in fighting Donald Trump every step of the way.”
Schumer also addressed criticism from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who claimed that Schumer gave into Republican demands and did not secure anything in return.
“Well, what we got, at the end of the day, is avoiding the horror of a shutdown,” Schumer replied. “There was no leverage point that we could’ve asked for things, they just would’ve said no. And because they control — let’s not forget, they control the House and Senate — they could force a vote, yes or no on the CR, without any additions.”
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