Leaders in the upper chamber of Congress occasionally have to take a political beating to protect their members in tough spots, like the showdown over government funding.
His party in the Senate faced a tough choice between inciting a governmental calamity or infuriating voters who demanded defiance of the president. So the minority leader cobbled together a small coalition of lawmakers to join the majority and push through needed fiscal legislation, only to unleash a torrent of outrage from his own side of the partisan divide.
That was the case in 2021 for Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky. Then the minority leader, Mr. McConnell did what he thought was best in a bad situation, engineering an increase in the debt ceiling in cooperation with Democrats to stave off a catastrophic federal default. He did so knowing he would anger many of his fellow Republican senators and voters who wanted a confrontation with President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
In joining with Republicans last week to push through a six-month spending bill, Senator Chuck Schumer, the New York Democrat who is now minority leader, channeled his inner McConnell to make a similarly unpopular move to keep the government open when many congressional Democrats and voters were clamoring for a showdown with President Trump.
“Look,” Mr. Schumer told the panel on ABC’s “The View” on Tuesday, “I knew it was a difficult choice, and I knew that I would get a lot of criticism for my choice. But I felt as a leader, I had to do it.”
One of the downsides of being a powerful Senate leader is taking the heat both for and from party lawmakers when decisions can cause a political backlash. Mr. Schumer is taking a real pummeling for what a wide range of Democrats see as a betrayal and a surrender of Democratic leverage by caving to Republicans and Mr. Trump.