Chuck Schumer Learns the Downside of Being on Top in the Senate
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.
It Is Happening Every Day, Every Where
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.
The Senate minority leader discusses the backlash to his vote on the Republican spending bill, how he sees his role within the party and his new book.
The bill was passed just hours before a midnight deadline to avoid a lapse in funding, which would have shut down the government.
The Senate approved a separate bill that allows D.C. to continue operating under its current budget, which seemed on track to pass in the House. Senator Susan Collins said it had President Trump’s support.
The measure, which passed with bipartisan support and minor changes, now heads back to the House. It is just the second legislative victory for the new Republican-controlled Congress.
Privately, many Senate Democrats conceded that their leader was doing his job by protecting his members from a tough vote and making a politically painful decision. But the backlash from his party was intense.
An afternoon vote was expected to clear the way for a Republican-written bill to keep government funding flowing past midnight after the top Senate Democrat said he would not block it.
A plain-spoken, sometimes cantankerous lawmaker, he balanced his conservative views with moderate stands on abortion rights, gay marriage and immigration reform.
The stopgap measure the G.O.P. is pushing to avert a government shutdown omits billions of dollars in member-requested projects, another way in which Congress has ceded its power on federal spending.
On spending, oversight and other issues, Republican lawmakers have willingly ceded power traditionally reserved for Congress to the Trump White House.