In the wake of the GOP clinching control of the U.S. Senate on Tuesday night, Democrat Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, the contentious leader who will have to vacate his job after Trump’s inauguration, suddenly pleaded for bipartisanship.
“As we await the final tallies in elections across the country, Senate Democrats remain committed to our values and to working with our Republican colleagues to deliver for the American people,” Schumer stated on X. “As I’ve said time and again, in both the majority and the minority, the only way to get things done in the Senate is through bipartisan legislation while maintaining our principles — and the next two years will be no different.”
As I’ve said time and again, in both the majority and the minority, the only way to get things done in the Senate is through bipartisan legislation while maintaining our principles — and the next two years will be no different.
— Chuck Schumer (@chuckschumer) November 6, 2024
Schumer speaking of bipartisanship and “principles” is ironic considering his penchant for disdain toward Republicans. As recently as September, he indicated he would not permit the Senate to even consider a short-term spending measure wedded to an election integrity bill proposed by the House GOP. “As I have said before, the only way to get things done is in a bipartisan way,” Schumer said. “Despite Republican bluster, that is how we’ve handled every funding bill in the past, and this time should be no exception. We will not let poison pills or Republican extremism put funding for critical programs at risk.”
Schumer attacked House Speaker Mike Johnson, accusing him of being partisan as the House passed the SAVE Act, stating, “If Speaker Johnson drives House Republicans down this highly partisan path, the odds of a shutdown go way up.” Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) fired back that Schumer “thinks that preventing illegal immigrants from voting is ‘Republican extremism.’ That means that every Democrat supports allowing illegal immigrants to vote. This is insane, a threat to democracy and must be fixed by passing the SAVE Act.”
In November 2023, the month after the Hamas massacre of over 1200 Israelis, Schumer announced that the Democrat-controlled Senate would not consider the GOP-controlled House’s proposal to send aid to Israel that would offset the costs by cutting the same funds allotted to the Internal Revenue Service. “Let me be clear: The Senate will not take up the House GOP’s deeply flawed proposal,” Schumer said on X. “Instead we will work on our own bipartisan emergency aid package that includes funding for aid to Israel, Ukraine, humanitarian aid including for Gaza, and competition with the Chinese Government.”
Schumer blustered that the GOP proposal “balloons the federal deficit by billions.” Johnson retorted, “Only in Washington when you cut spending do they call it an increase in the deficit.”
In September 2022, Schumer cursed Republicans who opposed President Biden’s White House’s student debt forgiveness plan. “Those damn Republicans!” Schumer raged. “They are bellyaching, you know, when anyone helps regular people. When they give tax cuts to the rich, they say they’re helping the middle class. When we help the middle class, they say we’re helping the rich.”
“They only want to help the rich,” Schumer continued. “The reason they don’t like this … this might mean their rich friends might have to pay a little more in taxes. Disgraceful, disgraceful, disgraceful.”
In January 2022, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) blasted Schumer’s (D-NY) plan to change the chamber’s rules, arguing the effort is “a threat to our Republic.”
“Schumer’s threat to change the rules of the Senate unless he gets his way is not just a temper tantrum; it is a threat to our Republic. For over two centuries, the Senate is the one place in our government where minority opinions have a voice, unless Senator Schumer gets his way,” Lankford stated.
“In 2017, 32 Senate Democrats signed a letter saying that the filibuster should not change—27 of those Democrats are still in the Senate. Now that they are in power, they want to do whatever it takes to pass their progressive legislative agenda by changing the historic rules of our Republic,” he added.
In March 2020, Schumer threatened conservative members of the Supreme Court for considering abortion rights cases, shouting at an abortion rights rally:
Inside the walls of this court, the Supreme Court is hearing arguments, as you know, for the first major abortion rights cases since Justice Kavanaugh and Justice Gorsuch came to the bench. … I want to tell you Gorsuch, I want to tell you Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.
Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), who was critically injured when shot by a Bernie Sanders supporter, called Schumer’s comments “unhinged … This rhetoric has dangerous consequences.”
🚨 UNHINGED → Schumer threatened conservative justices Kavanaugh & Gorsuch on the steps of the Supreme Court:
“You have released the whirlwind & you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you.”
Enough. This rhetoric has dangerous consequences. Where’s the media outrage? pic.twitter.com/SiGNHxG0iX
— Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) March 4, 2020
Perhaps Schumer simply has trouble with verbiage; after all, he did say Donald Trump incited an “erection” on January 6, 2021.
I regret to inform you that Chuck Schumer just said ‘erection’ instead of ‘insurrection’ on the Senate floor pic.twitter.com/U5xRRnkaQg
— Dave Jamieson (@jamieson) January 22, 2021
Bloomberg’s Robert George commented, “So, on the Senate floor, Chuck Schumer just said that senators must decide if ‘Donald John Trump incited the erection, uh, insurrection…’ Well, it WAS an uprising!”
So, on the Senate floor, Chuck Schumer just said that senators must decide if “Donald John Trump incited the erection, uh, insurrection…”
Well, it WAS an uprising!
— Rob GobbleGobblin’ (@RobGeorge) January 22, 2021
