House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Thursday that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) should remain at the top of the party ranks despite the outcry over his support for a GOP spending bill last week.
In the hours leading up to that vote, Jeffries had declined to weigh in on Schumer’s leadership chops. But speaking Tuesday at an event in Brooklyn, Jeffries didn’t hesitate when asked if he thinks Schumer should keep his leadership seat.
“Yes,” Jeffries said. “Yes, I do.”
The remarks were significant given separate public remarks Jeffries had made Friday on Capitol Hill. As the Senate considered the GOP funding legislation that day, Jeffries replied “next question” when asked if Senate Democrats needed new leaders.
House Democrats have been up in arms since Thursday, when Schumer announced that he would help Republicans pass their spending bill and avert a government shutdown by providing the votes necessary to advance the legislation against a filibuster.
The bill was written by GOP leaders without Democratic input, and House Democrats had warned that the partisan bill would harm vulnerable Americans. They had staged a fierce public lobbying campaign trying to pressure Schumer and Senate Democrats to reverse course and use the filibuster to kill the bill, after all but one House Democrat voted against the legislation.
Instead, Schumer and nine other Senate Democrats joined with Republicans to advance the legislation. The decision sparked an outcry from liberal Democrats on and off of Capitol Hill, some of whom have questioned if Schumer should remain the party’s leader in the upper chamber.
Jeffries on Tuesday defended the position of House Democrats in opposing the spending bill, saying it would hurt low- and working-class Americans nationwide. They were ready to put the blame on the majority Republicans if the government did shut down.
“It was written by Donald Trump and House Republicans, [it] would hurt families, hurt veterans, and hurt seniors,” he said. “It would cut health care, cut veterans’ benefits, and cut nutritional assistance from children and families all across America. …. So that was not an acceptable thing for us.”
Despite the chamber differences on the spending bill, however, Jeffries said he’s ready to turn the page, noting that House and Senate Democrats are in lock step when it comes to the next partisan battle facing Congress: The fight over Trump’s tax, immigration, health care and energy wish-list, which is expected to hit the floor in the coming months.
As a preview of that clash, Republicans already passed the budget blueprint that will govern the Republican legislation. Every Democrat in both chambers voted against it, and Jeffries said he spoke with Schumer on Sunday and left the conversation confident that the chambers are on the same page in their unanimous opposition to Trump’s agenda.
Central to that opposition is the GOP’s plans for Medicaid, which Democrats are warning will eliminate health care access for millions of patients, many of them children, seniors and the disabled. On Tuesday, House Democrats are staging a “day of action” designed to highlight those cuts ahead of the coming debate in the Capitol.
“[Schumer and I] had a good conversation about the path forward, particularly as it relates to making sure we all speak with one voice in the effort to stop these Medicaid cuts from ever being enacted into law,” Jeffries said.
“Senate Democrats have been very clear they’re partnering with House Democrats to stop these cuts from ever taking effect,” he continued. “It’s inhumane what the Republicans are trying to do, and we’re going to expose their scheme all across the country. It’s a scheme to jam these massive tax cuts down the throats of the American people for their billionaire donors and wealthy corporations who don’t need it. And then they want working class Americans to pay the bill by robbing working class Americans of their health care.
“We will not let it happen.”
