Chuck Schumer’s vote with Republicans to prevent a government shutdown is ‘unacceptable,’ Nancy Pelosi says
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) has postponed all promotional events this week for his upcoming book, Antisemitism in America: A Warning, as Democrats protest his decision to vote with Republicans to prevent a government shutdown.
Schumer’s book tour is delayed due to security concerns, a spokeswoman said. His first event, originally scheduled for Monday evening in Baltimore, was expected to draw protests from the anti-Israel group Jewish Voice for Peace, Jewish Insider reported.
The Senate minority leader also postponed an event set for Tuesday evening in New York City’s Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center, which would have had Rep. Ritchie Torres (D, N.Y.) as moderator, along with a Wednesday appearance at the Sixth & I synagogue in Washington, D.C..
The tour’s postponement comes just days after Schumer sparked intraparty backlash by unexpectedly flip-flopping to vote for advancing a Republican bill that keeps federal agencies running for the next six months. Following Schumer’s announcement, eight other Senate Democrats and independent Sen. Angus King (Maine) also voted to advance the bill. King and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D., N.H.) went on to vote with Republicans to pass the final bill.
Democratic activists have since demanded Schumer’s resignation, with the New York Times reporting that Democrats are holding protests outside his Brooklyn residence. Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), meanwhile, called Schumer’s decision “unacceptable,” and House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.) called for the “next question” after a reporter asked if he wanted new leadership in the Senate.
Schumer has long faced Republican scrutiny for downplaying anti-Semitism in the United States. The Democrat privately advised Columbia University leaders to “keep heads down” and ignore GOP criticism of the school’s handling of campus anti-Semitism, saying that the school’s “political problems are really only among Republicans,” according to a congressional report.
