Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer went out of his way to embody the anger of his Democratic base during this fall’s funding showdown with Republicans — an intentional turnaround from his capitulation in March that turned him into a villain in his own party.
He’s still taking the blame from many in his party anyway.
Despite voting against the final deal on Monday night, the New York Democrat is again being pummeled by vocal Democrats across the party, who argue he allowed his centrist members to strike a deal with the GOP that fails to prevent spiking health care costs for tens of millions of Americans.
In the immediate aftermath of the deal, many of his own Senate Democrats were mum about whether they’d continue to support him as leader. Multiple House Democrats called for him to resign. And a raft of Senate candidates trashed him as they look to survive tight Democratic primaries in key races.
There is no immediate threat to Schumer’s leadership, according to multiple Democratic sources. Not one of the Democrats calling for Schumer to step down as leader is a current member of his caucus. Still, frustrations are mounting privately among Senate Democrats that Schumer and his leadership team lacked a long-term plan to secure real concessions from t
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