House Democrats are livid. The progressive grassroots is aghast. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), after taking a victory lap after the first cloture vote on the House GOP’s continuing resolution, which would fund the government for another six months, totally caved yesterday. He’s going to vote to keep the government open. Republicans needed a handful of Democratic votes to get to 60. They didn’t have it on Tuesday. They will soon, with Schumer and now Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) announcing they’d support keeping the government open.
Schumer will get pummeled by the left for this decision.
— Rachael Bade (@rachaelmbade) March 13, 2025
But make no mistake abt it -- he's trying to save the party from making a mistake. Hard to see a way out of the shutdown for Dems.
And notably, he's the only Dem leader who has been willing to tell his party what they…
For once, House Democrats are angrier with their own party than Donald Trump. It’s ironic: the liberal media and the Democrats expected GOP disarray and chaos, and this shutdown fight sparked a civil war among themselves. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who Schumer is rumored to be wary of regarding a primary challenge, might have been given the push she needs to plan on that front. But first, she’s mobilizing House Democrats against Mr. Schumer (via CNN):
AOC’s brain completely short circuits when she’s asked about Chuck Schumer saying a shutdown would’ve been worse than accepting the CR.
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) March 14, 2025
She then pushes the lie that Trump’s tax cut only benefits billionaires.
The Hill debunked that hoax. Middle-income filers benefit the most. pic.twitter.com/dzVKqouyuW
🚨AOC is big mad at Chuck Schumer over caving on the CR — asked if she will ever try to challenge Schumer.
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) March 14, 2025
She dodges the question.pic.twitter.com/jLWnEjedeb
New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Thursday that she plans to mobilize her massive base of followers to oppose what she described as an “acquiesce” by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to accept the House GOP funding bill.
“I think there is a deep sense of outrage and betrayal,” Ocasio-Cortez told reporters in Leesburg, Virginia, where House Democrats are huddling for their annual policy retreat. She said she and her fellow Democrats are “texting, calling, sending carrier pigeons,” to mobilize the Democratic base against Schumer’s plan to allow the GOP funding bill to advance.
And she slammed Senate Democrats for their decision to “completely roll over and give up on protecting the Constitution.”
Asked whether Senate Democrats need new leadership, Ocasio-Cortez would say only that she is focused on how to prevent her party from accepting the GOP bill.
“We have time to correct course on this decision. Senate Democrats can vote no. We can correct course, and that is the most important thing in front of us right now,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
[…]
Privately, House Democrats are so infuriated with Schumer’s decision that some have begun encouraging her to run against Schumer in a primary, according to a Democratic member who directly spoke with Ocasio-Cortez about running at the caucus’ policy retreat. Multiple Democrats in the Congressional Progressive Caucus and others directly encouraged Ocasio-Cortez to run on Thursday night after Schumer’s announcement, this member said.
Somebody’s mad! pic.twitter.com/KIGdoGa6PI
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 14, 2025
I’m not one to defend Democrats or Schumer—if any of these people were drowning politically, I’d either watch or throw them an anvil—but this is how insane the Democrats have become: voting to keep the government open is now viewed as an attack on the Constitution. Schumer, a longtime liberal Democrat, might have had his donkey card ripped up because he’s voting to prevent a shutdown when there is nothing to gain here for his party, which he knows will likely be blamed for the shutdown if Democrats don’t have a message or plan for when the doors are closed. He bluffed and Trump called him on it. He lost. Period.
The Democrats lost, which I think is why they’re so incensed on the House side—it’s starting to become clear that they cannot beat this man, and they likely never will. One deviation and you’re cleaved from the herd. That’s how they lost in 2024, and why Democrats are in terrible shape among voters.
This party is lost, which is not to say the Republicans can’t mess up. But they do have some breathing room. Pass this CR and get the budget reconciliation package done. Let the Democrats squabble on how to make themselves more regional and irrelevant.
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