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NEW: Schumer Faces Calls For Removal After Dems Fold On Shutdown Battle

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4 weeks ago

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Democrats are in open revolt after eight members of their Senate caucus broke ranks Sunday night and voted to advance a stopgap deal to reopen the government, setting off a political firestorm that is now engulfing party leadership and even daytime TV.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) blasted the move as “a mistake.” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called it “a very bad night.” Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) accused Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of being ineffective. The View’s Sunny Hostin piled on, saying Schumer should be replaced.

“Senator Schumer is no longer effective and should be replaced,” Khanna wrote on X. “If you can’t lead the fight to stop healthcare premiums from skyrocketing for Americans, what will you fight for?”

After 40 days of shutdown gridlock, eight Senate Democrats — none facing reelection in 2026 — sided with Republicans to move the House-passed bill forward. Schumer himself voted no, but that hasn’t saved him from the fury of his own party.

“Don’t endorse or say who you voted for in NYC despite there being a Dem candidate,” Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) sneered online, slamming Schumer for refusing to back democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani in New York’s mayoral race. “Get Dem Senators to negotiate a terrible ‘deal’ that does nothing real about healthcare. Screw over a national political party. Profile of scourge? Next.”

Sens. Dick Durbin, Jacky Rosen, John Fetterman, Catherine Cortez Masto, Jeanne Shaheen, Maggie Hassan, Tim Kaine, and independent Angus King — who caucuses with Democrats — all voted to advance the measure, clearing the way to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

The House is expected to take up the compromise later this week. Democratic leaders there say they’ll oppose it, but swing-district members could face heavy pressure to vote yes.

“Tonight is another example of why we need new leadership,” Moulton wrote on X. “If @ChuckSchumer were an effective leader, he would have united his caucus to vote ‘No’ tonight and hold the line on healthcare. Maybe now @EdMarkey will finally join me in pledging not to vote for Schumer?”

Schumer insisted Sunday night he’ll “keep fighting,” but many Democrats are openly questioning his grip on the caucus. They had long opposed the measure because it didn’t fix expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies — but as the shutdown stretched into its sixth week, with flights canceled, food benefits disappearing, and federal workers unpaid, the pressure to act became unbearable.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) turned her fire on Republicans, saying, “I want Republicans to actually grow a backbone and say, regardless of what Donald Trump says, we’re actually going to restore these cuts on health care — but it looks like I’ve lost that fight.”

Murphy wasn’t buying the compromise. “This bill doesn’t do anything to arrest the health care catastrophe, nor does it constrain in any meaningful way President Trump’s illegality,” he said. “I think the voters were pretty clear on Tuesday night what they wanted Congress to do … and I am really saddened that we didn’t listen to them.”

Democrats say they’ve been promised a December Senate vote on extending ACA tax credits and the rehiring of government workers fired during the shutdown. But Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) said that’s not enough. “A wink and a nod to deal with this health care crisis later — with no actual guarantees — is just not enough,” she said.

Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin agreed: “The promise of a vote in over a month does not meet that threshold.”

DNC Chair Ken Martin called the vote “a betrayal of the American people,” blaming Republicans and President Trump. “The voters will never forget the day Trump turned his back on them so he could focus on building his gilded ballroom,” Martin said.

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