Politics
Schumer Hit With New Threat From The ‘Squad’ After Caving To Trump
Not 24 hours after acquiescing to Republicans’ six-month proposal to stave off a government shutdown, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is feeling the heat back in Brooklyn.
Members of the informal “Squad” caucus are threatening to run a primary challenger against Schumer after he announced he would vote to unconditionally pass a continuing resolution that keeps the government open but affords the Trump administration new powers to slash or rescind funding across most of the federal bureaucracy. To not do so, Schumer said on Thursday, would effectively give President Donald Trump and cost-cutting advisor Elon Musk exactly what they want while negatively impacting tens or hundreds of thousands of American federal employees.
“While the Republican bill is very bad, the potential for a shutdown has consequences for America that are much much worse. For sure, the Republican bill is a terrible option,” he said. “It is deeply partisan. It doesn’t address far too many of this country’s needs, but I believe allowing Donald Trump to take even much more power in a government shutdown is a far worse option.”
For House Democrats, his alleged surrender was a bridge too far, none more so than the body’s most progressive members like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY).
The Bronx native said on Thursday she plans to mobilize her thousands of social media followers to call their Democratic congresspersons and oppose the bill, but allies want her to go further: They are privately urging AOC to consider running against Schumer in next year’s New York primary elections, according to CNN.
Now is not the time to “completely roll over and give up on protecting the Constitution,” she wrote on X in response to Schumer’s statement. “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.”
A member of Congress close to the far-left Congressional Progressive Caucus said its members are keen to see AOC take on Schumer. Some are “so mad” that even party centrists are “ready to write checks for AOC for Senate,” the source said, adding that they have “never seen people so mad.”
Asked by the outlet whether she plans to take up her colleagues’ suggestion, AOC demurred.
“We still have an opportunity to correct course here, and that is my number one priority,” she replied.
“There are members of Congress who have won Trump-held districts in some of the most difficult territory in the United States who walked the plank and took innumerable risks in order to defend the American people, in order to defend Social Security and Medicaid and Medicare,” she said. “Just to see Senate Democrats even consider acquiescing to Elon Musk, I think is a huge slap in the face. And I think there is a wide sense of betrayal if things proceed as currently planned.”
Before unseating former House Democratic Caucus Chair Joseph Crowley (D-NY) in the most shocking upset of the 2018 cycle, Ocasio Cortez, a former bartender, harnessed the progressive tilt of her district to run on a platform of pugnacious change at a time when the party was demanding pushback against the first Trump administration. She has maintained outsize influence in the House and consistently spoken for the left wing of her party, an opportunity she would no doubt relish if elevated to the Senate in 2027.
