Schumer keeps tight grip on Senate Dems as shutdown wears on
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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol on Oct. 16. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) helped draw the battle lines over the shutdown. Now he's using them to strengthen his position as the leader of the often-divided Democratic caucus.
Why it matters: His colleagues are taking notice.
- Progressives and moderates alike have remained united behind Schumer's plan to reject any GOP funding plan that doesn't include concessions on health care. And they are giving him high praise.
- For a leader who faced internal and external criticism over his decision seven months ago to help Republicans fund the government, it's a marked change.
What they're saying: Schumer "understands the urgency of this moment," Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) told Axios.
- "He's got a very hard job, but he's been able to effectively convey to our members how serious this moment is," said Murphy, who was among those who questioned Schumer's tactics in March.
- "The fact that we've had [several] votes in a row and we have stayed consistent, I think speaks for itself," Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) told Axios on Thursday, when Democrats defeated a 10th GOP effort to pass a short-term spending bill.
- "The proof is in the pudding," Slotkin said.
Zoom out: Since the shutdown began more than two weeks ago, Schumer has held together a caucus that often fractures along ideological lines.
- Preventing health care insurance premiums from skyrocketing has become a rallying cry for Democrats, who are demanding that the GOP extend expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits.
- The unity has stymied the Republican attack plan, which predicted that Democrats — particularly moderates — would eventually fold under the pressure of a prolonged shutdown.
- Schumer can't lose any more than seven of his caucus members. So far, only three moderates have broken ranks to vote for the GOP funding bill.
Zoom in: Schumer started having conversations with Democrats about the possibility of a shutdown fight over the summer. He was eyeing the Sept. 30 funding deadline as the time for Democrats to pick a fight.
- In early August, Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) publicly asked Republican leaders for a meeting to discuss government funding and the coming "health care crisis."
- And Schumer sent his members home for a monthlong August recess with the order to blanket their states and talk about the cost of living and health care.
