Chuck Schumer, meet Chuck Schumer.
America is quickly barreling toward a government shutdown, fueled largely by intransigence from a pair of New York Democrats: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
But for Schumer in particular, his intransigence is a noteworthy shift from previous Schumer iterations from as recently as earlier this year — fueling the GOP’s message that any potential shutdown would be due primarily to him.
During and after the Senate’s vote to fund the government earlier this year, Schumer took intense flak from his left-wing base, both inside and outside of the Senate. He defended his move repeatedly, insisting on several occasions how a “shutdown would have been the greatest disaster we have.”
“I had to do the right thing — for the country and our party,” Schumer said on Meet the Press on March 23rd of this year.
“The alternative being a shutdown makes things worse — much worse,” he said to a somewhat incredulous Chris Hayes just ten days prior.
Senate Republicans are eager to message against Schumer’s glaring inconsistencies — as well as those of his Democratic colleagues.
Their talking points, obtained by the Washington Reporter, include remarks from Sens. Brian Schatz (D., Hawaii), Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.), Mark Warner (D., Va.), and Mark Kelly (D., Ariz.) arguing that shutdowns like the one that many in their party are advocating for would devastate everything from veterans to seniors to federal workers.