Progressives Blame Schumer After Shutdown Strategy Collapses
Senate Democratic leader tried to keep colleagues in line as party sought enhanced ACA subsidies

WASHINGTON—Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) wasn’t one of the eight Democratic senators who voted with Republicans to back GOP legislation to end the government shutdown. He is still taking most of the blame.

Angry progressive voters and party activists have focused their fury on the 74-year-old Schumer in the aftermath of what they see as a collapse by Senate Democrats.

Coming on the heels of big wins for the party in off-year elections last Tuesday, the letdown has reignited criticism of Schumer’s leadership, mostly from the left. Critics complained that he was too weak to keep his caucus united long enough to force Republicans to extend enhanced Affordable Care Act health-insurance subsidies, Democrats’ central demand in the fight.

“If this was Schumer’s best, his best clearly isn’t good enough,” said Adam Green of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee in a message to donors, reflecting a sentiment among many left-wing groups. “The legacy of Chuck Schumer is caving, not winning,” he said.

Graham Platner, a progressive Democrat running for Senate in Maine, said the GOP bill advanced because Schumer “failed in his job yet again.”

But Schumer allies say he did the best he could with a bad hand, and pointed out that few Republicans had expected Senate Democrats to hold out as long as they did—about 40 days. Among his defenders was House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.), who said Schumer should remain in his leadership role and credited him for keeping Democrats largely united over weeks of votes starting in September even as Republicans didn’t budge.

“I think that Sen. Schumer has held the line” during the shutdown fight, Jeffries said on the Parnas Perspective podcast. He said he expected Schumer to “stay in this fight as we’re moving forward together.”

Schumer isn’t expected to face a leadership vote until after next year’s midterm elections, and he won’t face voters again himself until 2028. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.), the popular progressive who hasn’t ruled out a primary against Schumer, didn’t respond to a request for comment Monday.

Senate Democrats who voted against the package largely reserved their criticism for Republicans, not their party’s leader. Schumer “has an excruciatingly tough job,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.). The GOP “forced an impossible false choice between affordable healthcare and reopening the government,” he said.

Keeping the party united
Schumer’s predicament shows how hard it is for Democratic leaders to navigate the political currents in President Trump’s second term, when many left-leaning voters are looking for energetic resistance to the administration. In mid-March, Schumer was one of 10 Senate Democrats who voted to advance a GOP funding bill that kept the government open. Rowdy protesters gathered outside his New York City offices. He had to cancel his book tour.

This time, Schumer led Democrats into a government shutdown, only to set off a new round of recriminations when the strategy failed to yield major concessions from Republicans.

Since last month, Schumer has been working to rein in a group of more than a dozen Democratic centrists, urging them to stick with the rest of the caucus and keep the shutdown going to force Trump to the negotiating table, according to people familiar with discussions.

But by Sunday, the centrist Democrats were no longer willing to wait. Federal officials had ordered flights to be cut back at airports, citing safety concerns, and food aid was at risk of being interrupted to more than 40 million people. Republicans said there would be no negotiations until the government reopened.

“The government shutdown seemed to be an opportunity to lead us to a better policy, but it didn’t work,” said Sen. Dick Durbin (D., Ill.), who voted in favor of the GOP bill. “It worked to this extent: The health insurance became a big issue, and we get our day in court in December,” he said, when the Senate is set to hold a vote on the subsidies extension.

In a speech on the Senate floor Monday, Schumer said he couldn’t support the deal because it failed to do anything of substance to extend expiring ACA subsidies. He didn’t address the eight defections among his caucus, but predicted that Republicans would regret their refusal to negotiate a bipartisan solution.

“Republicans had their chance to fix this, and they blew it,” Schumer said.

Dodging the question
Headed into the final votes Monday, some Senate Democrats declined to answer questions about Schumer leadership.

“I don’t have a comment on that,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.). Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, sprinted away from reporters trying to ask him about Schumer on Monday night.

Republicans termed it the “Schumer shutdown.” With the government set to reopen, “Democrats are absolutely losing it,” said the Republican National Committee.

About a half-dozen House Democrats said Monday that they want Schumer to step aside.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D., Calif.) said the deal to end the shutdown was “the last straw” for Democrats who have grown frustrated with Schumer’s leadership. “He caved now on two shutdowns,” he said.

Democratic strategist Jennifer Holdsworth said she has seen anger aimed at Schumer from all corners of the party—left, right and center. “I know of very few Schumer defenders,” said Holdsworth, who recently chaired Rep. Mikie Sherrill’s main super PAC in her successful run for New Jersey governor.

Appeared in the November 11, 2025, print edition as 'Schumer Takes Liberal Heat After Strategy Collapses'.