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Sen. Charles Schumer abruptly postponed a tour to promote his new book Monday, canceling events this week in New York City, Baltimore and other cities.
The surprise announcement, which Schumer’s representatives blamed on “security reasons,” came amid the threat of protests and mounting backlash to his vote last week aimed at averting a government shutdown.
Schumer continues to face fierce criticism from many members of his own party for his decision to back away from a confrontation with President Donald Trump over federal spending, instead helping to advance a Republican budget plan.
“We need to have a conversation inside the caucus about whether we are willing to stand up to Republicans,” Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut told Meet the Press on Sunday. “Listen, we have options. We could decide to not proceed to legislation as an ordinary course of business, there are big fights ahead of us, like the debt ceiling.”
The intra-party fighting reflects divisions among Democrats over how best to oppose Trump, as he slashes government spending and jobs authorized by Congress.
Last week, all but one House Democrat voted against the Republican budget bill to fund the government into September. But in the Senate, instead of utilizing the filibuster to block the bill and trigger a shutdown, Schumer and nine other Democrats joined with Republicans to allow the bill to move forward.
That vote supercharged calls by some Democrats to burn the party’s old, rule-following playbook and get aggressive.
“I think we’ve been somewhat soft on the approach,” Rep. Adriano Espaillat said. “We need to throw the punch. We need to throw a punch in this fight. And we have not done that.”
Casey Burgat, the head of the legislative affairs program at The George Washington University, said that in recent decades, Republicans have more frequently engaged in brinkmanship on Capitol Hill, especially in matters involving government funding.
Some young Democrats believe they need to be just as assertive.
“You’re socialized in the environment that you come up in, and you don’t know any different, right?” Burgat said. “Their way of seeing the political world — and their strategies and tactics to respond to that political world — are going to be more aggressive, because the world they grew up in is only partisanship and aggressiveness. That’s what wins.”
How Schumer navigates the pressure from within his own party could go a long way in determining his political future.
Some Democrats have suggested he face a primary challenge in 2028, including from Bronx Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a prominent progressive. Others have urged him to step aside as Senate Democratic leader.
Schumer continues to stand by his vote, saying a government shutdown would have given the president a freer hand to cut spending with no easy off ramp.
Over the weekend, he told The New York Times, “I knew this would be an unpopular decision. I knew that. I know politics. But I felt so strongly as a leader that I couldn’t let this happen because weeks and months from now, things would be far worse than they even are today.”
Schumer’s vote put him at odds with his fellow Brooklynite, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, who is the top Democrat in the U.S. House.
Asked last week if he believed it was time for new leadership in the Senate, Jeffries replied bluntly, "Next question."
On Sunday, two days after the Senate vote, Schumer and Jeffries met up in Brooklyn, according to their teams. No details were provided on the outcome of that meeting.
Burgat does share a warning, as some Democrats push to be more assertive.
“This aggressiveness and brinkmanship works so long as you win and the other side ultimately blinks, but when they don’t … [you’re] crashing. And that that’s good for nobody,” he said.
