(The Epoch Times)—Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Sunday that he will not step down as the Senate’s Democratic leader amid internal party criticism over his decision to support a Republican-backed funding bill to avoid a government shutdown earlier this month.
“Look, I’m not stepping down,” Schumer said in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” adding that he knew that voting for the funding measure would trigger “a lot of controversy” among members of his own party.
Schumer then explained the rationale behind his vote. “Sometimes when you’re a leader, you have to do things to avoid a real danger that might come down the curve,” he told the outlet.
“And I did it out of pure conviction as to what a leader should do and what the right thing for America and my party was,” he continued. “People disagree.”
Democrats last week were confronted with two options, including allowing passage of a bill they believe gave President Donald Trump vast discretion on spending decisions or letting funding lapse. After Schumer said he’d vote to advance the spending measure, 10 Democrats supported breaking the 60-vote filibuster threshold, allowing the bill to pass.
The controversy that ensued among Democrats prompted Schumer last week to postpone his book tour amid a series of planned progressive demonstrations.
Several House Democrats, including members of the progressive wing, have been critical of Schumer’s vote and have suggested that he step down.
“The American people are fed up with the old guard, there needs to be a renewal,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) told CNN on Sunday. “You know, in Silicon Valley, when a company isn’t doing well, you don’t keep the same team.”
“And I think there’s going to be a new generation in this country,” the California Democrat said, responding to a question on whether Schumer should remain leader.
Earlier this month, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) targeted Schumer for saying he would vote to back the bill.
“There is a deep sense of outrage and betrayal,” Ocasio-Cortez told reporters, adding that “this is not just about progressive Democrats,” and accused Schumer of betraying “the entire party.”
Days later, Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) told NewsNation that he respects Schumer but suggested that “it may be time for Senate Democrats to choose a new leader,” responding to a question about whether he should step down.
In an interview that also aired Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who caucuses with Democrats, criticized Schumer and other members of Democratic leadership in the Senate. But he abruptly ended the interview when asked about Ocasio-Cortez potentially being elected to the Senate, as some pundits have suggested.
“I don’t want to talk about inside-the-beltway stuff,” Sanders said in response to questioning about Schumer’s position.
“We could have, in my view, perhaps gotten [Republicans] to agree to a third way,” she told reporters last week, making reference to a separate proposal by some Democrats to extend spending by another 30 days to secure more talks with Republicans, who hold majorities in both chambers.
Schumer isn’t up for reelection until 2028. The other U.S. senator from New York, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), was reelected in the 2024 election and isn’t up for reelection until 2030.
Independent Journalism Is Dying
Ever since President Trump’s miraculous victory, we’ve heard an incessant drumbeat about how legacy media is dying. This is true. The people have awakened to the reality that they’re being lied to by the self-proclaimed “Arbiters of Truth” for the sake of political expediency, corporate self-protection, and globalist ambitions.
But even as independent journalism rises to fill the void left by legacy media, there is still a huge challenge. Those at the top of independent media like Joe Rogan, Dan Bongino, and Tucker Carlson are thriving and rightly so. They have earned their audience and the financial rewards that come from it. They’ve taken risks and worked hard to get to where they are.
For “the rest of us,” legacy media and their proxies are making it exceptionally difficult to survive, let alone thrive. They still have a stranglehold over the “fact checkers” who have a dramatic impact on readership and viewership. YouTube, Facebook, and Google still stifle us. The freer speech platforms like Rumble and 𝕏 can only reward so many of their popular content creators. For independent journalists on the outside looking in, our only recourse is to rely on affiliates and sponsors.
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Independent media is the future. In many ways, that future is already here. While the phrase, “the more the merrier,” does not apply to this business because there are still some bad actors in the independent media field, there are many great ones that do not get nearly enough attention. We hope to change that one content creator at a time.
Thank you and God Bless,
JD Rucker
