Schumer and the Shutdown About-Face

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Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, has faced backlash after he voted in favor of a Republican bill to fund the government.Credit…Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times

To the Editor:

Re “Schumer Defends Stance on Staving Off Shutdown” (news article, March 15):

Your article highlights the choice faced by the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, regarding the stopgap spending bill to head off a government shutdown.

Vote against the continuing resolution and please the majority of your progressive coalition on Capitol Hill, even as Democrats are blamed for a shutdown; vote for it and prevent Donald Trump and Elon Musk from gaining absolute power during a governmental vacuum.

Senator Schumer did the right thing. The consequences of a shutdown would have transcended partisan politics, while the most vulnerable citizens (the ones Democrats profess to speak for) would have suffered the most. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi should have known better.

Robert Lockwood Mills
Sun City Center, Fla.

To the Editor:

After all his years on Capitol Hill, you would think that Senator Chuck Schumer would understand that you have leverage in a power struggle only if the other side believes you will use it.

The senator and his Democratic leadership abysmally failed that test with the vote on the budget continuing resolution.

President Trump, Elon Musk and the rest of the MAGA crowd now know that when the going gets tough Mr. Schumer will pack it in.

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