Today: Another Moment Of Infamy For Senate Democrats— Thanks For Nothing, Chuck Schumer

Did you ever imagine that the Senate Dems would muster the guts and good sense to let the Republicans walk their own plank on the partisan continuing resolution the House sent over to be rubber-stamped? I never did— not for a second, not with Chuck Schumer as party leader. He has neither guts nor good sense… and he’s getting kind of senile as well. I felt the tiniest glimmer of hope yesterday when the two right of center Dems from Arizona, Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego announced that they would vote against it. Kelly: “I cannot vote for the Republican plan to give unchecked power to Donald Trump and Elon Musk. I told Arizonans I’d stand up when it was right for our state and our country, and this is one of those moments.” Gallego, who’s been Mr Me Too to Kelly since being elected: “This is a bad resolution that gives Elon Musk and his cronies permission to continue cutting veterans’ benefits, slashes resources for Arizona’s water needs and abandons our wildland firefighters. I can’t stand by that, and that’s why I’m voting no. We must come together to pass a bipartisan solution— I’m committed to putting in the work to do that— but this resolution is a grab bag of extreme policies that harms Arizona families.”

OK, just right… but then Schumer big-footed his way into the discussion and said, no worries, he’s raising the white flag and backing the GOP. Until then, only crackpot John Fetterman was on board with the Republicans but with Schumer saying he’s voting for it, there’s tremendous pressure on Mark Warner, Jon Ossoff, John Hickenlooper, Jeanne Shaheen, Maggie Hassan, Chris Coons,Tim Kaine, Michael Bennet, Jacky Rosen, Angus King, Elissa Slotin, Gary Peters and Catherine Cortez Masto to give up the fight as well. We’ll see which ones roll over and eat shit in a few hours. Yesterday, on the Senate floor, he said “It’s not really a decision. It’s a Hobson’s choice. Either proceed with the bill before us or risk Donald Trump throwing America into the chaos of a shutdown. This in my view is no choice at all. While the [House bill] is very bad, the potential for a shutdown has consequences for America that are much, much worse.”

Early this morning, Andrew Desiderio, Jake Sherman and John Bresnahan reported that “the intra-party disputes among Hill Democrats are just getting started. The Democratic base— where most of the money and campaign support comes from— is furious, berating Schumer for helping Trump and Republicans pass a funding package that most Democrats loathe.” AOC took aim at Schumer while Hakeem Jeffries’ leadership team tried having it both ways (as usual),not naming him in their statement of disagreement last night. The Punchbowl perspective: “Democrats picked a fight they couldn’t win and caved without getting anything in return… Republicans put Democrats in this position— because they know Democrats would eventually cave. And they did... Here’s the lesson from this episode: When you have no cards, fold them early.” You think maybe spooked the feckless Schumer this week by gratuitously calling him a Palestinian?

Adam Schiff promised his constituents he won’t, pledging to be a hard no. “I hope this CR is defeated. I fear that it may not be, and I want to tell you why I'm voting no and why this needs to be defeated. First of all, this is not a bill that would simply continue the funding levels of the government for the next half a year. This is a power giveaway to an executive already drunk with power. This would embolden the president to continue tearing down government services, closing Social Security offices, illegally withholding funds, illegally seizing more and more authority from the U.S. Congress. But worst of all, in my view, is we would be giving it to him. It is one thing for those who aspire to dictatorship to take power. It is another to knowingly give it to him. I will not do that.” That was for Californians. Then he addressed Schumer and the other cowardly Democrats in the Senate:

One thing is certain, if we pass this continuing resolution for the next half year, we will own what the president does. I am not willing to take ownership of that. I'm not willing to continue to see Donald Trump, Elon Musk ,and their minions continue to arrogate to themselves the power to fire anyone in the federal government.

They want the power to fund or defund anything in the federal government. The power to lay off veterans, to close Social Security offices, to cut health care, to cut Medicaid, to go after Social Security.  

I am not going to take any vote to empower them to do that for one day, one month, one year. I'm just not going to do it.  

Now, many argue that, well, wouldn't a shutdown of the government be worse?  

If the government shuts down, let's be clear, they control everything. They control the House, they control the Senate, they control the White House, they control the Supreme Court.  

If they shut down the government, it is on them. That is their decision.  

If we give them power for the next six months to do whatever they choose, that is our decision. I am not going to make that decision.  

Now, I don't know what happens if they shut down the government. And some argue, and I understand their concern, “Well, wouldn't they have more power to do more wreckage, more damage if the government shuts down.” The answer is, we simply don't know.  

They're violating the law now. They may violate the law then. But I would trade the uncertainty of knowing what they would do if they shut down the government for the certainty that we have of knowing what they will do if we give them more power over the next six months.  

So, for me personally, this is not a hard decision.

I am a hard no.  

I am desperately worried about the direction of this country. We are seeing an executive run away with authority he does not have, merely because he claims to have it, merely because our courts have often acted too slowly to stop him.  

And now, if we go along with this because we are willfully and willingly ceding him that additional power.  

I will not go there.

I'm voting no. I urge all of my colleagues:

Vote no.

Rand Paul, the only Republican “no” vote, has more guts and sense than Schumer. So does Elizabeth Warren, who said “I don’t understand how anyone can support a bill that would give Donald Trump the opportunity to fire another 25,000 veterans and take away nursing home spots from tens of thousands of seniors, all so that the Republicans can give $4.7 trillion in giveaways to billionaires and billionaire corporations.”