Dems Hail Schumer As Senate Master After Obamacare Repeal Collapses

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By Daniel J. Solomon July 31, 2017

Chuck Schumer is having a moment.

The Senate Minority Leader kept his fellow Democrats unified to help sink President Trump’s effort to repeal Obamacare, with colleagues praising his grit and strategy.

“I think he makes it look easier than it is,” Connecticut senator Richard Blumenthal told The New York Times, speaking about Schumer. “He makes it clear to people that the opposition is about Medicaid cuts for the middle class and working class, not just the poor,” he added.

Joe Manchin, the West Virginia moderate Democrat often at odds with the rest of the Senate caucus, also offered praise for Schumer. “He knows who I am,” Manchin told the newspaper, crediting the New York senator for listening to his thoughts on policy.

For his own part, Schumer has said that he’s trying to adjust to the Trump era. “I take what’s given me… We’re in the minority, so we’re not making policy,” he said. “We have to know when to dance and when to fight. The Trump administration has made it harder to dance.”

Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon

Daniel J. Solomon is the former Assistant to the Editor/News Writer at the Forward. Originally from Queens, he attended Harvard as an undergraduate, where he wrote his senior thesis on French-Jewish intellectual history. He is excited to have returned to New York after his time in Massachusetts. Daniel’s passions include folk music, cycling, and pointed argument.

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