Was Schumer First To Blink In Shutdown Negotiations?

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) Image by getty images

By Nathan Guttman January 22, 2018

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer emerged bruised from the three-day government shutdown, which is expected to end Monday after the Senate reached a compromise.

President Trump and the Republicans coined the term “Schumer Shutdown” on Friday, singling out the New York senator as being solely responsible for the federal government grinding to a halt. But after brokering a deal with Republican counterpart Mitch McConnell that allowed the government’s re-opening, Schumer found himself under fire again — this time from liberals in his own party who claimed Schumer had caved.

Schumer’s agreement to allow passage of the budget in return for McConnell’s promise to discuss a DACA extension in the near future was described as a sign of weakness by outraged liberals on Twitter, with Schumer himself being depicted by one activist as the “worst negotiator in Washington.”

Left-wing groups and activists had hoped to see Schumer and Senate Democrats stick to their guns and insist on resolving immigration issues before ending the shutdown. Schumer and moderate Democrats argued that they had secured a six-year extension of the Children’s Health Insurance Program along with sufficient assurances that DACA will be next on the table.

Either way, within four days, Schumer has been the subject of two different trending hashtags: #SchumerShutdown on Friday and #SchumerSellout on Monday.

Contact Nathan Guttman at guttman@forward.com

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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