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A group of six Democratic governors pressed Senator Chuck Schumer of New York during a tense call on Wednesday night to be more aggressive in fighting back against President Trump’s nominees and agenda, all but begging the minority leader to persuade Senate Democrats to block whatever they could.
The call, described in detailed notes as well as interviews with two participants and five other people briefed on the conversation, revealed the growing tensions among Democrats about how forcefully they should oppose Mr. Trump. Mr. Schumer convened the call to discuss a collective response to the Trump administration’s attempt to freeze trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans, which was pulled back on Wednesday. […]
Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois and Gov. Maura Healey of Massachusetts each told Mr. Schumer that Senate Democrats should not vote for Mr. Trump’s nominees after the administration issued a memo freezing the funding. […]
Gov. Laura Kelly of Kansas, who is the chairwoman of the Democratic Governors Association and helped organize the call along with Mr. Pritzker, said their party needed to do a better job with its digital outreach in response to Mr. Trump. She called for Democrats’ online strategy to become “down and dirty.”
* The governor was asked about the call today during an unrelated news conference…
Pritzker: As to the call that we had last night with Leader Schumer in the US Senate. It was a productive call. We had a lively conversation about the challenges that people in our states are going through as a result of the threat of the freezes that appear to be the aim of the Trump administration. And Leader Schumer was receptive to things that we had to say. Understood, you know, he’s from New York. They also had the same things happen to them in New York, and he heard directly from people that are his constituents. So it was a good conversation. I think Chuck-
Reporter: Have the lines of communications reopened between the state and federal government?
Pritzker: Yeah, I haven’t heard of a failure to communicate between the two after that day. When there was so much of a challenge and we had some of our people rejected having conversations with our counterparts at the federal level. I haven’t checked in to see if those conversations have reopened. But my sense is, I haven’t heard anything new, that things have calmed down quite a lot.
Having said that, there is no indication, you heard this from the White House press secretary, there’s no indication that the Trump administration has any intention of pulling back on the idea of a freeze or even an elimination of major federal programs that benefit people in the state of Illinois, Meals on Wheels, Head Start, Medicaid, things that really matter to people every day. Not to mention grant programs for state police, for local police, those are all things that are at risk as a result of the threat that was made.
And it’s clearly their intention to carry it out. It’s just that they got so much negative feedback all in one day from all across the country, including from Republican elected officials, Democratic elected officials and nonprofits across the country. So I think they’re rethinking how they can still accomplish the goal without getting all the negative feedback.
posted by Isabel Miller
Thursday, Jan 30, 25 @ 11:42 am
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Schumer is 74 years old…👀
Comment by Mike Gascoigne Thursday, Jan 30, 25 @ 11:46 am
=Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois and Gov. Maura Healey of Massachusetts each told Mr. Schumer …
Gov. Laura Kelly of Kansas, who is the chairwoman of the Democratic Governors Association and helped organize the call along with Mr. Pritzker=
Good on JB for taking action - Very prominently mentioned in the national press so one could also see this as building a case for a presidential run.
Comment by Donnie Elgin Thursday, Jan 30, 25 @ 11:51 am
19 Senators are older than Schumer, and 4 are his age.
https://fiscalnote.com/blog/how-old-118th-congress
Comment by OneOpinion Thursday, Jan 30, 25 @ 12:00 pm
@OneOpinion: 😬
Comment by Mike Gascoigne Thursday, Jan 30, 25 @ 12:16 pm
“Schumer is 74 years old…👀 ”
And the Dems voted for another 70+-year-old over AOC for a position she is clearly much better-suited for.
If the Dems are serious about passing the torch to younger generations and allowing them to lead, they have a funny way of showing it.
Comment by Techie Thursday, Jan 30, 25 @ 12:30 pm
“For every blue-collar Democrat we lose in western Pennsylvania, we will pick up two moderate Republicans in the suburbs in Philadelphia.” - Chuck Schumer
Comment by Stark Thursday, Jan 30, 25 @ 12:35 pm
Schumer is NOT a fighter. When will the party give us the representation we deserve? It’s been 8+ years of MESS and we still haven’t caught up with them in terms of resistance and messaging. We need a Rahm. We need hundreds of Rahms.
Comment by Politix Thursday, Jan 30, 25 @ 1:16 pm
Would all of you stop with mentioning JB running for president- it’s ludicrous to think he is what the Country wants in the WH
Comment by Sue Thursday, Jan 30, 25 @ 1:17 pm
- We need hundreds of Rahms. -
The only people Rahm knows how to fight with are progressives in the Democratic Party. He’s a huge reason we’re in this mess to begin with.
Comment by Excitable Boy Thursday, Jan 30, 25 @ 1:19 pm
@Oneopinion That is just an amazing statistic. Not wishing ill on anybody but wouldn’t you think there would be people dropping dead or becoming seriously ill in that age group? They have to be more than twice as old as the average age of death was when the Constitution was written
Comment by DuPage Saint Thursday, Jan 30, 25 @ 1:30 pm
Sure, the Dems need to be more aggressive. That’s why they lost, they were too nice. Or, maybe, running with a candidate who couldn’t speak sensibly off teleprompter, supporting causes like Trans ideology, agreeing with forgiving college debts for others while making the rest of us pay, or ignoring any sense of border integrity. Maybe those things lost the elections.
Comment by Center Drift Thursday, Jan 30, 25 @ 1:41 pm
DuPage Saint — average life expectancy at the time of the Founders doesn’t tell you much. If someone made it to 70 without vaccines, antibiotics, or surgery, they were pretty tough and were likely to soldier on for years more
Comment by Soccermom Thursday, Jan 30, 25 @ 1:57 pm
=it’s ludicrous to think he is what the Country wants in the WH=
Most people wouldn’t normally want a felon in the White House but here we are.
Something tells me that the next election, once again, will be about restoring normalcy to the White House. JB is normal. That’s not to say that he will be our next President but to show that it’s a fool’s errand to predict what people want.
Comment by Pundent Thursday, Jan 30, 25 @ 2:02 pm
@OneOpinion, that was for the 118th Congress, and the current Congress is the 119th.
So presumably the numbers have changed at least a little bit? (Feinstein passed away, Stabenow, Romney, Manchin, Cardin retired, maybe others.)
Comment by Juice Thursday, Jan 30, 25 @ 2:18 pm
I get the frustration. And I’m no fan of Schumer. But what exactly do the governors want from him? I suppose he could pound the podium harder or light his hair on fire.
When appropriate, I’m sure he’ll use the filibuster. But on appointments he can’t do a thing without four Republicans joining him.
Comment by TNR Thursday, Jan 30, 25 @ 2:22 pm
–But what exactly do the governors want from him?
Messaging to begin with. Coordinate the Democratic questions of nominees to maximize the most effective messages to start.
Message in places besides the main stream media. Short video clips, posts, etc on message and not just random from every member.
Essentially do what Chris Murphy and Brian Schatz do (lesser but also Duckworth & Whitehouse) for the caucus. Coordinate the party.
Comment by ArchPundit Thursday, Jan 30, 25 @ 2:27 pm
Dems need a more coordinated message coming from Schumer, but I’ve lost confidence in his leadership. He ooozes insider DC which voters reject. Politically, DC Dems need to flip the script - we should lead on gov’t reform, immigration reform, safer streets, job creation, lower inflation. We take the bait when all we do is oppose - we need our blueprint pushed hard. We need a million messengers. Rahm has the instincts and track record of winning. JB is a solid, upbeat Midwest Messenger.
Comment by Here Thursday, Jan 30, 25 @ 2:52 pm
Schumer and his team are just to darn old. He actually said that the funds lockdown “aroused “ humans other Democrats. There are so many better options. He just needs to go along with the rest of his team
Comment by Stormsw Thursday, Jan 30, 25 @ 2:58 pm
===19 Senators are older than Schumer, and 4 are his age.===
Which is why the US Senate has been called the “best skilled nursing facility in the US” …
Comment by Anyone Remember Thursday, Jan 30, 25 @ 3:06 pm
@Sue
Agree with the President Pritzker comment.
Of course, we would all like to have a President from Illinois and a long as JMP has the money to buy consultants and placate our Springfield lobbyists these Pritzker for President stuff will only get worse.
Comment by Back to the Future Thursday, Jan 30, 25 @ 3:06 pm
===Rahm has the instincts and track record of winning.
Where has he won? 2006 could have been won by anyone and he specifically thought Tim Walz was a bad candidate. Rahm can fund raise, but he’s not some great campaign genius. His instincts are essentially the same as Schumer. Talk about tax credits for the middle class! Or cave entirely on immigration.
Wikler and Martin are actually good at reaching voters and have demonstrated it repeatedly in their states. They can fund raise, and they understand modern messaging. Rahm is a creature of main stream media hits just like Schumer.
My basic point being how is Rahm any different from Schumer other than Schumer can occasionally be pleasant.
Comment by ArchPundit Thursday, Jan 30, 25 @ 3:08 pm
- 2006 could have been won by anyone -
And nearly anyone could have done better. Rahm sunk enormous money into some losers and provided zero support to some of the winners.
Rahm is all myth, propagated by Rahm.
Comment by Excitable Boy Thursday, Jan 30, 25 @ 3:36 pm
RE: age in Congress
1) They have the best health care money can buy
2) Back when I used to work with the Met Life actuarial tables, there was any interesting anomaly: if you made it to age 70 you had something around a 75% - 80% chance of living to see age 90.
Comment by RNUG Thursday, Jan 30, 25 @ 4:25 pm
The democrats have to focus on real bread and butter issues not culture wars. Trump made some big promises about food prices that he has no chance of fulfilling. Hammer those issues not the ones that the majority of Americans rejected.
Comment by JS Mill Thursday, Jan 30, 25 @ 4:29 pm
=== to be more aggressive in fighting back against President Trump’s nominees and agenda===
It’d be nice if Senator Schumer’s legacy in the US Senate were more remarkable than all of the marriages that have occurred as a result of him pressuring members of his staff to date each other.
Comment by Candy Dogood Thursday, Jan 30, 25 @ 4:45 pm