‘Deep sense of outrage and betrayal’: House Democrats react to Schumer announcement

When Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced his plans to provide one of the key Democratic votes Republicans need to advance a partisan spending bill, the decision hit like a shockwave among House Democrats.

“I think there is a deep sense of outrage and betrayal and this is not just progressive Democrats — this is across the board, the entire party,” New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told reporters Thursday night at a party retreat in Leesburg, Va.

“I think it is a huge slap in the face,” she said.

NPR has reached out to Schumer’s office for further comment.

House Democrats began their annual retreat already worried about how their Senate counterparts would vote on a GOP spending bill that all but one House Democrat voted against earlier in the week. Many Democrats saw that vote as a moment of solidarity and hoped Senators would follow suit.

“Democratic senators should stick together,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash. before Schumer made the announcement.

Jayapal, the former Chair of the Progressive Caucus, warned that the vote is about more than just this spending bill. “If we give in on this, we’re going to give in on a whole bunch of things,” she said.

In remarks on the floor, Schumer explained his position, saying a government shutdown is a “far worse option” than passing the GOP’s spending bill.

Some House Democrats immediately and vehemently disagreed.

“I think they’re going to rue the day they made this decision,” said New York Rep. Joe Morelle, a member of the centrist New Democrat coalition. 

“Voting against the CR after you vote to allow the bill on the floor, which is what I assume some of them are trying to be too clever in doing,” Morelle sighed. “Frankly, now I think this just gives license to Republicans to continue to dismantle the government. They now have the acquiescence of Senate Democrats.”

Ocasio-Cortez pushed back against Schumer’s argument.

“I cannot underscore enough how incorrect that is, because what voting for this CR does, is that it codifies the chaos and the reckless cuts that Elon Musk has been pursuing,” she said. “That is what Senate Democrats will be empowering if they vote for the CR.”

She added there’s time to “correct course” and that she and her colleagues are calling and texting senators to implore them not to support the cloture vote slated for Friday morning.

“A shutdown is not inevitable,” she said. “We can pass a 30-day clean extension to allow Republicans to negotiate with Democrats in order for us to have a functioning government.”

Throughout the conference, members stressed the importance of a unified message from both the House and Senate to the public as the opposition party.

 “This is not a time to have a lack of clarity and lack of purpose. This is a time to be decisive about what you’re going to do,” New Mexico Rep. Gabe Vasquez told NPR Thursday before Schumer spoke.

Vasquez, who is also a member of the centrist New Democrats, called on Schumer to “step up and get his caucus together.”

“Show the American people that we’re going to stand up and fight for them in one of the very few opportunities that Democrats have to gain leverage over this administration.”

Later in the evening, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-NY, and his top deputies released a statement saying the GOP bill will “unleash havoc on everyday Americans, giving Donald Trump and Elon Musk even more power to continue dismantling the federal government.”

Jeffries, along with whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., and caucus chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., wrote that their caucus stands ready to vote for a four-week continuing resolution that brings parties back to the negotiating table.

“We remain strongly opposed to the partisan spending bill under consideration in the Senate,” the statement read.