WASHINGTON \u2014 Lefty California Rep. Ro Khanna on Sunday detailed why it\u2019s time to finally chuck Chuck. <\/p>\n
The Dem congressman said the failed tactics of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY)<\/a> during the government shutdown<\/a> were the \u201cfinal straw\u201d and urged his party to find new leadership for the upper chamber, despite some of his colleagues railing against the Democratic infighting.<\/p>\n \u201c[Schumer] doesn\u2019t inspire confidence. He\u2019s not bold. He\u2019s out of touch with the grassroots. He\u2019s someone who cheer led us into the war in Iraq. He doesn\u2019t have the moral clarity on Gaza. He couldn\u2019t say [New York City Mayor-elect Zohran] Mamdani\u2019s name,\u201d Khanna told NBC\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press.\u201d<\/p>\n California Dem Rep. Ro Khanna has taken on his party\u2019s leadership. Josh Morgan-USA TODAY<\/p>\n \u201cThis was the final straw, where he was not strong on fighting for health care,\u201d he said of Schumer\u2019s leadership, or lack thereof, during the Dems\u2019 shutdown battle with the Trump administration.<\/p>\n Khanna, who has been one of the loudest Democratic voices in Congress demanding Schumer be replaced as the party\u2019s Senate chief, credited him for being a \u201cterrific\u201d leader during the Democratic Biden era.<\/p>\n \u201cI worked with him on the CHIPS and Science Act. That would not have passed if it weren\u2019t for Senator Schumer\u2019s leadership. Same with the infrastructure bill and IRA [Inflation Reduction Act],\u201d Khanna said.<\/p>\n As for the recent historic federal shutdown, Schumer did not waiver and voted against the bipartisan deal to reopen the government.<\/p>\n Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) warned his party in March that a government shutdown fight wouldn\u2019t be successful. Nathan Posner\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n But Khanna and other progressive reps faulted him for failing to prevent the party defections that allowed the shutdown to end without the party getting the concessions it demanded. <\/p>\n Schumer had already previously refused to block a GOP-backed bill to prevent a government shutdown in March, much to the chagrin of his left flank.<\/p>\n \u201cChris Murphy is a top leader. Cory Booker is a dynamic leader. Brian Schatz is a dynamic leader. I mean, Elizabeth Warren is someone whose ideology I appreciate. There are a lot of great talent,\u201d Khanna said when asked for the party\u2019s top Senate names.<\/p>\n Thus far, no sitting senator has called on Schumer to step aside, while Democratic candidates for the Senate from Maine and Iowa have expressed support for replacing him. <\/p>\n A source who advised Kamala Harris\u2019s presidential campaign snipped of Khanna, \u201cYou cannot spell rookie without \u2018Ro.\u2019 <\/p>\n Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) hailed Schumer as a successful leader for Democrats. Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a running joke about him in the halls: He\u2019s chairman of the eye-roll caucus,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who was one of the five Democratic flips to reopen the government, also insisted on \u201cMeet the Press\u201d on Sunday that\u201dChuck has been an effective leader.<\/p>\n Kaine further chided that critics such as Khanna should \u201cfocus on their own leadership and let senators do what we need to do to keep this country moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n Former Obama White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who has been flirting with a 2028 presidential run, urged Democrats to get past the infighting.<\/p>\n \u201cChuck Schumer is not the problem. Donald Trump and the rubber-stamp Republicans are the problem. Keep your eye on the prize. Focus on what\u2019s important,\u201d he told CNN\u2019s \u201cState of the Union.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNobody does a firing squad in a circle like the Democratic Party.\u201d<\/p>\n Emanuel said he actually wouldn\u2019t have backed the shutdown, noting that historically, \u201cThe party that forces \u2026 a government shutdown over a policy has lost both.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 Lefty California Rep. Ro Khanna on Sunday detailed why it\u2019s time to finally chuck Chuck. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2065,858,2132,2564,9,11,10,87,855,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-41584","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-chuck-schumer","9":"tag-congress","10":"tag-democrats","11":"tag-government-shutdown","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-headlines","14":"tag-new-york-news","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-senate","17":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}