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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., faces potentially losing the confidence of his caucus after a controversial decision to advance the Republicans' stopgap spending bill earlier this month and avoid a government shutdown.
"Let me just say it's important for people to know when it's time to go," Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., reportedly told constituents during a town hall on Wednesday. "We're going to have conversations, I'm sure, in the foreseeable future, about all the Democratic leadership."
The senator had been asked if he would call for Schumer to step aside, which he did not commit to.
"I do think on the leadership question, it's always better to examine whether folks are in the right place, and we're certainly going to have that conversation," he explained, per NPR.
The comments come after Schumer faced swift backlash for his shutdown vote, during which he was in the minority of his caucus, most of whom opposed moving the stopgap spending measure forward.
Despite claiming his caucus was unified just one day prior, Schumer revealed his decision to vote to advance the bill, to the dismay of many of his colleagues. "I believe allowing Donald Trump to take even much more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option," he explained at the time.
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House Democrats, nearly all of whom voted against the measure, slammed the move. Dozens of the lower chamber Democrats even signed last-minute letters to Schumer to urge him not to go forward with his vote, to no avail.
In a striking statement, House Democratic leaders came out against Schumer's decision, without mentioning him by name. During a press conference, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., refused to answer a question about whether he was confident in his New York colleague. "Next question," he responded.
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Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., also released a statement during the controversy, urging the Senate to listen to the female appropriators. The prominent Democrats appearing at odds with Schumer publicly only further intensified the scrutiny he faced afterward.
Jeffries later clarified his feelings on Schumer, however. "Yes, I do," he said when asked if he was confident in Schumer during a different press conference.
According to the House Democratic leader, "we are all aligned on the fights that are in front of us." Jeffries and Schumer had a "good conversation about the path forward, particularly as it relates to making sure we all speak with one voice," he added.
What was already considered an identity crisis for Democrats following the 2024 election has appeared to evolve into a crisis of leadership, with senators, such as Bennet, entertaining the idea of discussions about the caucus and its direction.
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"I think that Leader Schumer has been very effective in a lot of battles, but we also need to—these are new times, and we need to all come together," Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., told reporters directly after the shutdown votes. "And so, you know, second-guessing Leader Schumer out here isn't going to accomplish the kind of unity that we're going to need to be able to stand up to the president. So we'll have that conversation inside caucus."
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