Republicans have relentlessly blamed Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for shutting down the government to appease the Democratic Party’s progressive wing, as Zohran Mamdani maintains the lead in New York City’s mayoral race and buzz swirls regarding Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s political ambition.
As the government shutdown drags into its second week, the political blame game continued Wednesday. Republicans continue to rail against “Schumer’s shutdown,” while Schumer blames President Donald Trump and Republicans for shutting down the government.
“This shutdown is nothing more than political cover for Chuck Schumer and the Democrats,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters Wednesday. “They are worried about the Marxist flank in the Democrat Party. The Marxists are about to elect a mayor in New York City. That’s Chuck Schumer’s state, and he’s terrified that he’s going to get a challenge from his far left.”
Axios reported last month that Ocasio-Cortez is gearing up to run for Schumer’s Senate seat or for president in 2028, prompting Republicans to accuse Schumer of maintaining a red line on continuing resolution (CR) negotiations in order to appease his party’s progressive wing.
A continuing resolution (CR) is an extension of current federal funding levels aimed at giving lawmakers more time to hash out a longer-term deal on the next fiscal year’s government spending.
While the House passed a Republican-backed CR, that bill has stalled in the Senate, having failed multiple times as Democrats continue to insist on pairing any CR with an extension of enhanced Obamacare subsidies that are poised to expire at the end of 2025.
Republicans have accused Democrats of holding Americans and the government hostage over partisan demands, while Democrats warned that the GOP would be responsible for hiking healthcare costs for millions of Americans if the enhanced COVID-era subsidies are allowed to expire.
“Real lives of real people are being disrupted so that Chuck Schumer can show the far-left Marxists in his party that he’s having some kind of tantrum and fighting Donald Trump because he’s afraid of the far-left part of his political base,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said Wednesday.
And Johnson charged that Schumer is a “very far-left politician” but that he isn’t “far enough left for the communists.”
Schumer, like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., has refused to endorse Mamdani, the self-described Democratic socialist who shocked the political establishment when he secured New York City’s Democratic nomination for mayor in June.
Mamdani’s political success has exposed an ideological and generational rift within the Democratic Party following devastating losses up and down the ballot in 2024.
Meanwhile, Republicans have pointed to Mamdani’s success as proof of the party’s far-left progression, with Trump labeling Mamdani a “100% Communist Lunatic” and, more recently, “My little communist.”
If elected next month, Mamdani, who easily secured endorsements from progressive champions, Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., plans to raise taxes on corporations and the top 1% of New York City voters to pay for campaign promises like free buses, rent freezes and city-run grocery stores.
For his part, Mamdani said Trump and Republicans shut down the government “because they’re determined to strip healthcare from millions of Americans, to enrich the billionaires they serve, to continue the assault on our rights.”
Republicans have painted Schumer as the face of the government shutdown, but it wasn’t long ago he faced opposition from those within his own party for voting to keep the government open.
Ocasio-Cortez called Schumer’s decision to vote in favor of the GOP-backed CR to avoid a government shutdown in March a “tremendous mistake.”
Flash forward several months, Rep. Mark Alford, R-Mo., blamed Schumer on Tuesday for shutting down the government “because he’s scared of a primary challenge from AOC and a challenge to his position in Senate leadership.”
“Chuck Schumer has chosen to cower to the radical side of the Democratic Party instead of coming to the table with a solution,” Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, also told reporters Tuesday.
Despite Republicans blaming Schumer, the Senate Minority Leader continues to blame Trump and Republicans who he said “won’t negotiate to address the health care crisis the American people are facing.”
Schumer, Ocasio-Cortez and Mamdani did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s comment requests.
