Nancy Pelosi, former House Speaker, criticised Senate Minority Chuck Schumer‘s vote with Republicans in the recent government shutdown debate during a San Francisco press conference on Tuesday.
In spite of affirming her confidence in Schumer’s leadership of the Senate Democratic caucus, Pelosi suggested that the Brooklyn Democrat made excessive concessions to Republicans when voting for the GOP-crafted government funding bill. “I myself don’t give away anything for nothing,” Pelosi said. “I think that’s what happened the other day.”
“We could have in my view, perhaps gotten [Republicans] to agree to a third way,” she continued, discussing a Democratic proposal for a 30-day extension of current government spending during longer-term negotiations, as reported by the New York Post.
Pelosi suggested that even if Republicans had rejected this proposal, it would have demonstrated their responsibility for any shutdown. She had urged Senate Democrats to oppose Schumer and vote against the six-month spending bill. “Donald Trump and Elon Musk have offered Congress a false choice between a government shutdown or a blank check that makes a devastating assault on the well-being of working families across America,” Pelosi stated. “[T]his false choice that some are buying instead of fighting is unacceptable,” she added.
Meanwhile, Schumer defended his decision on “The View”, stating a shutdown would have caused unprecedented devastation. He acknowledged the difficulty of his choice to end debate on the continuing resolution on Friday, but maintained he acted as a leader should.
Pelosi, whilst critical of Schumer, indicated she was ready to move forward. She expressed concern about future scenarios rather than dwelling on past events. “I’m concerned about the next time. I’m concerned about the future,” the California Democrat said. “What happened last week was last week. We’re going into the future.”
