Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., reside just a few blocks from one another as you traverse from Prospect Heights to Park Slope in Brooklyn.
But political observers suspect there’s practically a bridge of political distance spanning between the two Brooklyn Democrats now. Schumer decided to help Republicans break a filibuster and forestall a government shutdown last week. Schumer’s decision triggered howls of derision from House Democrats who were practically unified in their opposition to the GOP spending package. Schumer and nine other Democrats voted to break the filibuster. That sent many Democrats into a fit of apoplexy.
Distance and geography helps us understand this perceived chasm between Schumer and Jeffries.
It’s a solid 40 miles from the Lansdowne Resort in Leesburg, Va., to the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. After the House voted to approve the emergency spending bill last Tuesday, Democrats high-tailed it to Leesburg for their annual issues retreat. Jeffries and other Democratic leaders held a press conference on the first day. Other Democrats spoke at nine news conference on the succeeding days.
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But back on Capitol Hill last Friday, Jeffries and other Democratic leaders would speed back from Leesburg for a news conference just before the vote to break a filibuster on the spending measure.
Schumer asserted that sidestepping a government shutdown was the lesser of two evils. He argued that a shutdown would further empower President Trump and Elon Musk to slash the federal workforce and shutter departments.
Jeffries wasn’t buying it. And he needed to signal to House Democrats about what side he was on.
“House Democrats remain strongly opposed to the partisan Republican spending bill that will hurt families, hurt veterans, hurt seniors, and hurt the American people,” said Jeffries. “It is a false choice…
