Rep. Hakeem Jeffries Tuesday said he supports Sen. Chuck Schumer even after the Senate Democratic leader controversially allowed a Republican stopgap spending bill to pass.
The House minority leader brusquely told a reporter he favors Schumer remaining as Democratic leader during an unrelated press conference in Brooklyn focused on fighting Medicaid cuts.
“Yes,” Jeffries answered when asked if he supports his longtime fellow Brooklyn lawmaker. Asked to elaborate, Jeffries said only: “Yes, I do.”
The response amounted to a major shift from Jeffries’ stance last week, when he refused to say if he had confidence in Schumer’s leadership.
The two men met face-to-face in their home borough on Sunday to hash out their differences over the spending bill and how Democrats can effectively resist President Trump’s second term agenda.
“We had a good conversation about the path forward, particularly how it relates to our speaking with one voice,” Jeffries said.
House Democrats voted nearly unanimously against the GOP spending bill, but Republicans succeeded in lining up their own support and passing it through the narrowly divided chamber.
That put Schumer in a tough bind. He had to choose between blocking the bill in the Senate, where most legislation requires 60 votes, or allowing it to pass.
He decided to permit the bill to pass, citing what he called the greater danger of a government shutdown, which could have given Trump even more freedom to slash spending and fire federal workers.
Many Democrats, including both progressives and moderates, have fiercely criticized Schumer for failing to take what they said would have been a principled stance against Trump’s agenda.