Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez laid the blame Wednesday for a disappointing deal ending the 43-day government shutdown at the feet of Senate Democrats as a whole — not just Minority Leader Chuck Schumer — noting there were “eight Democrats who coordinated” with Republicans to end the standoff.
“There’s a lot of focus rightfully on Leader Schumer, but I do think that when it comes to the Senate, it is Senate Democrats that select their leadership,” Ocasio-Cortez said about her fellow New York Democrat in a brief interview. “And so I actually think this problem is much bigger than Leader Schumer.”
Ocasio-Cortez, a leader of the party’s progressive wing, put Schumer on blast in March after he voted to advance Republican legislation to keep the government open. Some House Democrats have privately floated support for a potential Ocasio-Cortez primary bid against Schumer in 2028, something she has neither embraced nor ruled out.
Asked on Wednesday if she has confidence in Schumer as leader, Ocasio-Cortez said she “certainly disagreed with what just happened.”
“We had a responsibility to develop, to deliver on health care subsidies, and the Senate failed to do that,” she added.
Ocasio-Cortez, in later remarks to reporters, acknowledged the calls for her to mount a 2028 Senate run, potentially against Schumer, but again sidestepped questions about her intentions.
“That is years from now,” she said. “I have to remind my own constituents, because they think that this election is this year.”
Schumer did not endorse or vote for the agreement that eight members of his caucus reached with Republicans that will reopen the government open but will not guarantee an extension of expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits that Democrats are fighting for. But those calling for new leadership point to the fact that he couldn’t keep his caucus together and didn’t do more to head off the effort.
At least five House Democrats have called for Schumer to step aside as the party’s leader in the Senate. No Democratic senators have done so.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this report misstated Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s title.
