Sen. Chuck Schumer, leader of the Senate Democrats, has definitely been drinking his Ovaltine. Or something. On Monday, he lit into Republicans who had apparently gone into hiding, refusing to comment on Donald Trump's racist tweets attacking members of Congress.
"Where are you when something this serious, this bigoted, this un-American happens?," he asked. "If you're saying to yourself, 'Well, he got us our big tax credit. Well, he's taking regulations off big corporations. ... We have to go along with this racism,' you are making a deal with the devil." Further, he said those who refuse to denounce Trump's comments are "fellow travelers on the president's racist road, whatever their motivation" and said any response short of condemning the tweets is "insufficient and un-American." He'll be filing a resolution condemning Trump's tweets, following up on the House's bill.
Since that reaction on Monday, he seems to be energized and emboldened. He announced that he'll be supporting a bill from Democrats Sen. Cory Booker and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee to "establish a commission to study the issue of reparations for slavery and discrimination," adding "racism is the poison of America and the disparities in race affect everything."
"I don't think people understand that slavery is not far away," Schumer told reporters. "I think that's the biggest problem. People say, 'Oh, it happened way back then—what do we have to pay attention now?' The legacy of slavery and Jim Crow—which is a type of semi- quasi- of slavery—is still with us and so we need to do a lot more."
He also told reporters that he has an agenda of four key progressive priorities for a Democratically held Senate in 2021, provided that happens: climate change, income inequality, voting rights, and health care. Asked by a Wall Street Journal reporter if all the focus on Medicare for All from the presidential hopefuls "would hurt Dems looking to flip Senate seats in toss up states," Schumer said "no." He likes having Democrats talking about all the options on health care to voters. "Let it play out. I think it's good."
Finally, asked whether as majority leader he'd be willing to get rid of the filibuster on legislation, Schumer said "Nothing's off the table." Nuking the legislative filibuster needs to remain firmly on the table if any of the big, absolutely necessary policy initiatives any Democratic president will bring are going to pass.
More of this, Sen. Schumer, and keep it up. It will help make up for the Senate Democrats pretty much abandoning Pelosi on border funding last month. This is the kind of aggressiveness he needs to make the case to the base for prioritizing the Senate along with the White House in 2020.
Let's encourage Schumer and keep up the pressure on McConnell by beefing up our nominee fund. Please give $1 to help Democrats end McConnell's career as majority leader!