Chuck Schumer says he

Schumer says that he and the Democratic leader of the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, are united to oppose any legislation that does not include key provisions of medical care and a commitment not to delay them. He argues that the country is in a different place than in March, when he argued vigorously against a closure, and says he believes that the Republicans and President Donald Trump will be responsible if they do not negotiate a bipartisan agreement.

“Things have changed” since the March vote, Schumer said in an interview with News on Thursday. He said that Republicans have approved the massive tax exemptions of Trump and the legislation of expenses, which Culos Medicaid and other government programs, and the Democrats are now unified, unlike March, when he voted with Republicans and Jeffries voted against the legislation to finance the government.

A closure, said Schumer, would not necessarily worsen an environment in which Trump is already challenging the authority of Congress. “It will get worse with or without it, because Trump is without law,” said Schumer.

AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib

The threat of Schumer occurs when Republicans are considering a short -term stopgap expenditure measure to avoid a closure of September 30 and as the Democrats face what most consider two difficult options if the parties cannot negotiate an agreement: vote with Republicans to maintain the open government or let it close indefinitely without a clear output plan.

It also occurs in the middle of the worsening of partisan tensions in the Senate, where negotiations between the two parties on the confirmation process were broken for the second time and the Republicans are changing the rules of the Senate to avoid democratic objections. The Democrats are also furious for the decision of the Trump administration to unilaterally recover $ 4.9 billion in foreign aid approved by Congress as well as negotiations on the deadline for expenses were starting at the end of August.

Republicans have said that Democrats will clearly be the culprits if they do not vote to maintain the open government, and the leader of the majority of the Senate, John Thune, RS.D., has repeatedly said that Schumer needs to go to them with a specific proposal on medical care, including an extension of the tax credits of the expanded government for many Americans who obtain their health insurance through the health care Affordable. Some Republicans are open to extend those credits before expiring at the end of the year.

Less realistic is the demand of the Democrats that Republicans withdraw the medical cuts promulgated in their tax exemptions and the legislation of expenses this summer, what Trump called his “great and beautiful bill.”

Schumer said that the Democrats also want Republicans to commit that the White House will not recover the money they have negotiated and that Congress has approved after the Republicans promoted a $ 9 billion cut requested by the White House in July and Trump blocked the additional money of foreign aid in August. “How do you approve an appropriation bill and leave them unbuttoned on the way?” Schumer said.

The Schumer movement to support expenses legislation in March put it in the rare position to bacin the base of its party. He said then that of two bad options, a partial government closure was worse because he would give Trump even more control to close the agencies and there would be no “there would be no ramp” to get out of that. “I think people realize that it is a difficult choice,” he said.

He faced a massive reaction from within the party after the vote, and some activists asked him to resign. Jeffries temporarily distanced himself from his colleague in New York, saying in a statement immediately after Schumer’s vote that the Democrats of the House of Representatives “will not be accomplices.” The majority of the Senate Democrats also voted against the plan.

This time, however, Schumer is closed with Jeffries and in messages inside his caucus. At the closed door of the Democrats on Wednesday, he shared surveys that said he suggested that most Americans would blame Trump, not the Democrats, for a closure.

“I did what I thought it was correct,” said Schumer. “It is a different situation now than then.”