Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has incredible power as the Senate's majority leader. He sets the floor schedule and can single-handedly kill legislation by not bringing it up for a vote.
Yet Senate Republicans are testing the limits of that power as they exploit obscure laws, and Democrats’ threadbare majority, to thwart Schumer’s ability to stop the GOP’s legislative agenda.Last week, Republicans forced President Joe Biden to issue the first veto of his presidency, and on Wednesday, the Senate passed a resolution that will draw his second.
The vote put Democrats in the uncomfortable position of deciding whether or not to defend Washington, D.C.’s autonomy and risk being labeled as soft on crime ahead of the 2024 elections. But the GOP’s tactics have also created problems for Schumer. Not only are Republicans undermining his say over what gets brought up for a vote, but at least one senator is forcing him to spend valuable floor time approving the nominations of military personnel.
The prospect of spending valuable floor time that could otherwise go toward judicial nominees or his preferred legislation has Schumer irked, Tuberville told the Washington Examiner. “He's not really upset,” Cornyn told the Washington Examiner. “He understands that this is within the authority of any senator to put holds on nominations, and anything that interferes with Sen. Schumer's exercise of arbitrary power is something he finds inconvenient.”
And he successfully got the Inflation Reduction Act, Biden’s signature policy achievement, passed through a process called reconciliation that denied Republicans the ability to filibuster. Republicans were able to force the vote using the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to repeal regulations published in the last 60 days.
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