OPEN LETTER TO CHUCK SCHUMER

Dear Senator Schumer,

     You don’t know me. I’m not a New York State resident but I am a constituent broadly defined. Your actions, for better or worse, affect me and my family.

     Your vote today in favor to end cloture and thus allow a simple majority vote on the MAGA Republican partisan Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the government through September 30 was an unprincipled cowardly political act. Your reason for casting your vote, avoiding a government shutdown, would have been laughable had it not been so tragic.

     I’ve been a democrat for probably as long as you. When I affiliated with the party I did so because it stood for many of the principles that I have: an economy that focused on the expansion of a middle class; programs to make life more gentle and just for those who are marginalized and ignored for far too long; a public education system the was the envy of the world; a rational foreign policy that didn’t needlessly send tens of thousands to their deaths; and, a government that stood for the fair application of the rule of law and constitutional order, the hallmarks and bulwarks of a stable democracy.

     Fast forward several decades and here we are. For over forty years, if we gave even a cursory look at how forces antithetical to our principles were forming, this dystopian reality was foreseeable. Many denied that these forces could seize power, others ignored them altogether.

     And here we are on March 14, living in the reality of Trump 2.0. The barbarians crashed through the gates and put themselves in charge of the country.

     As this process unfolded, since at least the time of Clinton, the typical reaction was to not acknowledge the advent of these thugs. From Gingrich to Army to Delay to Boehner to McCarthy in the House, and from Frist to Lott to since 2007 to 2025 McConnell, way too many democrats – you included – buried their heads in the sand.

     You can’t fight what you don’t see.

     You play the inside game, pretending to be some grand legislative strategist. These thugs don’t give a rip about any inside game. They take what they want and dare you to stop them. So far, they’ve been pretty successful.

     Every school kid learns that when they give a bully their lunch money, it’s not a one off. The bully will be back again and again, until he’s stopped.

     Today, there’s a bully in the White House directing his minions in Congress to take direct action against the well-being of millions of vulnerable Americans while undermining our democracy. The immediate issue before you was the Continuing Budget Resolution, a proposal that will adversely impact all Americans.

     On March 12, after meeting with your caucus, you declared that you and your caucus were unalterably opposed to this legislation. You were decisive and passionate. About 30 hours later, you caved.

     Was it because Trump called you a “Palestinian,” claiming you weren’t Jewish? Were there mean Tweets?  Well rest easy Chuck, your new bestie Don praised your “courage” in caving.

     I know you said that there were no good options, either you needed to vote for this legislative abomination, or the government would shutdown. This binary choice is disingenuous in the extreme. There’s a third, principled, choice – fight for those who need a champion.  

     Bertolt Brecht, in his work Galileo, in a passage between Galileo and Andrea, wrote:

     “Andrea says 'unhappy the land that has no heroes'

     and Galileo says 'No, unhappy the land that needs heroes.’”

    We are an unhappy land. And nothing about your sudden reversal has or will change that. To put it in a way you might appreciate, you got punked because you’re weak.

     When America needed a hero, you showed yourself to be a quisling.

     Rather trying to execute some grand strategic triangulation, why didn’t you just stand on the principles you claim to possess? Sure, you might have lost the immediate legislative battle, but you might also have rallied the public to your side for the political battles to come.

     I know from experience that standing on principle is tough. You’re often alone, vulnerable to forces beyond your control. But there’s a real strength in standing on your principles, a strength that can be transformative. And isn’t standing on principle in service to others the reason you sought public office?

     You said this would be a tough vote. One talking head prior to the vote opined that because this vote is taken less than two months into Trump’s reign, you realized that this cloture vote allowing the CR to pass by a simple majority vote was the smart play. There would be better future opportunities to take a stand against Trump and his acolytes in the Congress.

     That analysis caused me to nearly throw-up in my mouth. Given the events over the last 54 days, what makes anyone believe there will be other better future opportunities to stand against the madness enveloping our country?

     You fight the fights in front of you, not those that might be engaged in some future time. Life is tricky that way. Put another way, you don’t just fight the battles you can win, you must also fight the battles that need to be fought.

     Your main reason for voting on cloture was that closing the government would cause enormous harm to the public. Have you seen the harm being visited on millions of innocent people? This CR will do nothing to ease their pain or quiet their fears.

     This CR gives the Trump and DOGE administration broad discretionary powers. Let us look at just a few of the myriad problems with this CR:

Veterans – permits broad discretion to allocating funds from homeless programs, rural health initiatives, suicide prevention programs, and cut $800 million designated for facilities construction to meet the expanding needs of veterans.

Health Programs – permit the reallocation of funds away from various maternal health programs, and away from various mental health initiatives and programs. The Addiction Medicine Fellowships program could be gutted. Various rural health programs could be at risk.

Education – provides the reallocation of funds away from public schools to charter schools. At the college/university level, money can be taken away from work-study programs that provide assistance to financially needy students.

Transit – total control over $3.8 billion in the Capital Investment Grants program, placing in limbo projects in many states with adverse impacts on their economies. So much for “Infrastructure Week.”

Energy – permitting the allocation of $15 billion away from clean energy projects and could be provided to the fossil fuel industry.

Housing – a $700 million shortfall for HUD programs supporting 32,000 housing vouchers for qualified families.

     Add to that the on-going reduction in Social Security services making it far more difficult for people to obtain the assistance they need.

     Look, Chuck, you and I both know that there’s so much more that adversely impacts everything from weather programs to election security to aviation services to curtailing SBA programs supporting women and veterans.

     This is the reality now! I’ll not mention the tens of thousands of workers who’ve lost their jobs, impacting programs that people rely on. And that’s not counting the thousands of workers who, pursuant to a court order, returned to work only to find that there was no physical location for them to report or equipment available for them to do – you know – actual work.

     By the time the next 54 days pass, there might not be an opportunity to contest Trump and the congressional MAGAts. It’ll be too late.

     Like too many democratic leaders before you, you had a chance to be a Churchill. Instead, you became a Chamberlain trying to convince the world why appeasement was necessary.

     When I look at your haggard visage, I’m reminded of the Irish folk song, Johnny, I Hardly Know Ye. It’s a song about a soldier who returns home from a war, whose body is scarred and disfigured.

     Maybe you’ve been in office too long, fought too many battles, worried too much about maintaining and increasing your power. Maybe it’s taken too much of a toll on you.

     Chuck, I Hardly Know Ye.