The Senate majority leader, observing his own 100 days in charge, is responsible for turning sweeping Democratic plans into law.
WASHINGTON — President Biden laid out his ambitious vision for a post-pandemic America on Wednesday night. Now it is up to Senator Chuck Schumer to make it a reality.
Mr. Schumer, the New York Democrat and majority leader, must navigate resistant Republicans suffering extreme sticker shock from more than $4 trillion in new Democratic spending proposals and Democrats insisting on a bipartisan approach to delivering the second monumental piece of legislation of his tenure.
He says he understands that some of his colleagues, like Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, won’t be rushed into pushing through the expansive approach outlined by the president over Republican howls of protest. Mr. Schumer is willing to give bipartisan efforts some time, but his patience extends only so far.
“Now look,” he said in an interview this week in his Capitol leadership suite, “there’s a number of people in our caucus who believe strongly in bipartisanship and want us to try that. And that’s fair. And we will. And we’ve made a good start.”
He pointed to some modest measures such as a water projects bill that is set to pass on Thursday with support from both parties.
But Mr. Schumer, in concert with Mr. Biden and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the California Democrat, is not about to settle for modest achievements. “Big and bold” are his watchwords while Democrats control Congress and the White House, a circumstance that could end in 2022, when Republicans have the chance to reclaim House and Senate majorities.
The time will quickly come for Democrats to leave Republicans behind, he said, should their view of what’s needed fail to align with Mr. Biden’s and his own.
“If and when it becomes clear that Republicans won’t join us in big, bold action, we will move in that direction” without them, he acknowledged.
Like Mr. Biden, Mr. Schumer is celebrating his first 100 days in a new leadership position, one that seemed just out of reach after Senate Democrats fell short of winning the majority on Election Day. Their chances of an even split hung on two Georgia runoffs, which history forecast they would lose.
But both Georgia Democrats pulled off upsets, putting Mr. Schumer in control of the Senate with the barest possible room to maneuver — a 50-50 margin, with Vice President Kamala Harris serving as tiebreaker. He said the weight of the task hit him as he scrolled through Georgia runoff returns in the early morning hours of Jan. 6.
“I realized the huge responsibility on the shoulders of our Democratic majority, narrow though it is,” Mr. Schumer said. Democrats needed to provide added pandemic relief and attack deep-seated problems such as racial injustice and climate change while restoring public faith in elections and government. Events later on Jan. 6 would add to the burden.
Despite the crush, Mr. Schumer and Democrats see themselves as having surpassed expectations with a broad $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill already on the books, confirmation of the president’s cabinet with only one candidate withdrawn and an impeachment trial that drew Republican support for conviction of Donald J. Trump and met Democratic demands to hold him accountable for the assault on the Capitol.
“I never would have predicted this much success, simply because of my 10 years so far in the United States Senate, where we have been stymied at every turn by Republicans,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, who credited Mr. Schumer for focusing on achievable goals.
“I think we’ve shown real momentum,” Mr. Schumer said.
Republicans are not impressed, as shown by their icy response on Wednesday night to Mr. Biden’s push for his $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan — the G.O.P. proposal is $568 billion — and a new $1.8 trillion family assistance and education program. Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, has ripped the infrastructure plan as a “sloppy liberal wish list.” He persistently accuses Democrats of overreach, a power grab and a steady drift toward socialism.
“The first 100 days have left much to be desired,” Mr. McConnell said Wednesday.
But Mr. Schumer’s calculation, which mirrors Mr. Biden’s, is that there is a disconnect between Washington Republicans typified by Mr. McConnell and Americans — even those who vote with the G.O.P. — who have seen the benefits of the Democratic agenda and would welcome more. Mr. Schumer said Democratic lawmakers have found that voters of both parties appreciate concrete results such as the multiple stimulus checks they have received to tide them over during the pandemic.
“One of the things we have learned is that deliverables really matter,” said Mr. Schumer, who noted that polls showed that 60 percent of Republicans backed the Biden administration’s pandemic relief legislation enacted in March. “Maybe people are beginning to feel, if you look at the numbers, that America’s future is better again.”
Mr. Schumer has a theory for what he calls the “dichotomy” between Republican voters and their representatives in Washington.
“Two words: Donald Trump,” said Mr. Schumer, who characterized the former president as a “horrible human being,” a figure who was “nasty, a liar, bigoted, divisive.” Mr. Schumer said congressional Republicans are peering anxiously over their shoulders at Mr. Trump and fear that any hint of cooperation with Democrats would rile him and spur him to get behind a primary election threat from the right.
“He controls the Republican primaries through money, through media and through voting,” said Mr. Schumer, who once had a political relationship with his fellow New Yorker. “Those folks are in the thrall of Donald Trump, who wants to get nothing done.”
Known mainly as a political operator and a crafter of the party message for much of his career, Mr. Schumer has had to delve more deeply into legislative tactics as the majority leader. He says he is relishing “the hardest job I’ve ever had” as he plays the procedural chess required to maneuver bills along the torturous path through the evenly divided chamber.
That requires seeking and enforcing unity in Democratic ranks, where Mr. Manchin and Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona are among those who have expressed skepticism about ramming through central planks of Mr. Biden’s program, such as a $15 minimum wage, a far-reaching voting rights measure and another broad economic aid measure financed by tax increases.
His counterpart in the House, Ms. Pelosi, also has a thin majority, but the rules there give her considerably more leeway.
Mr. Schumer is well known for assiduously tending to his Democratic flock, which will be critical if he is to keep them together in the coming months.
“He has been all about the individual senators, their views and their needs,” said Mr. Blumenthal. “He knows the people better than they do.”
Though he and Mr. Biden did not share a deep personal relationship when they served together in the Senate, Mr. Schumer said he and the president were entirely “simpatico” when it came to what needs to be done legislatively.
“We can almost finish each other’s sentences,” said Mr. Schumer. “We both came from, you know, working class backgrounds,” he added. “We both always cared about average folks.”
While Mr. Schumer awaits bipartisanship, he is preparing for legislative war — a prospect growing more likely considering the extraordinary scope of Mr. Biden’s emerging agenda.
Mr. Schumer has sought and received from the Senate parliamentarian a ruling that Democrats could avail themselves multiple times of the special budget reconciliation process that dodges a filibuster and allows the majority to pass fiscal measures with a simple majority vote. He said the parameters of the finding, which have not been publicly released, are still being worked out, but Mr. Schumer is fully prepared to go the reconciliation route if bipartisan talks stall.
“We will explore everything,” he said. “No decisions have been made, but reconciliation is clearly on the table.”
If Democrats pursue that strategy, they will need to stand together against a withering onslaught of Republican criticism. Mr. Schumer concedes it will be difficult, but points to the unity Democrats have already demonstrated. “So far we have stayed in the fight,” Mr. Schumer said. “Is it easy? No. Are there often bumps in the road and detours? Yes. But we have gotten it done — and we will get big, bold action.”
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