Demonized Schumer, Pelosi now deal-makers with Trump
WASHINGTON — Now, President Donald Trump genially calls them “Chuck and Nancy.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and his House counterpart, Nancy Pelosi, have used two White House meetings to become Trump’s dealmaking partners. But while they have a combined 67-year record in Congress of being willing negotiators, they’re also partisan Democrats perfectly happy to rumble.
“Let’s put it this way, it doesn’t matter,” Pelosi, D-Calif., said in an interview Friday when she was asked if she likes Trump following two recent interactions that yielded a budget deal and progress on immigration. She said she doesn’t know if Trump likes her, adding, “Right now, I want him to like the Dreamers,” the nickname for young immigrants the two Democrats and Trump aim to protect.
On Thursday, Schumer, D-N.Y., inadvertently shared his impression of the two leaders’ parley with Trump that moved an immigration agreement forward, catching uninvited Republican leaders flatfooted. At an open Senate microphone, Schumer said, “He likes us. He likes me, anyway,” and described warning Trump he’d be “boxed” if he only works with one party, adding, “He gets that.” Both leaders’ comments were instructive.
Pelosi, 77, who was the first female House speaker, is admired as a legislative tactician able to maximize minority Democrats’ strength and as a prodigious fundraiser. Underscoring her penchant for finding allies, Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said when as governor he called congressional leaders to discuss President Barack Obama’s pending health care bill in 2009, only Pelosi called back.
Recounting Wednesday’s White House dinner that produced an agreement to move forward on immigration, Pelosi, the only woman present, said she was responding to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross when “the others” interrupted.
“I said, ‘Does anybody listen to women when they speak around here?’” she said Friday.
But critics say that forcefulness also means Pelosi holds power too tightly, not consulting widely enough with junior lawmakers, and is part of an aging cluster of party leaders that’s frustrating younger, ambitious members.
Schumer, 66, has been Senate Democratic leader since January and is viewed as a people person. He’s memorized his colleagues’ telephone numbers — perhaps because of the limitations of his flip phone — and is known for emotional visits and calls with senators who’ve experienced personal losses. Schumer has arranged dates for staffers and said this week that his life’s big gap was lacking grandchildren — of which Pelosi has nine.
With Schumer’s saggy suits contrasting with Pelosi’s tailored wardrobe, the two leaders have known each other since serving in the House in the late 1980s. Then Rep. George Miller, DCalif., invited Pelosi to join a group of lawmakers that dined weekly and already included Schumer. Pelosi says she and Schumer now meet or speak “as necessary,” often daily.