ABOUT ‘NEW’ CHUCK SCHUMER

There is a crisis on the border that President Joe Biden did not inherit but instead created, and while he belatedly tries telling migrants to stay home, some progressives are mad he isn’t doing more for the thousands packing overcrowded, unsuitable facilities.

These same Democrats wanted Vice President Kamala Harris to overrule the Senate parliamentarian and include a $15 minimum wage increase in their COVID-19 relief bill. Now they are demanding a kitchen sink of liberal wish-list items that have no chance to pass the 50-50 Senate, insisting Biden relent and agree to abolish the filibuster to pass climate legislation, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, immigration reform, expanded health care and environmentally reimagined infrastructure. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is cheering those frustrated progressives on, telling Rachel Maddow on her show last week: “We will change America in a big, bold way. We must. It’s an imperative, and failure is not an option.” ...

From student debt to cannabis, progressives now have Schumer on the front lines of policy debates that might have shocked his younger self. The once moderate lawmaker, who entered Congress 40 years ago as a “law and order” Democrat, helped write the 1994 crime bill . ... He also voted against gay marriage in 1996, for the Iraq War in 2003 and for a border wall in 2006 . ...

On most votes the vice president cannot break a 50-50 tie, so 10 Republicans are required for 60 votes to overcome a filibuster. For now Schumer is making it harder to find those Republican votes, not easier.