WASHINGTON — Many Democrats are fuming after a breakaway group of eight senators teamed up with Republicans to strike a deal to reopen the government without extending health care subsidies, backing off on the demand that led to the shutdown.
The agreement, which cleared a key procedural hurdle late Sunday by a vote of 60-40, sparked heavy criticism from congressional candidates, progressive activists and Democratic lawmakers. That includes some members with higher ambitions, who said it shows party leaders are not up to the task of marshaling effective opposition to President Donald Trump.
“This is a defining moment for the party. We need new faces with bold new ideas,” Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who is considering a presidential run, told NBC News. “The American people are tired of a failed status quo.”
Even though Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., criticized the deal and voted against it, some liberal groups and Democratic candidates running against the establishment pointed the finger at him for failing to keep his caucus unified in opposition to a deal that did not include Affordable Care Act funds. If the subsidies expire on schedule at the end of 2025, more than 20 million Americans could face health insurance premium hikes.
Khanna called on Schumer to “be replaced.” Senate Democratic candidates, including Michigan’s Mallory McMorrow, Iowa’s Zach Wahls and Maine’s Graham Platner — all of whom have expressed skepticism about or opposition to re-electing Schumer as leader — demanded a shake-up in Senate leadership.
“Down here in eastern Maine, a doubling of health care premiums destroys families,” Platner said in a video posted to X. “We need to elect leaders that want to fight.”
Liberal criticism of Schumer escalated in March after he accepted a six-month Republican bill to fund the government. While he opposed the current deal, the Democratic caucus members who signed on defended it.
Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said Sunday night that the Senate deal represents “a victory” in that it gives Democrats “an opportunity” to extend ACA tax credits, now that Senate Republican leaders have agreed to hold a vote on the issue in December. (The House has made no such promise, however.)
“As of this morning,” he said, “our chances were zero. As of tonight, our chances are maybe 50%. I can’t guarantee a result. Nobody can.”
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Over the weekend, the progressive advocacy group Indivisible polled its members on whether to accept a funding deal or to keep fighting for ACA subsidies — and 98.67% said keep fighting, according to the group’s co-founder Ezra Levin.
“We were hopeful that the Democratic Party could be convinced to fight back against the regime. We tried the largest protests in history and the best election night in years. The public polling was with us. The GOP was fracturing. Trump was fretting. We were winning everywhere but inside the Democratic caucus,” Levin said by text message. “I’m convinced that the time for advocacy is over and the only thing that will shift the Party is a cleansing primary season.”
The group already called on Schumer to resign in March. Now, Levin said it will call on every Democratic Senate candidate to join the calls to push him out as leader.
“We’re launching our primary program today, and we will not back any Senate primary candidate who declines to call on Schumer to step down from leadership,” he said. “More to come.”
Our Revolution, a left-leaning political group that sprang from Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign, circulated a petition Monday afternoon that read, “Schumer must resign NOW!”
Adam Green, the co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, joined the calls Monday for him to step down. “We’ll cut to the chase: Chuck Schumer needs to step down as Senate Democratic Leader,” he wrote to his email list. “The legacy of Chuck Schumer is caving, not winning.”
Schumer, for his part, said Democrats gave Republicans “a chance to fix” the looming health care cost spikes, and the GOP “blew it.” He indicated his party will take the fight to the ballot box.
“Americans will remember Republican intransigence every time they make a sky-high payment on health insurance,” Schumer said Monday on the Senate floor.
After the agreement was struck Sunday evening, a senior House Democratic staffer texted NBC News a photo inside a church, saying: “At church praying for forgiveness for the thoughts I’m having and senate Dems.”
Some of the anger came from Senate Democrats, too.
“The people were on our side. We were building momentum to help save our democracy. We could have won — the premium increase notices were just starting,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who has donated to Indivisible, among other progressive advocacy groups. “And giving in now will embolden [Trump]. Things will likely get worse.”
Sanders, I-Vt., said abandoning Democrats’ health care demands makes a “horrific situation even worse.”
“I think that’s a terrible mistake,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., added.
But they largely focused their ire at the Democrats who relented, not Schumer, and at the Republicans for stonewalling negotiations on the ACA funds.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., praised Schumer and most Senate Democrats for waging “a valiant fight” in the current standoff, saying he hasn’t spoken to the eight senators who supported the agreement.
“I’m not going to explain what a handful of Senate Democrats have decided to do. That’s their explanation to offer to the American people,” he said. “What we’re going to continue to do as House Democrats, partnered with our allies throughout America, is to wage the fight, to stay in the coliseum, to win victories in the arena on behalf of the American people. Notwithstanding whatever disappointments may arise.”
Sherrod Brown, the former Democratic senator from Ohio who is pursuing a comeback in his red state in 2026, called the Senate agreement “a bad deal for Ohioans” that “does nothing to help the out-of-control costs people are facing.”
“This is a problem created by Jon Husted and his special interest friends,” he said of his Republican opponent.
Brown and Husted will face off next November in a key contest for the seat previously held by Vice President JD Vance.
The Democrats who voted with Republicans to advance the agreement were Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire; Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen of Nevada; Dick Durbin of Illinois; John Fetterman of Pennsylvania; Tim Kaine of Virginia; and King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats.
Shaheen, King and Hassan led the talks with Republicans. Shaheen and Durbin are retiring at the end of the current term, freeing them from political pressure.
The Senate deal has created some unusual family dynamics, too. Stefany Shaheen, who is running in a crowded Democratic primary for an open House seat, said she opposes the Senate deal negotiated by her mother because it doesn’t resolve the ACA cliff.
“Too many people will see health care costs that are already too high skyrocket even further starting in January,” the younger Shaheen said in a statement.
Asked about their disagreement, Jeanne Shaheen said Monday: “Well, I talk to my daughter on a regular basis. She’ll be a great member of Congress. She has her own views, and she’s done a lot of work in the health care arena.”
