Schumer defends funding vote: 'I'm the best leader for the Senate'

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday defended his vote on the yearlong spending bill last week and his spot atop the Senate Democratic caucus, maintaining that he has no plans of stepping aside anytime soon.

Schumer was defiant when pressed about the vote and his standing, saying that he knew he’d take flak, but still thought he made the right decision.

“We would have had half the federal government we have right now,” Schumer told “CBS This Morning,” pointing to what he believed would be a hollowing out during a shutdown. “I thought I did the thing a leader should do. Even when people don’t see the danger around the curve, my job was to alert people to it, and I knew I’d get some bullets.”

“I’m the best leader for the Senate,” Schumer continued. “I am the best at winning Senate seats. I’ve done it in 2005. Just in 2020, no one thought we’d take back the Senate. Under my leadership, we took it.”

When pressed by host Gayle King if he had plans of stepping aside, Schumer shot them down.

“No, no,” he said. “We’re moving forward. Hakeem and I have a plan," he added, referring to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).

Schumer also took aim at one of President Trump’s top lieutenants during the interview, calling Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought “the most evil man.”

“It has no off-ramp,” he said about the now-averted shutdown. “Guess who determines when we leave the shutdown? The Republicans. Let’s not forget how bad they are. This guy Vought — probably the most evil man … he has a whole playbook of what to shut down.”

He added that one Senate GOP member told him a shutdown could have lasted six to nine months.

The interview came a day after the New York Democrat was forced to scrap his multicity book tour that was set for much of the week over security concerns.

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