\n<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, [McCarthy] let a group of very extreme people, he gave them the tools\u201d to wield power, Schumer said in an interview. \u201cThe plan is to get our Republican colleagues in the House to understand they\u2019re flirting with disaster and hurting the American people. And to let the American people understand that as well. And I think we\u2019ll win.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s something of a new, dual-track role for the New Yorker. For the last two years, Schumer and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi<\/span> allowed bipartisan Senate groups to work and usually avoided a top-down approach that could have disrupted aisle-crossing negotiations. Before that, Schumer spent four years as one of Trump\u2019s chief antagonists, occasionally negotiating with the former president but mostly focusing on stopping him.<\/p>\n Today, Schumer is somewhere in between, haranguing the House GOP while keeping the door open for the bipartisan work his deal-seeking senators crave. And he\u2019s preparing for a long face-off with McCarthy as Washington charts this year\u2019s mid-year debt ceiling deadline like an approaching meteor.<\/p>\n Asked to respond to Schumer, McCarthy criticized the Democrat\u2019s December drive to pass a year-end spending bill shaped in part by two retiring senators.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen was the last time he did a budget? So, he wants somebody to lift the debt ceiling, but he won\u2019t tell the American people where he\u2019ll spend money?\u201d McCarthy said of Schumer in a brief interview. (During the last Congress, Schumer\u2019s Senate did pass budget bills to set up filibuster-proof party-line legislation on covid relief, taxes, climate and health care.)<\/p>\n At the moment, there\u2019s little cooking in the Senate on the debt ceiling or otherwise, and Schumer is filling the vacuum with a fusillade of attacks on the GOP. Schumer greeted McCarthy\u2019s chaotic speaker election with a snarky congratulations that the Californian\u2019s \u201cdream job could turn into a nightmare for the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n Notably, however, he has since focused mostly on McCarthy\u2019s more conservative members instead of the new speaker personally. He also hasn\u2019t explicitly ruled out negotiations. <\/p>\n And those conservative members are front and center in the new GOP majority after McCarthy\u2019s stumble-filled but ultimately successful bid for the speakership. One concession he made along the way: House Republicans would refuse to support raising the debt ceiling without a \u201cbudget agreement or commensurate fiscal reforms,\u201d according to a slide shown during a closed-door conference meeting earlier this month.<\/p>\n Schumer and McCarthy have not yet held a one-on-one meeting. Aides are hopeful there will be one soon, but it is not yet scheduled.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a fine line between saying, \u2018We disagree, and we have our issues,\u2019 as opposed to saying, \u2018They\u2019re no good, they\u2019re scum of the earth,\u2019\u201d said Rep. Robert Aderholt<\/span> (R-Ala.), who added that he hopes both leaders treat their rhetoric carefully.<\/p>\n Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell<\/span> is staying away from the fray, saying he\u2019ll leave things to McCarthy and Biden. And Schumer has declined to address the possibility of bringing a so-called clean debt ceiling increase to the floor, a move that could fail and shake financial markets.<\/p>\n Just the same, Democrats don\u2019t want to open the door for a negotiation that unfolds in the unpredictable style that 2011\u2019s debt ceiling talks did. They\u2019re wary of what happened when Biden himself cut a deal with McConnell that resulted in both domestic and military spending cuts.<\/p>\n \u201cThere will be opportunities to work together, but not in the context of them threatening the global economy,\u201d Sen. Brian Schatz<\/span> (D-Hawaii) said of House Republicans. <\/p>\n Schumer, contra McConnell, is not encouraging Biden to get in a room with McCarthy. Instead, he said that if McCarthy wants to cut spending as a condition for raising the debt ceiling, Democrats need to see their plan to do so first \u2014 echoing the combative tone that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has long taken toward McCarthy.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you hear from Biden, they agree with us. [Republicans] have to show us their proposal. They have to show us their plan. Plain and simple. Hakeem Jeffries talked about it today. I believe the president will,\u201d Schumer said. \u201cDemocrats are united: Show us the plan. That\u2019s the first step.\u201d<\/p>\n Well, Democrats are mostly united, at least. Sen. Joe Manchin<\/span> (D-W.Va.) called it \u201cunreasonable\u201d to not negotiate and said he\u2019s not going to tell the House what to do.<\/p>\n