The shutdown may be ending, but the political fallout is just beginning. Democrats across the country are fuming after party leaders agreed to reopen the federal government without securing their main goal, which is an extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies. And most of that anger is landing squarely on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Schumer didn’t even support the deal that a group of moderates pushed through, but his critics say that misses the point. Progressives blame him for a failed strategy and for losing control of his caucus when it mattered most. They wanted Democrats to hold the line on health care, not settle for a symbolic promise of a vote next month that’s almost certain to fail in a Republican-led chamber.
“Senator Schumer is no longer effective and should be replaced,” Representative Ro Khanna of California wrote on social media Sunday. “If you can’t lead the fight to stop healthcare premiums from skyrocketing for Americans, what will you fight for?”
Others quickly piled on as Representative Mark Pocan of Wisconsin, the former head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, blasted Schumer’s leadership, calling the shutdown deal “terrible” and accusing Senate Democrats of “screwing over a national political party.” “Profile of scourge? Next,” Pocan added.
MSNBC panel tears into Chuck Schumer:
One guest flat-out declared, “This is the end of Chuck Schumer as we go forward.”
They slammed him for losing the ACA fight that 80% of Americans agree on.
“How do you lose that negotiation after you just won an election.” pic.twitter.com/HZj73ewCRn
— HalalFlow (@halalflow) November 10, 2025
The frustration extended beyond Capitol Hill as Zach Wahls, a Senate candidate from Iowa, said Schumer “failed to lead this party in one of its most critical moments,” suggesting the agreement “certainly appears from the outside like it was all orchestrated by Senate leadership.” In Maine, Graham Platner, another progressive challenger, was blunt, stating: “Chuck Schumer is not built for this moment.”
Schumer has so far stayed silent on calls for him to step aside and on the Senate floor Sunday, he criticized the deal himself, arguing that Republicans would pay the political price for refusing to negotiate on health care. “We are going to fight legislatively, fight back home, fight in the courts, and bring this fight in the elections,” he said. “Health care costs made a major impact on the 2025 election, and they will certainly have an even greater impact on the 2026 election.”
But for many Democrats, those words ring hollow. Senator Elizabeth Warren didn’t mince words and asked if Schumer had done a good job, she paused for several seconds before saying, “I think the American people want us to stand and fight for health care. Obviously, that’s not happening.”
Freshman Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan echoed that frustration with a statement of her own. “The old way of doing business continues to fail America,” she said in a statement, continuing: “Leadership is about changing and adapting when there is real need, and unless we hear that, we will fail to meet the moment.”
Under Schumer’s leadership, Democrats held firm for 40 days, the longest shutdown in U.S. history. They elevated health care to a national issue and cast Trump’s resistance to extending ACA subsidies as a defining difference heading into the 2026 midterms. But many Democrats say that’s not enough. They wanted results, not talking points.
As one party strategist put it privately, “Symbolic victories don’t pay premiums.”
