Debt ceiling deadline: Who is Chuck Schumer? What’s his role as Senate Majority Leader?

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer held onto his position in the Senate after Republicans failed to flip the chamber during the 2022 mid-term elections. Senator Schumer stepped into the role of majority leader in 2021 when President Biden took office. However, Schumer’s days in the Senate first began in 1999, after having represented New York as a member of Congress starting in 1981.

Senator Schumer’s current position earns him a spot at the table over the national debt ceiling negotiations. The Majority Leader has stayed quiet during these negotiations, with the White House and Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy playing a much more substantive role. Speaker McCarthy is in a much more difficult position because he has to reach an agreement with the White House that will be approved by at least 218 of his 222-member caucus that will also be approved by sixty Senators. This means that the Speaker has to balance the demands of the GOP members with a piece of legislation that Leader Schumer would be willing to bring to the floor of the Senate.

Chuck Schumer asks for a clean increase

On 12 May, Senator Schumer sent a clear message to Speaker McCarthy asking that he bring a clean debt ceiling increase to the floor of the House of Representatives, citing the risks of default.

A few days later, on 17 May, the Democratic leader spoke to the press outside the White House after a series of meetings with GOP leaders. During his remarks, he described the meeting as “good” and “productive” and said that those in attendance “agreed that default would be the worst outcome.”

“We need to pass a bipartisan bill with bipartisan support in both chambers,” argued Sen. Schumer, adding that Speaker McCarthy agreed with his analysis. The bill passed by the Republican majority in the House in late April did not receive a single Democratic vote, meaning that the legislation does not meet the standard that leaders have agreed to this week.

As negotiations continue and the country is pushed further towards Day X, Majority Leader Schumer will likely begin playing a much more public role by making calls for bipartisanship.