In first 100 days, Schumer focuses on unity, new message

WASHINGTON — Sen. Chuck Schumer said he was “totally down in the dumps.”

Before Election Day, he fully expected to become the majority leader of the Senate and work with Hillary Clinton as president. When that didn’t happen, he moped around for three days. So did his family. But on the fourth day, he had “an epiphany, almost like a message from God.”

And he told himself this: “With Trump as president and you as minority leader, your job is much more important.”

Schumer, of New York, said he set out to address the “number one reason” Democrats lost the election. Middle and working class voters knew Democrats opposed Trump, but they didn’t know what the party would do for them, he said.

He pulled together an expanded leadership team that included progressive icon Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent and former presidential candidate, and Joe Manchin, of West Virginia, one of the Senate’s most conservative Democrats.

After his first 100 days on the job, Schumer said he’s spent the most time working to build consensus in his caucus around an economic policy platform he’s betting will reverse Democrats’ electoral losses in 2016.

He believes the focus —more money in your pocket, fewer expenses, adjusting to the 21st Century — will appeal to all Americans.

“Part of our job is to say what we stand for, to try to get those kinds of things done, focus on the middle class, those trying to get there,” he said. “The regret is the election, that Democrats didn’t have a strong enough economic message. We’re trying to rectify that.”

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Schumer spoke to USA TODAY on Thursday after an event on Long Island, a stop on his tour of 14 New York counties during recess to talk about local issues, such as addressing the opioid crisis in Rochester and Binghamton. He plans to hit all 62 counties this year, just as he has every year has been in the Senate.

His popularity in New York has remained steady, with an approval rating of 63%, according to a Morning Consult poll released April 11.

“The congressmen and senators who just stay in Washington can’t do their job well,” he said. “You have to talk to people.”

Meanwhile, he’s in touch with the 47 other members of his caucus, his “second family.” He calls them so often on his trademark flip phone, he’s memorized all of their numbers.

“He’s constantly in contact,” said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del. “He’s a very forceful leader and I think he commands the respect of the caucus.”

So far, Democrats unveiled plans for paid family leave and a $1 trillion, 10-year infrastructure plan designed to create 15 million jobs. The entire economic package will be finished in late June or early July.

But a minority leader’s power, however, rests more in the ability to block an agenda rather than set one.

Though Democrats united against a Republican health care plan in the House, Republican victories included legislation to roll back some of President Obama’s initiatives and changing long-standing Senate rules to confirm Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch without Democratic support.

Schumer said Gorsuch was far from a mainstream candidate and urged others to oppose him, but three Democrats voted for him.

Schumer worked to slow the confirmation process for some of Trump’s nominees, prompting Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky to blast Democrats in February for “unprecedented obstruction.” Among those Schumer opposed was McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, secretary of Transportation.

Still, some in his party say he should do more to block the Trump agenda. Protesters gathered outside Schumer’s apartment in January for a “What the F---, Chuck?” rally to demand that Schumer stand firm against Trump.

Progressives also called on Schumer to remove Manchin from his leadership team following votes in favor of nominees they opposed.

“If there’s one place where I think (Schumer) is falling down on the job, that’s in providing the leadership that holds his caucus together, to understand they have to be a united force against Donald Trump at all times,” said Charles Chamberlain, executive director of Democracy for America. “It never works for Democrats to try to be Republican lite.”

But Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., pointed to the pushback Republicans received from Democrats and the grassroots on “Trumpcare” as a “strong victory.”

“He’s got the hardest job in the world and he’s doing really well,” she said.

Schumer must also protect the 10 members of his caucus who are up for reelection in 2018 in states where President Trump won, said Matt Bennett, co-founder of the centrist think tank Third Way. Manchin is among them.

“He’s been able to relate well to people in a pretty big tent caucus and he really understands the value of having a big tent,” Bennett said. “That’s very important to him.”

NGaudiano@Gannett.com

Nicole Gaudiano is a correspondent for USA TODAY Network's Washington Bureau.