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A coalition of labor unions, political action, and community groups march against DOGE and proposed cuts to Medicaid, housing, food assistance, and other vital programs in New York, New York, on March 15, 2025. Some expressed their outrage with Senator Chuck Schumer for voting to advance the Republican funding bill.
Democrats vs. Democrats
Senate Democrats unleashed a storm last week when Schumer and nine other Democrats voted in favor of a Republican-authored funding bill. To vote no, Schumer argued, would be to risk a shutdown of the federal government, a move President Donald Trump and advisor Elon Musk might use to further slash the federal bureaucracy.
House Democrats and others were furious with Schumer’s decision. They have argued that the Republican need for Democratic votes to pass the bill gave Democrats rare legislative leverage over Republicans and a chance to strike a blow at Trump. By refusing to stand up to the president and his party when given the chance, they’re leaving the public without a positive reason to vote for Democrats.
More immediately, Congress will replay this drama in September when the next funding bill comes to the floor. Now that Schumer has set a precedent by caving to pressure, critics within his party ask, what’s to prevent Republicans from offering a bill that Democrats find even more toxic than the one that passed last week, with confidence that that bill will pass too?
A new poll finds that Democratic-aligned adults say, by a margin of 52% to 48%, that the leadership of the Democratic Party is currently taking the party in the wrong direction. There isn’t yet a groundswell within the party that favors replacing Schumer as Senate minority leader, but that moment may be coming.US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson holds a press conference at Capitol Hill in Washington, on Feb. 14, 2024.
House launches bipartisan AI task force
The task force will not write legislation, but it will produce a report outlining guiding principles and making broad policy recommendations. Two Californian representatives, Democrat Ted Lieu and Republican Jay Obernolte, will lead the committee. Both men are keenly interested in the subject: Obernolte holds a graduate degree in artificial intelligence, and Lieu spearheaded last year’s stalled efforts to regulate the industry.
The cross-party cooperation stands in notable contrast to the dysfunction the House of Representatives has faced in recent months, with top priorities like border security and aid to allies mired in partisan rancor. It also comes just months after Biden’s executive order, which focused on reducing AI-related risks.
We’re watching for whether the findings produce a more viable legislative path, given the apparent enthusiasm from both parties to end Congressional inaction on artificial intelligence.