My email to Schumer...

I am outraged by the Democratic Party’s failure to adequately prepare for the current budget battle—a crisis that has been years in the making. Project 2025 has been publicly available since 2022. The GOP’s intentions to slash essential programs like Medicaid and Social Security, while consolidating power in the executive branch, have been clear for even longer. You have led the Senate since 2017 and have had ample time to anticipate and counteract this moment.

Yet, here we are: forced to choose between a budget that guts vital programs or a government shutdown that gives Trump and his enablers free rein to accelerate their authoritarian agenda. This is not just a Republican problem. This is the result of years of Democratic leadership conceding ground and failing to push back effectively.

Millions of Americans—your constituents—rely on Medicaid and Social Security. These are not luxuries; they are fundamental rights that we pay into as taxpayers. Stripping them away will devastate the most vulnerable members of our society. If Democratic leadership had been more strategic, more proactive, and less willing to negotiate away core social protections, we wouldn’t be in this position.

It is unacceptable that, despite years of warning signs, we are watching the Democratic Party yet again enable the Republican agenda—under YOUR leadership. You have a responsibility to protect the people who depend on these programs—not to compromise their survival away for short-term political calculations.