Chuck Schumer skips Philly visit, postpones book tour amid spending bill vote backlash

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) has postponed a book tour stop at the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History amid backlash for voting with Republicans Friday to advance a stopgap spending bill that averted a government shutdown.

Schumer was to visit Philadelphia Thursday to promote his new book Antisemitism in America: A Warning with a conversation moderated by Israeli-American Michael Solomonov, co-owner of CookNSolo Restaurants, which includes Zahav in its portfolio.

In a note on its website, the Weitzman said a new date would be announced soon. Other stops on the tour, including D.C., cited “security concerns” as the reason for the postponement. The multi-city tour went along the East Coast with stops in New York City and Baltimore, with additional stops in Georgia and California.

The postponement comes as Schumer faced mounting criticism over the weekend after he and nine other Democrats, including U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D., Pa.), voted with Republicans on a procedural measure that ultimately prevented a government shutdown when many in the party would have preferred a fight.

Though no one in the Senate has threatened Schumer’s leadership, Democrats have been swift in expressing an array of emotions, from disappointment to outright anger as the Trump administration dismantles the federal government.

In an appearance Friday on HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro described wanting to see more from Schumer during negotiations.

“I would have liked to see when Chuck Schumer had leverage here to say, ‘We need A, B, C and D for the Democratic Party,’ and force the Republicans to meet him halfway on those issues and deliver something for the folks who are worried now,” Shapiro said on the show.

Schumer told the New York Times that he had “two bad options” and that a shutdown would have been far worse for the country because the executive branch would have the sole power to decide what government agencies are essential.

“Two days from now in a shutdown, they could say, well, food stamps for kids is not essential. It’s gone,” Schumer told the Times. “All veterans offices in rural areas are gone. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. They’re not essential. We’re cutting them back. So it’d be horrible.”

The explanation left many Democrats unsatisfied.

Ezra Levin, co-executive director of Indivisible, the liberal group with thousands of chapters across the country, including Philadelphia, went so far as to call for Schumer’s resignation this weekend.

“After weeks of constituents demanding that Democrats use this rare, precious point of leverage on the government funding bill, Schumer did the opposite,” wrote Levin. “He led the charge to wave the white flag of surrender.”