What The Hell America!

When Republicans first introduced their partisan funding bill to keep the government open — full of extreme cuts, attacks on basic rights, and provisions to give even more authority to Trump and Musk to continue dismantling the federal government — it was clear that the fight to stop it would require Democrats to operate with real unity.

Federal employee unions, litigators fighting Trump in court, outside advocates, House Democrats, many Democratic party insiders, and Indivisible were all in lockstep that passing this bill would be worse than a government shutdown. The GOP funding bill would give Trump and Musk carte blanche to continue their administrative coup, and Democrats voting for it would be complicit in all the actions to follow.

But Senate Democrats had the leverage to stop it: Advancing this bill required clearing a 60-vote threshold for “cloture,” meaning Republicans would need 7 or 8 Democrats to vote to allow their coup-enabling bill to advance. And after House Democrats showed their power with an almost-unanimous vote against the bill on Tuesday, we had momentum as the vote moved to the Senate.

However, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer decided to cave. Instead of using a rare point of actual leverage, he announced his decision to surrender without a fight, voting for cloture and providing a pass for other Senate Democrats to fold. By the time of the vote on Friday afternoon, 10 Senate Democrats voted with Republicans to invoke cloture and allow the bill to sail through to final passage and Trump’s desk.

This was a massive betrayal of the Democratic party, of Indivisibles and activists organizing against this bill, and of our democracy. Because of Schumer’s failure, the bill included zero safeguards against Musk’s illegal and unconstitutional behavior. By refusing to hold the line, Senator Schumer went against the vast majority of his party to fully capitulate to Trump.

Indivisibles drove calls and organized events for weeks to try and stop this bill, and the outage from our network on Schumer’s surrender was immediate. Yesterday, we organized emergency calls with Indivisible group leaders across the country to decide how we should respond. After intense discussion, we took a vote on how to proceed, and the results were overwhelming:

• 82% of New York Indivisible group leaders voted to demand that Schumer resign as Minority Leader.
• 91% of Indivisible group leaders nationwide agreed.

The message was clear: If Chuck Schumer is unwilling to lead the opposition, he must make way for someone who will. Accordingly, Indivisible National issued an official statement calling for his resignation.

This is not a decision we take lightly. For years, we fought alongside Senator Schumer to push for progressive policies and hold the line against Republican extremism. But his capitulation on the Republican funding bill was not just a failure of strategy — it was a failure of leadership. And if he will not fight in this defining moment, then we must demand someone who will. Indivisibles deserve a Democratic party, and leadership of that party, who is committed to fighting as hard as we are.

A minority leader who is unwilling to fight back against fascism is a weakness our democracy cannot afford. We need to pressure every single Democratic senator to speak out and join us in calling for new leadership that is prepared to lead a unified opposition to Trump and Musk.

For folks with Democratic senators, here are two actions you can take right away:

1. Before Senate offices open tomorrow, use our form to send an email to your Democratic senator and ask them to call on Senator Schumer to step down as Minority Leader.
2. Then, tomorrow morning, use our click-to-call page to call your Democratic senator and urge them to call on Senator Schumer to step aside.

Whether you have a Republican or Democratic senator, you have the opportunity to hold them accountable right now while they’re home for recess. Most Democrats voted the right way and opposed the GOP funding bill, and we should have their backs while pushing them to keep up the fight. Find an upcoming recess event near you (or use our toolkit to plan your own) and demand that your senator must stand with working families instead of bowing to billionaires like Musk.

From planning town halls to protesting at Tesla dealerships to showing up to congressional offices, our movement is willing to put in the work to defend our democracy. We have no intention of surrendering to Trump, Musk, or congressional Republicans, and we will not back down until we secure leadership that is equally dedicated to this fight.