Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has canceled book tour events this week because of security concerns amid a backlash over his support for a Republican bill to prevent a government shutdown last week.
Newsweek reached out to Schumer’s office for comment via email.
Why It Matters
Schumer, a New York Democrat, sparked outrage in his own party by voting in favor of the temporary funding bill, which will keep the government open until September but included cuts opposed by Democrats.
The backlash comes as Democrats continues facing post-election turmoil. A new CNN poll showed the party is polling at a historic low, and Democrats remain split about their best path forward. While some blame their defeats on the party’s leftward drift on social issues, others say the party strayed from its more populist positions on economic policies, sparking voter backlash.
What To Know
Event pages for several of the planned stops for Schumer’s book, Antisemitism in America: A Warning, which is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, showed postponement announcements on Monday morning.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks in Washington on March 12, 2024. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks in Washington on March 12, 2024. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
“Sen. Schumer’s book tour events during the week of March 17 are being postponed for security reasons. We will work to reschedule this event at a later date,” reads the page for an event planned to be held Wednesday at Sixth & I, a synagogue in Washington, D.C.
There were calls to protest his speeches following his vote on the funding bill, which is also known as a continuing resolution (CR).
“PROTEST SCHUMER’S BOOK TOUR NEXT WEEK,” Emma Vigeland, co-host of the left-leaning show The Majority Report, posted to X, formerly Twitter, on Friday while also sharing a list of events planned for this week.
Backlash against Schumer continued into Monday, as he faced growing calls from the party to step down as the Democratic Senate leader. An online petition of Democrats who would withhold party donations until he steps down had been signed nearly 25,000 times.
Others are already calling for him to face a primary in 2028, when he’s next up for reelection.
Schumer, however, has defended his vote, saying that a government shutdown would be “a far worse option” for Americans.
“For me, the shutdown of the government would just be devastating and far worse than the Republican CR,” he told The New York Times over the weekend. “Let me explain: A shutdown would shut down all government agencies, and it would solely be up to Trump and DOGE and Musk what to open again, because they could determine what was essential.”
Even prior to the vote, some Democrats had begun expressing frustration with what they viewed as a feeble opposition to Trump’s policies.
The CR ended up passing, as Schumer, with eight other Democrats, voted in favor of a procedural motion to end debate and bring the bill to a formal vote, ending the 60-vote filibuster.
What People Are Saying
Writer David Klion, on X: “Chuck Schumer was scheduled to discuss his book on antisemitism with Ritchie Torres tmrw, at a $45 ticketed event that wouldn’t be recorded and where all audience questions would be pre-screened. Now they’re postponing it, and all his other book events, for security reasons.”
Writer and LGBTQ+ activist Charlotte Clymer, on X: “Mr. Schumer just announced he’s postponing his book tour for “security reasons” in the midst of planned protests this week over his caving to Trump and Musk. Sounds like he didn’t want to face the music. This isn’t leadership.”
Update 3/17/25, 1:29 p.m. ET: This article was updated with a new video.
Update 3/17/25, 11:30 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.