Schumer’s Phone Flips

Good afternoon. An exclusive interview with a confident Chuck Schumer; Democrats aren’t mad, they’re just disappointed in themselves; CHC’s power moves. Plus: Why LaMonica McIver’s case is about “the entire Congress.” Also, Senate bean soup.

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THE LATEST

Chuck Schumer says he’s been burning up his flip phone and already has more than enough support to become majority leader again.

“I am going to be elected leader, OK, and we’re united on the issues,” Schumer told The Sun’s Paul Kane. “We’re united. We’re united on costs and chaos.”

That might not scare off a challenge from progressive Chris Van Hollen, who is simultaneously “not shutting the door,” “in listening mode,” and “kicking the tires” on a presidential run. (Mixed metaphor alert!) And since caucus rules don’t allow for leadership elections until December, he’s got plenty of time to make Schumer sweat.

Schumer is so confident that he’s already looking ahead to 2028, when a favorable map could put Democrats within striking reach of the Holy Grail: a filibuster-proof 60-seat majority. “If we win four more seats, wow!” Schumer told Paul. “Not predicting we will, it’s too early to tell, but that would be amazing.”

It would make quite a swan song for the longtime lawmaker, should he decide to step aside for new blood (or another Buffalo Bills fan). Speaking of which, AOC doesn’t seem to be in any rush on making a decision on her future, telling The Sun’s Daniella Diaz she won’t be sharing anything about her plans “for a little while.”

Stay tuned for more from PK’s interview with Schumer, dropping tomorrow morning on The Sun.

Meanwhile, Republicans are more than a little amused that Schumer is the one facing a firing squad while John Thune was easily reelected top Senate Republican with no challenger, despite losing as many as nine Senate seats last week.

“He’s getting what he worked for: a bunch of socialists who don’t think he’s liberal enough. What can you say?” Kevin Cramer told The Sun’s Al Weaver.

But Ruben Gallego, who’s backing Schumer, said he’s not surprised. “We’re Democrats. We fight over everything,” he told The Sun’s Manuela Silva.

HEGSETH VOTE FALLOUT

After 11 House Democrats failed to show up for the Pete Hegseth impeachment vote, members are starting to point the finger at leadership for not doing enough to get all their ducks in a row.

“There needed to be some enforcement ahead of time by the leadership,” one House Democrat told us.

“Ordinarily if you have a vote on a rule or something, obviously not trying to miss the vote, but if you miss it, it’s not the end of the world. This was not one of those smaller votes. This was a huge vote,” the lawmaker said. “Everything should have been planned better.”

A second House Democrat said “there’s definitely room to encourage people to be close by campus. On some of our tough votes, we’ve done that.”

Katherine Clark told Democrats in this morning’s whip meeting that “we disappointed the American people by not having everyone here,” a source familiar with the matter told The Sun’s Kadia Goba. But she argued that Democrats would not have been able to defeat the motion to refer the impeachment articles even with full attendance. (Reminder that Democratic leadership did not whip the vote.)

Still, frustrations are building up in the caucus.

“We could have won it though. But worst-case scenario, it would have been tied, which meant nothing happened. But here’s the thing: We know Republicans will shut down the vote as soon as they have the adequate number of votes. We know they’re not going to give us a courtesy,” a third House Democrat said. “I’m like, come on, we need to get our fucking shit together.”

LATINOS WANT MORE POWER

CHC members on Financial Services are riding hard for Maxine Waters to become chair of the committee next year — and they have an agenda.

“During her tenure, multiple CHC members have served as leaders on the Committee,” the members said in a ‘Dear Colleague’ letter obtained by Kadia. “We have no doubt that Congresswoman Waters will continue to provide CHC members with the opportunity to have critical roles under her leadership.”

Notably, not all CHC members in the committee signed on: Sam Liccardo was not on the list.

Liccardo hasn’t committed to anyone vying for the position, but he believes “the voters are demanding that we respond to the affordability crisis, and that deserves an open debate with his colleagues,” a source familiar with the matter told us.

First on The Stakeout: Speaking of the CHC, nearly half of all CHC member offices lack any Hispanic staffers in senior roles (chiefs, deputy chiefs, legislative directors and communication directors), according to slides the Congressional Hispanic Staff Association shared internally with House Democratic leadership before the election.

CHC is expected to have more than 50 members in the next Congress, a record high for the caucus. Overall, only 6.4% of top House staff positions are held by Latinos.

“Latino voters helped make the blue wave possible. Now House Democrats have an opportunity to elevate mid-level Latino staffers into senior roles,” Karla Rodriguez, CHSA’s communications director, told us.

OLD PEOPLE WANT TO KEEP POWER

Speaking of, um, senior members wanting to retain power, Susie Lee officially announced her proposal to change caucus rules to demand term limits for committee chairmanships — and senior members are big mad.

“It’s very undemocratic,” Frank Pallone, who has been the top Democrat on E&C for over a decade, told us. “If you want to run, you run against the person if you don’t think they’re doing a good job. We’ve had, now and in the past, members challenge other members, so there’s absolutely no reason to have term limits.”

ROADBLOCK

The Trump administration’s prosecution of LaMonica McIver over an incident at an ICE facility last year could put a hitch in Democrats’ plans to investigate Donald Trump and his allies next year by setting a legal precedent that legislative oversight field work is not protected by law.

“This is something I’ve been saying for over a year now. This is why this case is not just about LaMonica McIver, it’s about the entire Congress,” McIver told us.

What does that mean? If McIver loses her case (and so far, no court has dismissed it), the Trump administration could arrest lawmakers for any firsthand inspections and site visits: No more in-person oversight of ICE facilities, federal prisons, natural disaster recovery centers, etc.

Stanley Brand, former House Counsel under Tip O’Neill, said: “This is really a case that puts in front of the courts the need to validate the most robust enforcement of the Speech and Debate Clause against an executive that is hell bent to intimidate them from doing their job.”

The Trump administration has an appetite to go after Democrats conducting investigations, as evidenced by the letter the White House sent to Robert Garcia warning that some oversight efforts constitute criminal behavior.

If the McIver case goes the administration’s way, they’d have legal authority to do it.

SORRY, SHERROD

Michael Bennet is expecting to take charge of the Senate Agriculture Committee next year, where his agenda will include Western priorities like water, forestry and conservation.

There was some speculation that Democrats would give Sherrod Brown the gavel, given his big win last week, his prior years of service in the Senate, and the fact that Elizabeth Warren will chair his old committee, Senate Banking, but Bennet told us that’s not going to happen.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Bennet told The Sun’s Paul Kane. “My understanding is that it’s [based] on seniority.”

SHE’S RUNNING?

RIP SENATE FRIDAYS

Republicans kept the Senate in session for Veterans Day and the rest of this week to push through more judges before Democrats take over in January.

No votes are expected today, but you can bet on a lot of tough-sounding sports analogies.

“I hope everyone is ready to run through the tape because there is more work to be done in the 119th Congress, and we are going to leave it all on the field,” Thune vowed on the floor.

SOUP OF THE DAY

Senate bean soup.

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