The real reason Chuck Schumer is suddenly getting all kinds of legislation passed in the Senate

Now that world stage emergencies are taking up most of the public’s and media’s attention, Senate Republicans seem less worried about facing Fox News blowback for voting for bipartisan legislation. Accordingly, Chuck Schumer is now getting all kinds of bills passed. Savvy move.

In the past week alone the Senate has passed the Violence Against Women Act, Post Office reform, and now permanent Daylight Savings Time. There will likely be more to come. Schumer has a window to get all of this passed while GOP Senators aren’t facing right wing heat, and he’s using it.

“Why didn’t Schumer pass these things sooner?” He obviously didn’t have the votes sooner, or he’d have passed them sooner. He has the votes now. It always comes down to math at any given time. You either have the votes or there’s nothing you can do. The point is, he was savvy enough to realize the window had opened.

Some of you will suggest that Speaker Nancy Pelosi should be getting the credit instead. After all, she’s much more savvy than Schumer (or anyone else in modern politics). But I’ve often said that Schumer’s best trait is how often he listens to Pelosi.

“So why hasn’t Schumer used this window to pass voting rights or infrastructure?” If he had the votes, he would. This window only appears to apply, for now, only to things that at least ten Republican Senators are willing to sign off on. But things can and do change.

Meanwhile Manchin is still being a jerk about Biden nominees, and Sinema appears to have returned to her home planet, so we’re not there yet on filibuster carve outs for voting rights. But when the opportunity is there, Democrats will seize it.

In the meantime, if there’s legislation that’s been languishing that you think should be passed, and you think it would have any level of bipartisan support, now is the time to (courteously) let Schumer know about it. Your voice does matter.