Indivisibles,

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 [ [link removed] ]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, [ [link removed] ]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, [ [link removed] ]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. [ [link removed] ]Find an upcoming recess event near you (or [ [link removed] ]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.

In solidarity,
Indivisible Team 

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