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Ocasio-Cortez Lashes Out at Schumer Over His Support for G.O.P. Budget

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Ocasio-Cortez Lashes Out at Schumer Over His Support for G.O.P. Budget

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, is facing a torrent of criticism for choosing to vote with his Republican counterparts to head off a government shutdown.

Some of the sharpest barbs have come from another New York Democrat, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Ms. Ocasio-Cortez blasted Mr. Schumer’s efforts to gather enough Democratic support so Republicans can clear a procedural hurdle and pass a measure to fund the government through Sept. 30, accusing him of ceding the sliver of power Democrats had over President Trump.

“I believe that’s a tremendous mistake,” she said in a CNN interview on Thursday.

And she had specific criticism of the legislation itself. “This turns the federal government into a slush fund for Donald Trump and Elon Musk,” she said. “It sacrifices congressional authority, and it is deeply partisan.”

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Her sharp remarks even stirred talk about whether she would consider challenging Mr. Schumer, 74, in a primary when he is up for re-election in 2028. Asked directly in the television interview if she would consider such a campaign, she sidestepped the question but did not shoot down the premise.

The House Democratic leadership — with yet another New York legislator at the top — quickly followed Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s criticism, putting out a statement knocking Mr. Schumer’s caucus for going along with Republicans. All but one House Democrat voted Tuesday against the plan, which would slightly decrease spending overall.

“The far-right Republican funding bill will unleash havoc on everyday Americans, giving Donald Trump and Elon Musk even more power to continue dismantling the federal government,” Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the top House Democrat, said in a joint statement with the rest of his leadership team.

“House Democrats will not be complicit,” they said.

Their anger, with Ms. Ocasio-Cortez out front, reflects a boiling over of resentments among some Democrats about the gerontocracy leading their party. The older generation led them astray last year during the presidential election, many younger Democrats say, and it is hurting them again as they try to stand up to Mr. Trump.

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Angered House Democrats were already discussing primary challenges to Mr. Schumer, who was first elected in 1998.

“Schumer has been in politics for a long time, and I would hope that this is his final term, and he opens it up for someone new,” said State Senator Jabari Brisport of New York, an ideological ally of Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, who endorsed him when he first ran.

Mr. Brisport said that he did not know if Ms. Ocasio-Cortez aspired to higher office. But if she ran, he said, “she would make a fantastic senator.”

Mr. Schumer’s defenders note that it was easier for House Democrats to vote no — because the Republicans in their chamber had enough support to pass the legislation to keep the government open without Democratic help.

And, his defenders say, allowing the government to shut down would only make matters worse.

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It “may feel good giving vent to our frustration,” Jay Jacobs, the New York Democratic Party chair, said in a statement. But it “will work against our long-term desire to win back the Congress in 2026 and the presidency in 2028.”

In television interviews, floor speeches and a New York Times opinion piece, Mr. Schumer defended his choice, saying that he hated the bill before him but that its passage was better than a shutdown.

“The risk of allowing the president to take even more power via a government shutdown is a much worse path,” Mr. Schumer wrote in The Times.

His efforts drew praise from perhaps an unwelcome source: the president himself.

“Congratulations to Chuck Schumer for doing the right thing — Took ‘guts’ and courage!” Mr. Trump said on social media.

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Video: We Analyzed the Deadly Crash at LaGuardia

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Video: We Analyzed the Deadly Crash at LaGuardia

new video loaded: We Analyzed the Deadly Crash at LaGuardia

Our graphics reporter Lazaro Gamio breaks down the second-by-second analysis leading up to the deadly plane crash at LaGuardia Airport.

By Lazaro Gamio, Coleman Lowndes and James Surdam

March 27, 2026

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Video: LaGuardia Crash Survivors Recount Ordeal

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Video: LaGuardia Crash Survivors Recount Ordeal

“I just thought, please don’t let this be how my life ends. I’m not ready to die. When we landed, it was a very rough landing. Like we landed and the plane jolted back up, and that caught a lot of passengers off guard. Everyone kind of like, ‘What’s going on?’ And then you hear the pilot braking, and it was like just this grinding sound.” “Everybody was shocked everywhere. There was — there’s people screaming. The plane just veered off course. I mean, it was just — it all happened so quickly, but it all felt just like a very dire situation.” “Oh, God. Oh my goodness. That’s crazy.” “People were bleeding from their nose, cuts and scrapes. I saw black eyes, all different types of facial contusions, bruising and bleeding. I was sitting by the exit door, and I opened the exit door. There was a sense of camaraderie amongst the survivors. Nobody was pushing, shoving, ‘I got to get out first.’” “The plane actually tipped back as we were leaving, as people were getting off the plane. That was when the nose kind of fell off the front of the plane, and the whole plane kind of went up to what we’d seen in all the pictures of the plane’s nose in the air.” And there was no slide when we got out. A lot of us were jumping off of the airplane wing to get down. And when I got out and I saw that the front of the plane, how destroyed it was, I just was — I was in shock.” “It was only really when I was outside of the plane, looking back at the plane, and I had seen what had happened to the cockpit, and then just like this sense of dread overcame me, where I was just like, wow, a lot of people might have just been pretty badly hurt.” “I’m grateful to the pilots who were so courageous and brave, and acted swiftly, and they saved our lives. And if it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be able to come home to my family. I’m forever indebted to them. They’re my heroes.”

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Video: Passenger Jet and Fire Truck Crash at LaGuardia Airport, Leaving 2 Dead

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Video: Passenger Jet and Fire Truck Crash at LaGuardia Airport, Leaving 2 Dead

new video loaded: Passenger Jet and Fire Truck Crash at LaGuardia Airport, Leaving 2 Dead

The two pilots of a Air Canada Express jet were killed after a collision with a Port Authority fire truck on Sunday at LaGuardia Airport in New York.

By Axel Boada and Monika Cvorak

March 23, 2026

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