Warren says Schumer was ‘wrong' for backing GOP budget, does not say if he should still lead caucus
'Understand this: what Donald Trump and Elon Musk are doing is illegal,' Warren said.
At one point, a man who identified himself as a UMass-Lowell student thanked Warren for
The move quickly riled Democratic activists, and drew harsh backlash, particularly from younger party members. Schumer on Monday also
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'Do you believe that Chuck Schumer is the right man to run the Senate?' the student asked Warren, as several members of the crowd booed, yelling 'No!' and 'Replace Chuck!'
Warren said she made her opposition 'pretty clear' ahead of the bill's passage and tried 'twisting arms within our caucus.'
'Obviously, Chuck Schumer and I did not agree. I think Chuck Schumer is wrong,' Warren said. But she did not say whether Schumer should still be the Democrats' leader, instead saying what Democrats 'have to do now is get focused on this tax fight.' The budget resolution that cleared the House calls for up to
'I cannot describe to you how urgent this is. This is the all-the-marbles fight,' Warren said. 'And let me be as clear as I can about this: I need every single Democrat in this fight. Every Democrat in the Senate, every Democrat in the House, every Democrat in this country, and every independent and a damn big slice of the Republicans. That's the fight I am now focused on, and that's where I will stay. I will not let anybody get in my way on this.'
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As Warren finished her remarks, a person from the crowd shouted amid the applause, 'What about Chuck?'
Warren did not address the discussion when speaking to reporters afterward, and a staff member ushered her to a line of attendees waiting to snap a photo with her as a reporter asked about her stance on Schumer.
Elizabeth Warren waves as she begins a town on the UMass Lowell campus on Tuesday.
Barry Chin/Globe Staff
Warren's town hall — her second in roughly a month — largely focused on her pledge to push back against Trump's second-term agenda. She criticized the Republican administration for not cutting costs for everyday Americans, and praised the court system for 'calling out people who are not following the law.'
'It's not a time to be calm,' she said.
Members of the crowd were allowed to ask five questions over the roughly 50-minute event. At one point, a man asked if there had been any discussions about pursuing 'constitutional modifications to rein in this kind of behavior' from the Trump administration.
Warren said Trump and 'spineless Republicans' have forced Democrats to 'have to look at parts of the Constitution in ways we had never looked at them before.'
'So I definitely don't want to over promise here, but there are conversations that are starting,' she said without elaborating. She added that the question gives 'me one more reason to raise this at lunch with my colleagues.'
Warren, like other Democrats, has criticized at Trump on several fronts in recent weeks: She's called for an
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She herself has also been a target of Trump, including during Trump's address to Congress this month when he referred to her as 'Pocahontas' — a derisive nickname referencing
Warren also has sounded notes of collaboration, too, suggesting as recently as January in a New York Times interview that she was optimistic
Where that is still the case remains to be seen.
Warren said Tuesday that she 'tried' to work with the Trump administration, saying she sent a letter to Musk offering up dozens of areas in the federal government where felt he could seek cuts.
'Elon Musk is not interested in getting rid of waste, fraud and abuse. He's interested in a giant headline, a lot of chaos, and driving toward that tax law that is going to give him billions and billions more, and make everybody else pay for it. I'm on to that,' Warren told reporters.
'What Donald Trump and Elon Musk are doing,' she added, 'is breaking the law, breaking the Constitution, and threatening our very democracy.'
Matt Stout can be reached at
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