Chuck Schumer to resume familiar role: Monitoring President-elect Donald Trump's agenda

WASHINGTON — Now that the election is over, the rematch is on: Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer vs. incoming Republican President Donald Trump.

Eight years ago, Schumer and Trump jousted as New Yorkers would — sometimes with humor, sometimes with barbs — as the lifelong Democratic legislator and his party worked to delay, shape or defeat the agenda of the novice politician with a Republican majority.

"When we can agree on issues, then we’re going to work with them," Schumer said after Trump won in 2016. "But I’ve also said to the president-elect on issues where we disagree, you can expect a strong and tough fight."

Trump, with four years under his belt as president and a more experienced and talented team already assembled, might be more successful with his  legislative agenda than four years ago, some political experts said.

But Schumer plans to follow the guidelines he laid out eight years ago.

"As I’ve said time and again, in both the majority and the minority, the only way to get things done in the Senate is through bipartisan legislation while maintaining our principles — and the next two years will be no different," he posted last week on the social media site X.

In the first term, Schumer and Trump clashed at times, but they retain a connection as New Yorkers that has survived their conflicts and differences.

At the Al Smith Dinner for Catholic Charities on Oct. 17 at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City, Schumer sat by the dais as Trump delivered remarks in which he claimed early votes indicated Democrats might lose the election.

"Chuck Schumer is here looking very glum. Doesn’t he look glum? He looks glum," Trump said as he reached over and grabbed the arm of Schumer, who grinned and raised his fists. Trump later added, "He’s a good man actually, I hate to say it."

Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn) — another New Yorker — will lead the Senate and House Democratic caucuses. Most experts expect Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) to keep his post as Republican leader — and likely House speaker.

In the Senate, Republicans will vote next week on whether to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) likely with either South Dakota Sen. John Thune or Texas Sen. John Cornyn.

Trump’s record

In his first term, Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress passed some significant legislation, particularly the massive corporate tax cuts in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. But they fell short of achieving many of Trump's campaign promises.

As in Trump's first term, Schumer and his Democratic caucus plan to use many of the same procedural tools to delay, reshape and block legislation and slow the Senate’s approval of Trump’s appointments to top positions in his administration.

But Schumer has said he also will seek to work with Republicans on bipartisan legislation, such as the First Step Act of 2018 to reform federal prisons and sentencing laws to improve public safety.

Jeffries vowed to work to keep his caucus united against any bill his party opposes so that any internal Republican disputes will sink their legislation — but also will work on bipartisan bills.

And outside groups aligned with Democrats and single-issue groups once again will do their best to hamper sweeping changes proposed by Trump and Republicans with lawsuits, administrative complaints and protests to rally public opinion.

Molly Reynolds, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C., think tank, said she expects things will proceed differently, possibly better, for Trump and Republicans controlling Congress next year than it did in 2017-18.

"On one hand, the congressional Republican Party is ‘Trump-ier’ than it was in 2017, and you have fewer folks who you might expect to push back against things for which he is pushing, especially in the Senate," Reynolds said in an email.

"But on the other hand, their majority in the House is likely to be smaller than it was in 2017. Unified party control can and does help majorities put aside some of their internal differences, but a very small majority could still present challenges," she said.

James Curry, a political science professor at the University of Utah who focuses on how Congress operates, said the incoming Trump administration’s ambitious agenda likely will face the same fate as it did in his first term.

"The story of American politics is parties winning and then finding that the way our policymaking system is constructed and the way our governmental system is arranged that they cannot really steer the ship of state the way they want to," he said.

"They find themselves disappointed and frustrated," Curry said, "and then eventually you have another election."