White House slams Schumer’s ‘disgusting’ statement on shutdown as political standoff continues

The White House slammed Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for making a ‘disgusting and revealing’ comment about the ongoing shutdown.

Schumer spoke with Punchbowl News, an outlet based in Washington, D.C., and said that as the shutdown continues, things keep getting ‘better’ for the Democrats.

‘Every day gets better for us,’ Schumer reportedly told Punchbowl News. ‘It’s because we’ve thought about this long in advance, and we knew that health care would be the focal point on Sept. 30, and we prepared for it… Their whole theory was — threaten us, bamboozle us, and we would submit in a day or two.’

Republicans have blamed Schumer for the shutdown, saying it was meant to appease the Democrat Party’s progressive wing, particularly in his home state as Zohran Mamdani maintains the lead in New York City’s mayoral race and buzz swirls regarding Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., potentially challenging Schumer in the next primary. She has not formally declared a Senate bid.

‘Chuck Schumer just said the quiet part out loud: Democrats are gleefully inflicting pain on the American people over their push to give illegal aliens free health care,’ White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson said in a statement provided exclusively to Fox News Digital. 

‘Workers are missing paychecks; travelers are missing flights; businesses are struggling; military families are forced to rely on food pantries; but to Chuck Schumer that means ‘every day gets better.’ No matter what Chuck Schumer thinks, Americans struggling is not good and the Democrats must stop inflicting this pain on them and reopen the government now,’ Jackson added.

In response to Fox News Digital’s request for comment, Schumer’s office sent an excerpt from his remarks on the Senate floor.

‘Every day that Republicans refuse to negotiate to end this shutdown, the worse it gets for Americans — and the clearer it becomes who’s fighting for them. Each day our case to fix healthcare and end this shutdown gets better and better, stronger and stronger because families are opening their letters showing how high their premiums will climb if Republicans get their way. They’re seeing why this fight matters — it’s about protecting their healthcare, their bank accounts and their futures,’ Schumer said.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also took issue with Schumer saying that the shutdown was good for the Democrats.

‘While federal workers stress over missed paychecks, military families turn to food pantries, and airports around the country face delays — Chuck Schumer and the Democrats are bragging that ‘every day gets better’ for them,’ Leavitt wrote on X. ‘What a disgusting and revealing statement. Democrats are gleeful about inflicting pain on the American people.’

On Wednesday, the White House said it would be ramping up consequences for the shutdown.

The White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) floated plans that would not guarantee that federal workers currently furloughed from the shutdown would receive backpay — upending a 2019 law from President Donald Trump’s first administration in the aftermath of a 35-day shutdown, Fox News Digital learned.

The threat of furloughed workers failing to receive backpay increases the stakes every day that Congress fails to pass a funding measure — and puts greater pressure on Democrats as Trump continues to accuse them of creating the crisis.

Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancy, Deirdre Heavey and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.