Sen. Chuck Schumer Plans to Weaponize Dead-End Votes for Election

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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. is planning a series of votes to help boost embattled incumbents and divide Republicans on key issues.

The bills have no chance of passing but are designed to get senators on the record about where they stand on key issues. Last month, Schumer had a vote on a border security deal that failed, but allowed vulnerable incumbents like Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio and Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., to look like they support protecting the border.

The Senate will be voting Wednesday on the Right to Contraception Act and Schumer is planning to schedule a vote later this month on legislation protecting IVF. Other show votes are planned, Schumer told Punchbowl News.

Republicans dismissed Schumer’s plan as an election-year ploy.

“They are more interested in playing politics than they are actually about securing the very things they’re talking about,” Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., told Punchbowl News. “They’ve engaged in a summer of scare tactics, and they don’t care about the false fear they’re creating in women and families.”

Republicans remain divided on how to vote on the contraception bill, sparring at a lunch Tuesday on whether to vote to advance the bill, Punchbowl News reported, citing several attendees. Sen. Joni Erst, R-Iowa, has proposed her own access-to-contraception bill.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who is running for GOP leader, said Republicans should stick together if the plan is to advance the measure, while GOP Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., said Republicans should not drag out a process Democrats are using as a trap, according to Punchbowl News.

“The Democrats don’t have a lot else to talk about; they don’t want to talk about inflation; they don’t want to talk about the border,” Thune told Punchbowl News. “And frankly [abortion is] an issue that — yeah, there’s some political traction with it out there.”

Schmer is also considering having a vote on a tax bill that Republicans oppose but includes benefits for Ohio residents impacted by the train derailment in East Palestine along with expanding the child tax credit, Punchbowl News reported.