Did Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer just outfox President Donald Trump with a nasty little trick?
According to Schumer, he has a plan to derail the passage of Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” on the Senate floor. And it’s a plan that could actually work.
Over the weekend, Schumer announced that Senate Democrats will force an out loud reading of the “Big, Beautiful Bill” that will slow down the bill’s passage in the Senate and to give Democrats time to rally support, Schumer claimed in a post to X on Saturday.
“BREAKING: I will object to Republicans moving forward on their Big, Ugly Bill without reading it on the Senate floor,” he said.
BREAKING: I will object to Republicans moving forward on their Big, Ugly Bill without reading it on the Senate floor
Republicans won’t tell America what’s in the bill
So Democrats are forcing it to be read start to finish on the floor
We will be here all night if that’s what…
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) June 28, 2025
“Republicans won’t tell America what’s in the bill. So Democrats are forcing it to be read start to finish on the floor. We will be here all night if that’s what it takes to read it,” his post continued.
Politico noted that the reading of proposed bills by clerks is allowed under Senate rules but is typically is waived by unanimous consent.
The last time something like this happened was in 2021 when Republican Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson forced an out-loud reading of the 628-page COVID-19 spending bill after he objected to the bill having anything to do with COVID.
“Since more than 90% of this “COVID relief” belief is not even related to COVID, I think we need a full reading of the bill,” Johnson said in a post to X on March 3, 2021.
Since more than 90% of this "COVID relief" bill is not even related to COVID, I think we need a full reading of the bill.
Yes, it could take 10 hours but the American people deserve to know what's in it. https://t.co/QQDoCfkrHZ
— Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) March 4, 2021
“Yes, it could take 10 hours, but the American people deserve to know what’s in it,” Johnson continued.
If Schumer acts, Senate aides estimate that the reading of the “Big, Beautiful Bill”, which clocks in at 940-pages, could take up to 15 hours, according to Politico.
Last month, it was reported that Schumer is fighting for his political life against upcoming Democratic “woke” star Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., in a potential election match-up. AOC would soundly defeat him by a 21-point margin in a hypothetical 2028 Democratic primary.
Recently, Schumer’s approval ratings have plummeted among Democratic Party loyalists. A CNN poll released in late April showed him with just a 17 percent favorable and 44 percent unfavorable rating, his worst showing in CNN polling since 2017.
Among Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents, his rating fell from 46 percent favorable and 11 percent unfavorable in January to 31 percent favorable and 30 percent unfavorable in that poll.
When confronted by CNN’s Manu Raju about the dismal numbers, Schumer said he was unfazed.
“There was a poll out today that has your approval rating lower than any other congressional leader, at 17 percent. Are you concerned that you may be a liability for your party?” Raju asked.