On “Good Morning America” Monday, host George Stephanopoulos asked Sen. Charles Schumer how well he thought Barack Obama is working with Congress and what advice he’d give the president.
Schumer advised Obama against dealing with the “hard right,” arguing conservative Republicans aim to set the nation back centuries.
“My advice to the president is compromise when you can, but when people are being unreasonable, and we have hard right people who seem to be wanting to move us back to the 19th century, draw some lines in the sand and fight,” Schumer said. “Try to compromise first. Do everything you can, but don’t give up your core fundamental principles. I think the American people will respect that.”
The New York Democrat also said he would have handled the tax bill differently than Obama did.
“First, let me say this, we Democrats in the House and Senate know we’re joined at the hip with the president,” Schumer said. “He does well, we do well and vice versa. So we’re working as a team. We have our differences. I would have pursued the tax bill differently, but once the president made the decision, you saw large unity, particularly in the Senate and I think you’ll see that.”
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