Washington DC - Senator Chuck Schumer has said he will not step down as he once again defended his decision to back a Republican-drafted government spending bill.

"Leader Schumer, are you feeling pressure to step down?" Kristen Welker asked the senator on NBC's Meet the Press.

"Look, I'm not stepping down," the 74-year-old responded.

The defiant answer came amid growing calls for the Senate minority leader to step aside following his support for Republicans' stopgap government funding bill, with critics saying he did not do enough to secure meaningful concessions.

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"I knew when I cast my vote against a government shutdown that there would be a lot of controversy, and there was," Schumer told Welker in the interview aired Sunday.

"The CR was certainly bad – the continuing resolution – but a shutdown would be 15 or 20 times worse," he added, citing concerns over Donald Trump and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.

"It was a vote of principle. Sometimes when you're a leader, you have to do things to avoid a real danger that might come down the curve, and I did it out of pure conviction as to what a leader should do and what the right thing for America and my party was."

Trump took to Truth Social following the Senate's passage of the bill to praise Schumer for his support.

"Congratulations to Chuck Schumer for doing the right thing – Took 'guts' and courage," the president posted. "We should all work together on that very dangerous situation. A non pass would be a Country destroyer, approval will lead us to new heights."

The controversy has seen members of Schumer's own party demand new leadership in the upper chamber.

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Maryland Representative Glenn Ivey last week became the latest to call for Schumer's replacement, saying he was "deeply disappointed" in the Democratic leader's vote.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, from Schumer's home state of New York, said, "There are members of Congress who have won Trump-held districts in some of the most difficult territory in the United States who walked the plank and took innumerable risks in order to defend the American people."

"Just to see Senate Democrats even consider acquiescing to Elon Musk, I think, is a huge slap in the face," she added.

Meanwhile, Schumer earlier this month postponed a tour for his new book, Antisemitism in America: A Warning, "due to security concerns" amid the funding bill backlash.