Chuck Schumer says he is not stepping down, as he faces growing Democratic anger

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has said he will not step down, as anger and pressure builds among his fellow Democrats over his decision not to block a Republican-led government funding measure.

"Look, I'm not stepping down," Schumer told NBC News' Meet the Press programme on Sunday.

Some Democrats wanted Schumer to block the most recent government funding bill, which they believed enabled President Donald Trump's agenda, but Schumer decided to allow a full vote.

He and a handful of other Senate Democrats voted to advance the measure to a final vote, but voted against the funding bill's ultimate passage.

Schumer told Meet the Press he made his decisions "out of pure conviction as to what a leader should do and what the right thing for America and my party was".

The Senate's top Democrat argued that blocking the bill would have caused the government to shut down, a scenario that would have handed Trump increased power to slash federal jobs and social and public services.

The government funding measure was "certainly bad," Schumer said. "But a shutdown would be 15 or 20 times worse."

Yet many powerful members of his party have openly criticised Schumer's decision, arguing he threw away their limited leverage against Trump.

Schumer's decision has publicly exposed a rift in the Democratic Party about how they should oppose the Trump administration.

"I myself don't give away anything for nothing," former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said at an event in San Francisco last week. "I think that's what happened the other day."

Pelosi speculated that Schumer could have tried to get Republicans to agree to a "third way."

"They may not have agreed to it, but at least the public would have seen they're not agreeing to it," Pelosi said. She acknowledged such pushback could have resulted in a government shutdown.

Speaking to ABC News, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, an Independent, said he believed the issue was with the Democratic Party writ large.

He alleged the party was "dominated by billionaires" and was "out of touch" with its constituents.

Democratic voters have voiced their frustration with their party's leadership in recent town halls held throughout the country.

"When will you be calling for [Schumer] to be replaced as minority leader?" a constituent asked Senator Michael Bennet, a Democrat from Colorado, at a recent town hall.

At the end of his response, Bennet said: "And in dodging your question, let me just say, it's important for people to know when it's time to go... We're going to have conversations, I'm sure, in the foreseeable future, about all the Democratic leadership."