Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) appeared on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday, June 25, 2017. (Screen grab from ABC)

(CNSNews.com) – Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Democrats are crafting a “strong, bold” economic message that will “resonate” with middle-class Americans.

“We better stand for something, and it can't be baby steps,” Schumer told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday.

Schumer said the “number one lesson” from the Democrats’ loss in Georgia last week is that “Democrats need a strong, bold, sharp-edged, and common-sense economic agenda, policy, platform, message” that appeals to the middle class and unites Democrats.

“That’s what I’ve been working on for months.”

Schumer said he’s been talking to Democrats and Trump voters all across the country – even a self-described “deplorable.”

“I was at a Yankees game last Saturday night, and I sat next to someone--you know, just because that's how the seats were, we sit in the grandstand--wearing an ‘I'm proud to be a deplorable voter,’ a truck driver.

“This economic message platform is going to resonate. It's what we were missing and it's not going to be baby steps; it's going to bold. We're coming out with it this summer, within a month," Schumer said.



“You will see it, and Democrats will try to pass it legislatively for a year and campaign on it in 2018. It's what we were missing in 2016 and in the past. We're going to -- we know that. But you lose an election, you don't blame other people, you blame yourself.”

Asked about calls for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to step aside, Schumer said, “They always blame the leader” when elections disappoint.

“I think if we come up with this strong, bold economic package, it will -- it will change things around. That's what we were missing. People don't like Trump; he's at 40 percent. But they say what the heck do the Democrats stand for?”

Schumer said Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), has a point when he says Democrats need to rebrand themselves: “We better stand for something, and it can't be baby steps,” the senator said.

Schumer said the new Democrat agenda will please Democrats: “I'm talking to Bernie Sanders, I'm talking to Joe Manchin. This is going to be really something that Democrats can be proud of, and I'm excited about it.”