Charles Schumer
Encyclopedia
Charles Ellis "Chuck" Schumer (ˈʃuːmər, born November 23, 1950) is the senior United States Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

 from New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 and a member of the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

. First elected in 1998
United States Senate election in New York, 1998
The 1998 United States Senate election in New York took place on November 3, 1998 along with elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Republican U.S...

, he defeated three-term Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 incumbent Al D'Amato
Al D'Amato
Alfonse Marcello "Al" D'Amato is an American lawyer and former New York politician. A Republican, he served as United States Senator from New York from 1981 to 1999.-Early life and family:...

 by a margin of 55%–44%. He was easily re-elected in 2004
United States Senate election in New York, 2004
The 2004 United States Senate election in New York took place on November 2, 2004 along with elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as the presidential election, elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent...

 by a margin of 71%–24% and in 2010
United States Senate election in New York, 2010
The 2010 United States Senate election in New York took place as scheduled on November 2, 2010 along with elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator...

 by a margin of 66%–33%.

Before his election to the U.S. Senate, Schumer served in the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

 from 1981 to 1999. He represented New York's 16th congressional district
New York's 16th congressional district
New York's 16th Congressional District is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives located in the Bronx. The district includes the neighborhoods of Bedford Park, East Tremont, Fordham, Hunts Point, Melrose, Highbridge, Morrisania, Mott Haven and University Heights. ...

, which was later redistricted to the 10th congressional district
New York's 10th congressional district
New York's 10th Congressional District is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives located in Brooklyn, New York City. It includes the neighborhoods of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn Heights, Brownsville, Canarsie, East New York and Ocean Hill, as well as parts of Fort...

 in 1983 and to the 9th congressional district
New York's 9th congressional district
New York's 9th Congressional District is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives in New York City. It includes parts of southern Brooklyn and south central Queens...

 in 1993. A native of Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

 and graduate of Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...

 and Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...

, he was a three-term member of the New York State Assembly
New York State Assembly
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature. The Assembly is composed of 150 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 128,652...

, serving from 1975 to 1980.

Schumer was chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is the Democratic Hill committee for the United States Senate. It is the only organization solely dedicated to electing Democrats to the United States Senate. The DSCC's current chair is Sen. Patty Murray, who succeeded Sen. Robert Menendez following...

 from 2005 to 2009, in which post he oversaw a total of 14 Democratic gains in the Senate in the 2006
United States Senate elections, 2006
Elections for the United States Senate were held on November 7, 2006, with 33 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate being contested. Senators are elected for six-year terms, with one third of the Senate seats up for a vote every two years. The term of office for those elected in 2006 runs...

 and 2008 elections
United States Senate elections, 2008
Elections for the United States Senate were held on November 4, 2008, with 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate being contested. Thirty-three seats were regular elections; the winners were eligible to serve six-year terms from January 3, 2009, to January 3, 2015, as members of Senate Class II...

. Elected Vice Chairman of the Democratic Caucus
Vice Chairman of the Democratic Caucus
The Vice Chair of the Democratic Caucus is the third-ranking position in the United States Senate Democratic Caucus, created for Senator Chuck Schumer of New York in the November of 2006 after an exceptionally successful tenure as Chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee...

 in the Senate, in 2006, he is the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, behind Senate Majority Leader
Party leaders of the United States Senate
The Senate Majority and Minority Leaders are two United States Senators who are elected by the party conferences that hold the majority and the minority respectively. These leaders serve as the chief Senate spokespeople for their parties and manage and schedule the legislative and executive...

 Harry Reid
Harry Reid
Harry Mason Reid is the senior United States Senator from Nevada, serving since 1987. A member of the Democratic Party, he has been the Senate Majority Leader since January 2007, having previously served as Minority Leader and Minority and Majority Whip.Previously, Reid was a member of the U.S...

 and Senate Majority Whip
Assistant party leaders of the United States Senate
The Assistant Majority and Minority Leaders of the United States Senate are the second-ranking members of the party leadership of the United States Senate....

 Dick Durbin. In November 2010, he was also chosen to hold the additional role of chairman of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee starting at the opening of the 112th Congress.

Early life and education

Schumer was born in Brooklyn to a Jewish family of Russian
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....

, Polish
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...

 and Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

n immigrants. His parents were Selma Rosen and Abraham Schumer. He attended public schools in Brooklyn, scoring a perfect 1600 on the SAT
SAT
The SAT Reasoning Test is a standardized test for college admissions in the United States. The SAT is owned, published, and developed by the College Board, a nonprofit organization in the United States. It was formerly developed, published, and scored by the Educational Testing Service which still...

, and graduated as the valedictorian
Valedictorian
Valedictorian is an academic title conferred upon the student who delivers the closing or farewell statement at a graduation ceremony. Usually, the valedictorian is the highest ranked student among those graduating from an educational institution...

 from James Madison High School
James Madison High School (New York)
James Madison High School is a public high school located at 3787 Bedford Avenue, in the Madison section of Brooklyn, New York, and educates grades 9 through 12. It is part of Region 6 in the New York City Department of Education...

 in 1967. Schumer competed for Madison High on the It's Academic
It's Academic
It's Academic is a televised academic quiz competition for high school students, currently airing on two NBC affiliates in Washington, D.C. and Central Virginia and one CBS affiliate Baltimore, Maryland . The show has been on the air since October 7, 1961, making it the longest...

television quiz show.

He attended Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...

, where he became interested in politics and campaigned for Eugene McCarthy
Eugene McCarthy
Eugene Joseph "Gene" McCarthy was an American politician, poet, and a long-time member of the United States Congress from Minnesota. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the U.S. Senate from 1959 to 1971.In the 1968 presidential election, McCarthy was the first...

 in 1968
United States presidential election, 1968
The United States presidential election of 1968 was the 46th quadrennial United States presidential election. Coming four years after Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson won in a historic landslide, it saw Johnson forced out of the race and Republican Richard Nixon elected...

. After completing his undergraduate degree, he continued to Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...

, earning his Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...

 with honors in 1974. Schumer passed the New York State Bar Exam in early 1975 but never practiced law, entering politics instead.

State Assemblyman and Congressman

In 1974, Schumer ran for, and was elected to the New York State Assembly
New York State Assembly
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature. The Assembly is composed of 150 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 128,652...

, becoming, at age 23, the youngest member of the New York legislature since Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...

. He served three terms, from 1975–1980. He has never lost an election.

In 1980, 16th District Congresswoman
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

 Elizabeth Holtzman
Elizabeth Holtzman
Elizabeth Holtzman is an American lawyer and former Democratic politician, pioneer woman officeholder, four term U.S. Representative , two term District Attorney of Kings County , and New York City Comptroller .Her role on the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate scandal drew national...

 won the Democratic nomination for the Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

 seat of Republican Jacob Javits. Schumer ran for Holtzman's vacated House
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

 seat and won.

He was re-elected eight times from the Brooklyn and Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....

-based district, which changed numbers twice in his tenure (it was numbered the 16th from 1981 to 1983, the 10th from 1983 to 1993 and the 9th from 1993). In 1982, as a result of redistricting
Redistricting
Redistricting is the process of drawing United States electoral district boundaries, often in response to population changes determined by the results of the decennial census. In 36 states, the state legislature has primary responsibility for creating a redistricting plan, in many cases subject to...

, Schumer faced a potential matchup with his mentor, veteran Brooklyn congressman Steve Solarz. In preparation, Schumer "set about making friends on Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...

, tapping the city’s top law firms and securities houses for campaign donations. 'I told them I looked like I had a very difficult reapportionment fight. If I were to stand a chance of being re-elected, I needed some help,' he would later tell the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...

."

United States Senator

In 1998, Schumer ran for Senate. He won the Democratic Senate primary with 51 percent of the votes against Geraldine Ferraro
Geraldine Ferraro
Geraldine Anne Ferraro was an American attorney, a Democratic Party politician, and a member of the United States House of Representatives. She was the first female Vice Presidential candidate representing a major American political party....

 (21 percent) and Mark Green
Mark J. Green
Mark J. Green is an author, public interest lawyer and a Democratic politician who lives in New York City. He worked with Ralph Nader from 1970-1980, eventually as director of Public Citizen's Congress Watch, and is also the former president of Air America Radio .He was New York City Consumer...

 (19 percent). He then received 55 percent of the vote in the general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...

, defeating three-term incumbent
Incumbent
The incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...

 Republican Al D'Amato
Al D'Amato
Alfonse Marcello "Al" D'Amato is an American lawyer and former New York politician. A Republican, he served as United States Senator from New York from 1981 to 1999.-Early life and family:...

 (44 percent).

In 2004, Schumer handily won re-election against Republican Assemblyman
New York Legislature
The New York State Legislature is the term often used to refer to the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York. The New York Constitution does not designate an official term for the two houses together...

 Howard Mills of Middletown
Middletown, Orange County, New York
Middletown is a city in Orange County, New York, United States. It lies in New York's Hudson Valley region, near the Wallkill River and the foothills of the Shawangunk Mountains. Middletown is situated between Port Jervis and Newburgh, New York. The city's population was 25,388 at the 2000 census...

 and Conservative Marilyn O'Grady. Many New York Republicans were dismayed by the selection of Mills over the conservative Michael Benjamin
Michael Benjamin Bonheur
Michael Benjamin was born Michael Benjamin Bonheur in New York City, New York, United States. Benjamin works as a private investor focusing on Internet companies...

, who held significant advantages over Mills in both fundraising and organization. Benjamin publicly accused GOP
New York Republican State Committee
The New York Republican State Committee is the affiliate of the United States Republican Party in New York, headquartered in Albany.-History:...

 Chairman Sandy Treadwell
Alexander Treadwell
Alexander F. "Sandy" Treadwell is an American politician who is a longtime Republican Party political leader in New York. He is currently New York's National Committeeman on the Republican National Committee...

 and Governor George Pataki
George Pataki
George Elmer Pataki is an American politician who was the 53rd Governor of New York. A member of the Republican Party, Pataki served three consecutive four-year terms from January 1, 1995 until December 31, 2006.- Early life :...

 of trying to muscle him out of the senate race and undermine the democratic process. Schumer defeated Mills, the second-place finisher, by 2.8 million votes and won reelection with 71 percent of the vote. Schumer won every county in the state except one, Hamilton County
Hamilton County, New York
Hamilton County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. It is named after Alexander Hamilton, the only member of the New York State delegation who signed the United States Constitution in 1787 and later the first United States Secretary of the Treasury. Its county seat is Lake Pleasant...

 in the Adirondacks, the least populated and most Republican county in the state. Mills conceded defeat minutes after the polls closed, before returns had come in.

A SurveyUSA
SurveyUSA
SurveyUSA is a polling firm in the United States. It conducts market research for corporations and interest groups, but is best known for conducting opinion polls for various political offices and questions...

 poll from April 2009 placed Schumer's approval rating at 62%, with 31% disapproving.

Political style

Schumer's propensity for publicity
Publicity
Publicity is the deliberate attempt to manage the public's perception of a subject. The subjects of publicity include people , goods and services, organizations of all kinds, and works of art or entertainment.From a marketing perspective, publicity is one component of promotion which is one...

 is the subject of a running joke among many commentators. He has been described as an "incorrigible publicity hound." Bob Dole
Bob Dole
Robert Joseph "Bob" Dole is an American attorney and politician. Dole represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996, was Gerald Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in the 1976 presidential election, and was Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and in 1995 and 1996...

 once quipped that "the most dangerous place in Washington is between Charles Schumer and a television camera," while Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

 joked that Schumer brought along the press to a banquet as his "loved ones." Schumer frequently schedules media appearances on Sundays, in the hope of getting television coverage, typically on subjects other than legislative matters. His use of media has been cited by some as a successful way to raise a politician's profile nationally and among his constituents. Over the years, Schumer has gained a reputation as the go-to legislator among his colleagues for his political and legislative skills in defining issues and bringing them to solution. In Washington, he has been the lead consensus builder on the difficult issues of health care, immigration, and financial regulation.
Schumer has often been referred to as a hybrid of two of New York's most iconic U.S. Senators, the man with whom he served when elected in 1998, Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Daniel Patrick "Pat" Moynihan was an American politician and sociologist. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected to the United States Senate for New York in 1976, and was re-elected three times . He declined to run for re-election in 2000...

, and the man he defeated, Al D'Amato. Moynihan was known as a great intellectual and successful legislator in the senate and D'Amato was well regarded for his constituent service.

Local issues

Schumer prides himself on visiting every one of New York's 62 counties each year and has successfully done so in each of the 12 years he has served in the United States Senate. He has a reputation for focusing on local issues that are important to average New Yorkers not normally associated with United States Senators, ranging from tourism, to local taxes, to job creation. When it was revealed that Adidas
Adidas
Adidas AG is a German sports apparel manufacturer and parent company of the Adidas Group, which consists of the Reebok sportswear company, TaylorMade-Adidas golf company , and Rockport...

 planned to end its contract for the manufacture of NBA jerseys with American Classic Outfitters, an upstate New York
Upstate New York
Upstate New York is the region of the U.S. state of New York that is located north of the core of the New York metropolitan area.-Definition:There is no clear or official boundary between Upstate New York and Downstate New York...

 apparel company, and outsource production overseas, Schumer blasted the company citing the risk to 100 workers at the plant. When it was revealed that Canon Inc. was considering relocating from its corporate headquarters in Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...

 because of a dispute over road infrastructure funding, Schumer stepped in to advocate New York State redirect federal stimulus dollars to make the road improvements and keep the company and its jobs on Long Island.
Along with his House and Senate colleagues, Schumer successfully worked to kill a Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

-era privatization plan for custodial and utility workers at the United States Military Academy
United States Military Academy
The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City...

 at West Point
West Point, New York
West Point is a federal military reservation established by President of the United States Thomas Jefferson in 1802. It is a census-designated place located in Town of Highlands in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 7,138 at the 2000 census...

. The plan would have called for turning over custodial and utility work to a Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

 company.

Committee assignments

Schumer currently serves on the following Senate Committees in the 111th United States Congress
111th United States Congress
The One Hundred Eleventh United States Congress was the meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government from January 3, 2009 until January 3, 2011. It began during the last two weeks of the George W. Bush administration, with the remainder spanning the first two years of...

:
  • Committee on Finance
    United States Senate Committee on Finance
    The U.S. Senate Committee on Finance is a standing committee of the United States Senate. The Committee concerns itself with matters relating to taxation and other revenue measures generally, and those relating to the insular possessions; bonded debt of the United States; customs, collection...

    • Subcommittee on Health Care
      United States Senate Finance Subcommittee on Health Care
      The Senate Finance Subcommittee on Health Care is one of the six subcommittees within the Senate Committee on Finance-Members, 112th Congress:The subcommittee is chaired by Democrat Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, and the Ranking Minority Member is Vacant....

    • Subcommittee on Taxation, IRS Oversight, and Long-Term Growth
      United States Senate Finance Subcommittee on Taxation, IRS Oversight, and Long-Term Growth
      The Senate Finance Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS Oversight is one of the six subcommittees within the Senate Committee on Finance-Members, 112th Congress:...

    • Subcommittee on Social Security, Pensions and Family Policy
      United States Senate Finance Subcommittee on Social Security, Pensions, and Family Policy
      The Senate Finance Subcommittee on Social Security, Pensions, and Family Policy is one of the six subcommittees within the Senate Committee on Finance-Members, 112th Congress:...

  • Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
    United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
    The United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs has jurisdiction over matters related to: banks and banking, price controls, deposit insurance, export promotion and controls, federal monetary policy, financial aid to commerce and industry, issuance of redemption of notes,...

    • Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development
      United States Senate Banking Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development
      The Senate Banking Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development is one of five subcommittees within the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.-Jurisdiction:...

    • Subcommittee on Financial Institutions
      United States Senate Banking Subcommittee on Financial Institutions
      The Senate Banking Subcommittee on Financial Institutions is one of five subcommittees within the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.-Jurisdiction:...

    • Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance and Investment
      United States Senate Banking Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment
      The Senate Banking Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment is one of five subcommittees within the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.-Jurisdiction:...

  • Committee on the Judiciary
    United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary
    The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary is a standing committee of the United States Senate, of the United States Congress. The Judiciary Committee, with 18 members, is charged with conducting hearings prior to the Senate votes on confirmation of federal judges nominated by the...

    • Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts
      United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts
      The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts is one of seven subcommittees within the Senate Judiciary Committee.-Jurisdiction:...

    • Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights
      United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights
      The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights is one of seven subcommittees within the Senate Judiciary Committee.-Jurisdiction:...

    • Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs
      United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs
      The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs is one of seven subcommittees within the Senate Judiciary Committee.-Jurisdiction:Jurisdiction: Oversight of the Department of Justice's Criminal Division; Drug Enforcement Administration; Executive Office of the U.S. Attorneys; Violence...

    • Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security
      United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security
      The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees, and Border Security is one of seven subcommittees within the Senate Judiciary Committee.-Jurisdiction:...

       (Chairman)
    • Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security
      United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security
      The United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security is one of seven subcommittees within the Senate Judiciary Committee.-Jurisdiction:...

  • Committee on Rules and Administration
    United States Senate Committee on Rules and Administration
    The Senate Committee on Rules and Administration is responsible for the rules of the United States Senate, with administration of congressional buildings, and with credentials and qualifications of members of the Senate, including responsibility for dealing with contested elections.The committee...

    (Chairman)
  • Joint Committee on the Library
    United States Congress Joint Committee on the Library
    The Joint Committee on the Library is a joint committee of the United States Congress devoted to the affairs and administration of the Library of Congress, which is the library of the federal legislature. There are five members of each house on the committee. It has no subcommittees.The committee...

    (Vice Chair)
  • Joint Committee on Printing
    United States Congress Joint Committee on Printing
    The Joint Committee on Printing is a joint committee of the United States Congress devoted to overseeing the functions of the Government Printing Office and general printing procedures of the federal government of the United States...

    (Chairman)
  • Joint Economic Committee
    United States Congress Joint Economic Committee
    The Joint Economic Committee is one of four standing joint committees of the U.S. Congress. The committee was established as a part of the Employment Act of 1946, which deemed the committee responsible for reporting the current economic condition of the United States and for making suggestions...

    (Vice Chair)
  • International Narcotics Control Caucus
    International Narcotics Control Caucus
    The United States Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control was created to monitor and encourage the U.S...


Health care reform

Schumer supported President Barack Obama's health reform legislation; he voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is a United States federal statute signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. The law is the principal health care reform legislation of the 111th United States Congress...

 in December 2009, and he voted for the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010
Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010
The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 is a law that was enacted by the 111th United States Congress, by means of the reconciliation process, in order to amend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act...

.

Gun control

While serving in the House of Representatives, Schumer authored the Assault Weapons Ban
Federal assault weapons ban
The Federal Assault Weapons Ban was a subtitle of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, a federal law in the United States that included a prohibition on the manufacture for civilian use of certain semi-automatic firearms, so called "assault weapons"...

 in 1994 with California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 Senator Dianne Feinstein
Dianne Feinstein
Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein is the senior U.S. Senator from California. A member of the Democratic Party, she has served in the Senate since 1992. She also served as 38th Mayor of San Francisco from 1978 to 1988....

, which expired in 2004. The National Rifle Association
National Rifle Association
The National Rifle Association of America is an American non-profit 501 civil rights organization which advocates for the protection of the Second Amendment of the United States Bill of Rights and the promotion of firearm ownership rights as well as marksmanship, firearm safety, and the protection...

 and other gun groups (see gun politics
Gun politics
Gun politics addresses safety issues and ideologies related to firearms through criminal and noncriminal use. Gun politics deals with rules, regulations, and restrictions on the use, ownership, and distribution of firearms.-National sovereignty:...

) have criticized him for allegedly not knowing much about guns, pointing to various errors regarding the subject. Supporters of gun control legislation, however, give him much of the credit for passage of both the Assault Weapons Ban and the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act
Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act
The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act is an Act of the United States Congress that, for the first time, instituted federal background checks on firearm purchasers in the United States....

 despite intense lobbying from opponents. The Assault Weapons Ban, which banned semi-automatic rifles, shotguns, and handguns possessing certain cosmetic features, expired in September 2004 despite attempts by Schumer to extend it. He was one of 16 Senators to vote against the Vitter Amendment, which prohibited the confiscation of legally owned firearms during a disaster. While a target of the NRA-lobby, Schumer has supported hunters sponsoring legislation to provide millions in outdoor recreation grants to landowners who allow hunting and fishing on their private property. Field and Stream Magazine designated Schumer one of their 2008 Hero Awards for his efforts. Schumer is also a supporter of providing hunters with tax deductions for donating venison and other game to feeding programs. In response to a question in a debate during his 2010 reelection campaign, Mr. Schumer has denied having a hand gun or a permit for one and has produced a letter from NYPD stating that neither he nor his wife Iris Weinshall has a hand gun license from NYC. In a statement from Brian Fallon, a Schumer aide, he "insisted that except for winning an NRA marksmanship award at age 14, the senator does not own a gun or have a license to carry one."

Abortion

Schumer is strongly pro-choice
Pro-choice
Support for the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-choice movement, a sociopolitical movement supporting the ethical view that a woman should have the legal right to elective abortion, meaning the right to terminate her pregnancy....

, and has been given a 100 percent rating by the NARAL.

Consumer protection

Schumer has focused a great deal of his legislative attention on consumer protection issues. Schumer passed landmark consumer protection legislation that required uniform disclosure information on the back of credit card applications, notifying prospective cardholders of annual fees and interest rates. This standardized information is now referred to as the Schumer box. The senator has also aggressively pushed to end the practice of ATM "double-dipping", whereby banks charge customers ATM fees twice, once when using a bank other than their own and again by the customer's own bank for using an ATM outside their personal bank's network. Schumer has also been a leader on protecting US consumers, particularly children, from toxins in both children's toys and baby products. With Congresswoman Nita Lowey he has been working to ban the chemical bisphenol A
Bisphenol A
Bisphenol A is an organic compound with two phenol functional groups. It is used to make polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins, along with other applications....

, or BPA, often found in baby bottles and plastic children's food containers. The Canadian government has already banned the chemical in baby bottles and children's products. Schumer is also seeking a ban on the use of cadmium, a carcinogen known to brain development in children, in toys and children's jewelry. When sham companies began selling phony gloves, pills, inhalers, diuretics, shampoos and other products during the Swine Flu scare, Schumer urged the Federal Trade Commission to open an investigation to crack down on the practice. In the end, The FTC put 10 companies on notice and identified a total of 140 scams.

Schumer has been a champion of college tuition tax credits, calling for and passing a $4,000 tuition tax credit for students as part of a host of tax credits and cuts passed to stimulate the economy in the 2009 American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (AARA).

He received an "A" on the most recent (2008) Drum Major Institute
Drum Major Institute
The Drum Major Institute for Public Policy is a non-profit American progressive public policy institute founded during the Civil Rights Movement...

's Congressional Scorecard on middle-class issues.

Homeland security

As a senator from New York, Schumer has worked to secure homeland security funds for New York State and City and provide resources to its first responders. He delivered over $20 billion dollars in to New York to support the states security and recovery efforts after the 9/11 terrorist attack on New York City and worked to deliver $200 million in Homeland Security funds to protect New York City mass transit.

Schumer has been a leader in the fight to continue fully funding the FIRE Grant program, administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The program allows fire departments and first responders nationwide to apply for grant funding for major purchases that localities have difficulty absorbing, namely appparatus and emergency vehicles. When the Bush administration pushed a plan to reduce the program from $1 billion to just under $300 million, Schumer helped lead an effort with local firefighters to block the cuts.

In 2006, Schumer led a bipartisan effort, with the help of Republicans like Congressman Peter T. King
Peter T. King
Peter T. "Pete" King is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1993. He is a member of the Republican Party. King's central Long Island district includes parts of Nassau and Suffolk counties....

 (NY), to stop a deal approved by the Bush administration to transfer control of six United States ports to a corporation owned by the government of United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...

 (UAE), Dubai Ports World
Dubai Ports World
DP World is a major operator of marine ports with 49 terminals in operation and a further 9 under development across 31 countries. In 2010, DP World handled nearly 50 million TEU across its portfolio from the Americas to Asia...

. (See Dubai Ports World controversy
Dubai Ports World controversy
The Dubai Ports World controversy began in February 2006 and rose to prominence as a national security debate in the United States. At issue was the sale of port management businesses in six major U.S...

.) The 9/11 Commission
9/11 Commission
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up on November 27, 2002, "to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 attacks", including preparedness for and the immediate response to...

 reported that, despite recent alliances with the U.S., the UAE had strong ties to Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...

 and Al Qaeda prior to the September 11, 2001 attacks
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...

 on World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...

 and the Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...

. The measure in the House was H.R 4807, and in the Senate, S. 2333; these were introduced to require a 45 day review of this transfer of ownership. On March 9, 2006, Dubai Ports World withdrew its application to operate the ports.

In 1995, Schumer sponsored the Omnibus Counterterrorism Act of 1995
Omnibus Counterterrorism Act of 1995
Omnibus Counterterrorism Act of 1995, US Senate bills S.390 and S.761. Senator Joe Biden introduced the bill on behalf of the Clinton Administration on Feb. 10, 1995. The bill was co sponsored by Senators Alfonse D'Amato, Dianne Feinstein, Robert J. Kerrey, Herb Kohl, Jon Kyl, Barbara A. Mikulski...

 (H.R. 896), a predecessor to the US Patriot Act in the US House of Representatives.

Foreign policy

Schumer was a supporter of the Iraq War Resolution, is an American Israel Public Affairs Committee
American Israel Public Affairs Committee
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is a lobbying group that advocates pro-Israel policies to the Congress and Executive Branch of the United States...

 (AIPAC) member, and a strident pro-Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 member of Congress, although he was very critical of President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

's strategy in the Iraq War; he suggested that a commission of ex-generals be appointed to review it. Nat Hentoff
Nat Hentoff
Nathan Irving "Nat" Hentoff is an American historian, novelist, jazz and country music critic, and syndicated columnist for United Media and writes regularly on jazz and country music for The Wall Street Journal....

 of the Village Voice has criticized Schumer for his stance on the issue of torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...

.

The senator also is involved with legislation to address the Darfur genocide. Last year, he cosponsored two bills calling for peace in Darfur. Both bills, S.455 and S.684, passed in the Senate. He also voted in favor of measures to help increase the efficiency of peace keepers serving in Darfur.

Schumer, along with Republican Senator Lindsey Graham
Lindsey Graham
Lindsey Olin Graham is the senior U.S. Senator from South Carolina and a member of the Republican Party. Previously he served as the U.S. Representative for .-Early life, education and career:...

 of South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

, have been highly critical of the trade imbalance between the United States and China, and its alleged cause of Chinese currency intervention
Currency intervention
Currency intervention is the buying or selling of currency by central banks in an attempt to manipulate the price of a particular currency.-Japanese Yen:From 1989 to 2003, the Japanese economy was suffering from a long deflationary period...

. They have asked the White House, under both the Bush and Obama administrations, to find China "guilty of currency manipulation" under a 1988 law. Schumer and Graham have introduced legislation in three successive Congresses to apply tariff
Tariff
A tariff may be either tax on imports or exports , or a list or schedule of prices for such things as rail service, bus routes, and electrical usage ....

s onto Chinese goods for the purpose of raising the value of the Chinese yuan
Chinese yuan
The yuan is the base unit of a number of modern Chinese currencies. The yuan is the primary unit of account of the Renminbi.A yuán is also known colloquially as a kuài . One yuán is divided into 10 jiǎo or colloquially máo...

.

In a June 3, 2008 op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Schumer wrote that cooperative economic sanctions from the U.S., Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 could topple Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

's theocratic
Theocracy
Theocracy is a form of organization in which the official policy is to be governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided, or simply pursuant to the doctrine of a particular religious sect or religion....

 government. In discussing the importance of Russia's cooperation, Schumer stated that "Mr. Putin
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...

 is an old-fashioned nationalist who seeks to regain the power and greatness Russia had before the fall of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

." He followed it up by noting that "The antimissile system strengthens the relationship between Eastern Europe and NATO, with real troops and equipment on the ground. It mocks Mr. Putin's dream of eventually restoring Russian hegemony over Eastern Europe." The East European Coalition sent Schumer a letter on June 10, 2008 regarding the article. In their letter they wrote "As a supporter of democracy for the nations of Eastern Europe, which suffered greatly under "Russian hegemony over Eastern Europe," your suggestion that these nations be used as bargaining chips in order to appease Russia is troubling, inexplicable and unacceptable."

In 2009, Schumer criticized Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

's release of convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, and called for the United States to impose economic sanctions on the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 if Megrahi's release was tied to a massive oil deal between the United Kingdom and Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....

.

LGBT rights

In March, 2009 Sen. Schumer announced his support for same-sex marriage, noting that it "was time." Schumer previously supported civil unions. At a private risotto dinner with gay leaders at the Gramercy Tavern on March 22, 2009, Schumer said he not only now supports same-sex marriage, but also backs a full reversal of the Defense of Marriage Act.
When the New York State Senate took up a bill to legalize gay marriage in December 2009, Schumer, along with other state-wide officials, aggressively lobbied wavering senators to support the legislation.

Clinton impeachment

Schumer has the distinction of voting "no" on the impeachment charges
Impeachment of Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton, President of the United States, was impeached by the House of Representatives on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice on December 19, 1998, but acquitted by the Senate on February 12, 1999. Two other impeachment articles, a second perjury charge and a charge of abuse of...

 of President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

 in both houses of Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

. Schumer was a member of the House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

 (and Judiciary Committee
United States House Committee on the Judiciary
The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, also called the House Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is charged with overseeing the administration of justice within the federal courts, administrative agencies and Federal law enforcement...

 member) during a December 1998 lame-duck
Lame duck (politics)
A lame duck is an elected official who is approaching the end of his or her tenure, and especially an official whose successor has already been elected.-Description:The status can be due to*having lost a re-election bid...

 session of Congress, voting "no" on all counts in Committee and on the floor of the House. In January 1999, Schumer, as a newly elected member of the Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

, also voted "not guilty" on the two impeachment charges.

He shares that distinction with Jim Bunning
Jim Bunning
James Paul David "Jim" Bunning is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher and politician.During a 17-year baseball career, he pitched from 1955 to 1971, most notably with the Detroit Tigers and the Philadelphia Phillies. When he retired, he had the second-highest total of career...

 (R-Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

) and Mike Crapo
Mike Crapo
Michael Dean "Mike" Crapo is the senior United States Senator from the state of Idaho and a member of the Republican Party.Born in the city of Idaho Falls, Crapo is a graduate of Brigham Young University and Harvard Law School. He practiced law in his home city throughout the 1980s, while...

 (R-Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....

). All three had been US House members elected to the US Senate in the 1998 elections
United States Senate elections, 1998
The U.S. Senate election, 1998 was a roughly even contest between the Republican and Democratic parties. While the Democrats had more seats, Republican attacks on the morality of President Bill Clinton failed to connect with voters and anticipated Republican gains failed to materialize...

. Bunning and Crapo voted "yes" on all four counts in the House and "guilty" on the two impeachment charges in the Senate.

U.S. Attorney firings

As chair of the Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts
United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts
The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts is one of seven subcommittees within the Senate Judiciary Committee.-Jurisdiction:...

, Schumer took a lead role in the investigation of the dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy
Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy
The dismissal of U.S. Attorneys controversy was initiated by the unprecedented midterm dismissal of seven United States Attorneys on December 7, 2006 by the George W. Bush administration's Department of Justice. Congressional investigations focused on whether the Department of Justice and the White...

.

Although he was at one point criticized for being a lead investigator of the affair while also chairing the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is the Democratic Hill committee for the United States Senate. It is the only organization solely dedicated to electing Democrats to the United States Senate. The DSCC's current chair is Sen. Patty Murray, who succeeded Sen. Robert Menendez following...

, such criticism was not sustained after the full dimensions of the controversy became apparent.

On March 11, 2007, Schumer became the first lawmaker in either chamber to call for Attorney General
United States Attorney General
The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The attorney general is considered to be the chief lawyer of the U.S. government...

 Alberto Gonzales
Alberto Gonzales
Alberto R. Gonzales was the 80th Attorney General of the United States. Gonzales was appointed to the post in February 2005 by President George W. Bush. Gonzales was the first Hispanic Attorney General in U.S. history and the highest-ranking Hispanic government official ever...

 to resign for the firing
Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy
The dismissal of U.S. Attorneys controversy was initiated by the unprecedented midterm dismissal of seven United States Attorneys on December 7, 2006 by the George W. Bush administration's Department of Justice. Congressional investigations focused on whether the Department of Justice and the White...

 of eight United States Attorney
United States Attorney
United States Attorneys represent the United States federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. There are 93 U.S. Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands...

s. In an interview on CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...

' Face the Nation
Face the Nation
Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer is an American Sunday-morning political interview show which premiered on the CBS television network on November 7, 1954. It is one of the longest-running news programs in the history of television...

,
Schumer said that Gonzales "doesn't accept or doesn't understand that he is no longer just the president's lawyer." When Gonzales' chief of staff, Kyle Sampson
Kyle Sampson
D. Kyle Sampson was the Chief of Staff and Counselor of United States Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. He resigned on March 12, 2007, amid the controversy surrounding the firing of eight United States Attorneys in 2006 and was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing in July 2010...

, resigned on March 13, Schumer said during a press conference that Gonzales was "carrying out the political wishes of the president" and declared that Sampson would "not be the next Scooter Libby," meaning that he did not accept that Sampson had sole responsibility for the attorney's controversy.

Schumer, like other members of the Senate Judiciary Committee from both parties, was angered during Gonzales' testimony on April 19, 2007; Gonzales answered many times that he didn't know or couldn't recall details about the controversy. When Schumer's turn came to ask his last round of questions, he instead repeated his call for Gonzales to resign, saying that there was no point to further questioning since Gonzales had "answered, 'I don't know' or 'I can't recall' to close to a hundred questions" concerning the firings (most press reports counted 71 instances) and didn't seem to know about the inner workings of his own department. Gonzales responded that the onus was on the committee to prove whether anything improper occurred. Schumer replied that Gonzales faced a higher standard, and that under this standard he had to give "a full, complete and convincing explanation" for why the eight attorneys were fired.

Mukasey nomination

Gonzales resigned on September 17, and Schumer personally introduced Bush's choice to replace Gonzales with former federal judge Michael Mukasey.

Despite appearing troubled by Mukasey's refusal to declare in public that waterboarding
Waterboarding
Waterboarding is a form of torture in which water is poured over the face of an immobilized captive, thus causing the individual to experience the sensation of drowning...

 was illegal torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...

, Schumer announced on November 2 that he would vote to confirm Mukasey. Schumer said that Mukasey assured him in a private meeting that he would enforce any law declaring waterboarding illegal. Schumer also said that Mukasey told him Bush would have "no legal authority" to ignore such a law.

Schumer voted to recommend Michael Mukasey for confirmation as U.S. Attorney General. Schumer, along with fellow Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein
Dianne Feinstein
Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein is the senior U.S. Senator from California. A member of the Democratic Party, she has served in the Senate since 1992. She also served as 38th Mayor of San Francisco from 1978 to 1988....

, allowed the confirmation to move on to the full Senate.

Subprime mortgage and foreclosure crisis

On April 6, 2005 Alan Greenspan testified to Congress about the enormous portfolio of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Schumer responded to the testimony "I see an analogy to Social Security," Mr. Schumer said. "Social Security has a problem and there are ideologues who want to undo it. Fannie and Freddie have problems, and there are ideologues who want to undo them. But there are ways to fix the problems short of what's been proposed. When the sink is broken, you don't want to tear down the house."

Without identifying anyone in particular, Schumer also suggested that some people who have advanced tougher regulation of the two housing finance companies were really pushing a broader agenda to eliminate the companies and their mission of providing affordable housing. He proposed that the OFHEO raise Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's conforming loan
Conforming loan
In the United States, a conforming loan is a mortgage loan that conforms to GSE guidelines.In general, any loan which does not meet guidelines is a non-conforming loan...

 ("affordable") limits from $417,000 to $625,000, thereby allowing these GSEs to back mortgages on homes prices up to $780,000 with a 20 percent down payment.

Following the meltdown of the subprime
Subprime lending
In finance, subprime lending means making loans to people who may have difficulty maintaining the repayment schedule...

 mortgage industry in March 2007, Schumer
Charles Schumer
Charles Ellis "Chuck" Schumer is the senior United States Senator from New York and a member of the Democratic Party. First elected in 1998, he defeated three-term Republican incumbent Al D'Amato by a margin of 55%–44%. He was easily re-elected in 2004 by a margin of 71%–24% and in 2010 by a...

 proposed a federal government bailout of subprime borrowers in order to save homeowners from losing their residences and to shore up communities that were seeing neighborhoods destabilized due to foreclosures and the resultant decreases in neighboring home values. As part of a package of regulatory reforms Schumer has pushed in response to the subprime foreclosure crisis he called for the creation of mortgage industry regulator to protect borrowers from deceptive lending practices and called for the Securities and Exchange Commission to relocate from Washington to New York so that it was in closer proximity to the industry it was charged with overseeing.

Schumer
Charles Schumer
Charles Ellis "Chuck" Schumer is the senior United States Senator from New York and a member of the Democratic Party. First elected in 1998, he defeated three-term Republican incumbent Al D'Amato by a margin of 55%–44%. He was easily re-elected in 2004 by a margin of 71%–24% and in 2010 by a...

's top nine campaign contributors are all financial institutions who have contributed over $2.5 million to the senator.

IndyMac Bank controversy

On June 26, 2008 Senator Schumer took the extraordinary step of publicly releasing letters he had written to regulators regarding IndyMac Bank
IndyMac Bank
OneWest Bank is a federal savings bank with 82 retail branches in southern California and approximately $14 billion in deposits as of February 2010....

, the seventh largest Savings and Loan
Savings and loan association
A savings and loan association , also known as a thrift, is a financial institution that specializes in accepting savings deposits and making mortgage and other loans...

 and the ninth largest originator of mortgage loans in the United States and a severely troubled institution. Schumer wrote he was "concerned that IndyMac's financial deterioration poses significant risks to both taxpayers and borrowers and that the regulatory community may not be prepared to take measures that would help prevent the collapse of IndyMac." Many depositors at IndyMac panicked or from another perspective justifably acted and withdrew funds in the 11 days before IndyMac failed.

An audit by the Treasury Department's Inspector General would find that the primary causes of IndyMac’s failure were associated with its business strategy of originating and securitizing Alt-A
Alt-A
An Alt-A mortgage, short for Alternative A-paper, is a type of U.S. mortgage that, for various reasons, is considered riskier than A-paper, or "prime", and less risky than "subprime," the riskiest category. Alt-A interest rates, which are determined by credit risk, therefore tend to be between...

 loans on a large scale. When home prices declined in the latter half of 2007 and the secondary mortgage market collapsed, IndyMac was forced to hold $10.7 billion of loans it could not sell in the secondary market. IndyMac's reduced liquidity was further exacerbated when account holders withdrew $1.55 billion in deposits in a “run” on the thrift following the public release of the letter. While the run was a contributing factor in the timing of IndyMac’s demise, the underlying cause of the failure was the unsafe and unsound manner in which the thrift was operated.

Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision
Office of Thrift Supervision
The Office of Thrift Supervision was a United States federal agency under the Department of the Treasury that charters, supervises, and regulates all federally- and state-chartered savings banks and savings and loans associations. It was created in 1989 as a renamed version of another federal agency...

 (OTS), John Reich
John M. Reich
John M. Reich was sworn in January 15, 2001, as Director of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation following an appointment by President of the United States Bill Clinton and served on the FDIC Board for eight years. Reich served as Vice Chairman of the Board of the FDIC from November 2002...

 immediately blamed IndyMac's failure on the release of the letter. Reich said Schumer gave the bank a "heart attack" and opined, "Would the institution have failed without the deposit run? We'll never know the answer to that question." Reich and top deputies later resigned or were removed amidst a Treasury Department audit and investigation revealing that Indymac had been allowed to backdate its financial reports.

Schumer conceded his actions may have caused some depositors to withdraw their money prematurely but suggested that "if OTS had done its job as regulator and not let IndyMac's poor and loose lending practices continue, we wouldn't be where we are today. Instead of pointing false fingers of blame, OTS should start doing its job to prevent future IndyMacs." He pointed out that "IndyMac was one of the most poorly run and reckless of all the banks," saying "It was a spinoff from the old Countrywide, and like Countrywide, it did all kinds of profligate activities that it never should have. Both IndyMac and Countrywide helped cause the housing crisis we're now in."

Despite IndyMac's condition before the failure, the financial media criticized the Senator sharply. CNBC
CNBC
CNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...

 financial analyst Jerry Bowyer
Jerry Bowyer
Gerald "Jerry" Bowyer is an American radio and broadcasting host who also been extensively involved in public affairs, political writing, and investment activities.-Early career:...

 charged that Schumer was responsible for the "second largest bank failure in US history." While opining that IndyMac's failure was only a matter of time, banking consultant Bert Ely termed Schumer's actions "wrong and irresponsible".

On October 18, 2008, the Wall Street Journal published a story suggesting that Senator Schumer's letter may have been prompted by an investment company's interest in IndyMac. His reported close ties to the Founders of One West Bank have long been an interest to many action groups. On December 22, 2008, the Washington Post reported that OTS regional director in charge had been removed from his position for allowing IndyMac to falsify its financial reporting That same day, Rush Limbaugh not only continued to blame the Senator but recast IndyMac's July bankruptcy as an "October Surprise" planned by Democrats to help win the 2008 election.

Financial industry regulation

Then-congressman Schumer in 1987, in opposition to the repeal of the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933, wrote in a New York Times op-ed: Don't Let Banks Become Casinos, wrote “Citing the pressures of rigorous worldwide competition in financial services, large American banks are pleading for the repeal of the Glass–Steagall Act, a law that keeps banks out of the more volatile and risky world of securities transactions. Their entreaties should be resisted..."

Senator Schumer in 1999, in support of Congress’s repeal of the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933, commented: "There are many reasons for this bill, but first and foremost is to ensure that U.S. financial firms remain competitive."

The Securities and Investment industry is the largest donor to Schumer’s senatorial campaigns.

On December 14, 2008 the New York Times published an article on Schumer's role in the Wall Street meltdown. The article stated that Schumer embraced the industry’s free-market, deregulatory agenda more than any other Democrat in Congress, even backing measures now blamed for contributing to the financial crisis. Schumer took steps to protect industry players from government oversight and tougher rules, a review of his record shows. Over the years, he has also helped save financial institutions billions of dollars in higher taxes or fees. He succeeded in limiting efforts to regulate credit-rating agencies.
This article also charged that Schumer blocked ratings agencies reforms proposed by the Bush Administration and the Cox SEC.

In his book released in March 2010, "No One Would Listen," Madoff whistleblower Harry Markopolos passes along an unsourced claim that Schumer called the SEC for information about the Madoff investigation.

Taxes on hedge fund managers

Schumer had been a staunch defender of low taxes on hedge fund and private equity managers in the past arguing that this was necessary to protect the industry, and being on both, the Senatorial Banking and Finance Committees, in a position to block any attempts to tax their financial gains at the rate other taxpayers pay for income. In 2010, however, Schumer suggested that a hedge tax fund would be acceptable and not hurt the industry.

Technology and the Internet

In 1991, when President George H. W. Bush proposed placing the DARPA network into the public domain, Schumer argued that "it would be a waste of the taxpayers' money" to essentially give away the Defence Department technology. The DARPAnet became the basis for the Internet.

In June, 2011, the senator and colleague Joe Manchin
Joe Manchin
Joseph "Joe" Manchin III is the junior United States Senator representing West Virginia. Manchin, a Democrat, was Governor of West Virginia from 2005 to 2010...

 (D-WV) sought a crackdown on bitcoin
Bitcoin
Bitcoin is a decentralized, peer-to-peer network over which users make transactions that are tracked and verified through this network. The word Bitcoin also refers to the digital currency implemented as the currency medium for user transactions over this network...

 currency, saying it facilitated illegal drug trade
Illegal drug trade
The illegal drug trade is a global black market, dedicated to cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of those substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs by drug prohibition laws.A UN report said the...

 transactions. "The transactions leave no traditional [bank transfer] money trail
Money trail
The phrase "money trail" is a catch phrase, used to describe the source of funding for a politician or interest group. Such funding sources are not always obvious and is often only discovered through investigation by journalists, government agencies, or opposition groups...

 for investigators to follow, and leave it hard to prove a package recipient knew in advance what was in a shipment," using an "'anonymizing
Anonymity
Anonymity is derived from the Greek word ἀνωνυμία, anonymia, meaning "without a name" or "namelessness". In colloquial use, anonymity typically refers to the state of an individual's personal identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown.There are many reasons why a...

 network' known as Tor
Tor (anonymity network)
Tor is a system intended to enable online anonymity. Tor client software routes Internet traffic through a worldwide volunteer network of servers in order to conceal a user's location or usage from someone conducting network surveillance or traffic analysis...

." One opinion website said the senators wanted "to disrupt [the] Silk Road drug website."

"Porky" Amendments Incident

While debating the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Schumer drew criticism when he asserted that Americans did not care that 'porky' amendments had been inserted into the bill. Said Schumer, "And let me say this to all the chattering classes that so much focus on those little, tiny, yes porky amendments. The American people really don’t care."

Controversial Statements over Gaza

Schumer, speaking at an Orthodox Union
Orthodox Union
The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America , more popularly known as the Orthodox Union , is one of the oldest Orthodox Jewish organizations in the United States. It is best known for its kosher food preparation supervision service...

 event in Washington, DC, in June 2010, made comments that were later criticized regarding Israel's military blockade of the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...

. He called on Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 to "strangle them economically until they see that's not the way to go". He also said "they don't believe in the Torah, in David." He explained that the current Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip is not only justified because it keeps weapons out of the Palestinian territory, but also because it shows the Palestinians living there that "when there's some moderation and cooperation, they can have an economic advancement."

Flight attendant incident

After being asked by a flight attendant to turn off his cell phone during take-off of a US Airways flight from New York to Washington D.C. on December 13, 2009, Schumer called the flight attendant a "bitch." Schumer made the comment to fellow New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
Kirsten Gillibrand
Kirsten Elizabeth Rutnik Gillibrand is an attorney and the junior United States Senator from the state of New York and a member of the Democratic Party...

, who was seated next to him, but was overheard by a Republican House aide who happened to be on the plane. After the story was reported on Politico.com, Schumer issued an apology through a spokesperson for the "off-the-cuff comment".

Immigration

While discussing an immigration bill on the U.S. Senate floor, New York Democrat Charles Schumer likened Indian tech giant Infosys Technologies to a chop shop
Chop shop
In motor vehicle theft, a chop shop is a location or business which disassembles stolen automobiles for the purpose of selling them as parts. It may also be used to refer to a location or business that is involved with the selling of stolen or fraudulent goods in general, an example of the latter...

. When his statement set off a wave of outrage in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, the senator acknowledged his characterization was incorrect.
The remark was also criticized by the United States-India Business Council. Ron Somers
Ron Somers
Ron Somers, an American businessman, is President of the U.S.-India Business Council. He played a lead role in coordinating the passage of the Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement and is widely regarded as a prominent figure in U.S.-India relations.-Education:...

, head of the USIBC, said that the remark was "outrageous in this day in age, when the world is so interconnected by the Internet, that draconian measures would be floated by the U.S. Congress that tar-brushes Indian companies as ‘chop shops'.”"

Bicycle Safety

Schumer is noted for his love of bicycling around his home town of Brooklyn, New York. However, in 2011 he was reported to have joined with a group of residents of his street in Park Slope, Brooklyn
Park Slope, Brooklyn
Park Slope is a neighborhood in western Brooklyn, New York City's most populous borough. Park Slope is roughly bounded by Prospect Park West to the east, Fourth Avenue to the west, Flatbush Avenue to the north, and 15th Street to the south, though other definitions are sometimes offered. Generally...

 to have successful street safety improvements removed from the street in front of his home. While Schumer has not taken a public position on the traffic-calming project, whose most prominent feature is a two-way protected bike path, his wife, Iris Weinshall
Iris Weinshall
Iris Weinshall is a vice chancellor at the City University of New York and a former commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation...

, is a prominent advocate against the street safety improvements, and the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...

 reported that Schumer himself has lobbied behind the scenes against the bike path. In addition, a major Schumer campaign contributor has fought a controversial pro bono
Pro bono
Pro bono publico is a Latin phrase generally used to describe professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment or at a reduced fee as a public service. It is common in the legal profession and is increasingly seen in marketing, technology, and strategy consulting firms...

 legal battle against the safety project, drawing criticism.

Controversy Surrounding Shuttle

In mid April of 2011 Schumer made comments to the New York Daily News that directly insulted the state of Texas for its desire to have one of the retiring space shuttles added to the NASA Johnson Space Center. He cited it being more appropriate for the shuttle to be placed in New York City than the NASA Johnson Space Center. Schumer said the following, “I’ve heard that Houston is making a big pitch to get NASA to reverse itself. Well let me say to Houston what we say in Brooklyn: forget about it. They are not getting the shuttle, uh, Houston may want it but we have it, we’re fighting for it, and we’re gonna to keep it. And I say to the people in Houston when people all around the world in London and Tokyo and Paris and Buenos Aires say, “”gee I can’t wait for my trip to Houston”” then you can have a shuttle. Until then its staying in New York because New York is where it belongs. More people will see the shuttle in New York than in anywhere else. We are the world’s capital for tourism and uh this is where the shuttle belongs at. The bottom line, again, to Houston you better give up the fight cause we’re keeping the shuttle and you don’t mess with New York"
As a result of his comments, local Houston politician and radio personality Michael Berry organized a Texas-wide boycott of New York companies as well as a phone campaign that shut down the phones at Senator Schumer's office. The New York Chamber of Commerce was also targeted in the phone campaign. The boycott is to remain in place until Schumer offers an official apology.

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee

Schumer was the chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is the Democratic Hill committee for the United States Senate. It is the only organization solely dedicated to electing Democrats to the United States Senate. The DSCC's current chair is Sen. Patty Murray, who succeeded Sen. Robert Menendez following...

, part of the Democratic Senate Leadership, with primary responsibility for raising funds and recruiting candidates for the Democrats in the 2006 Senate election
United States general elections, 2006
The 2006 United States midterm elections were held on Tuesday, November 7, 2006. All United States House of Representatives seats and one third of the United States Senate seats were contested in this election, as well as 36 state governorships, many state legislatures, four territorial...

. When he took this post, he announced that he would not run for Governor of New York
Governor of New York
The Governor of the State of New York is the chief executive of the State of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military and naval forces. The officeholder is afforded the courtesy title of His/Her...

 in 2006
New York gubernatorial election, 2006
The New York gubernatorial election of 2006 was a race for the governorship of this U.S. state. Eliot Spitzer was elected on November 7, 2006, succeeding Governor George Pataki, the three-term incumbent, who did not run for a fourth term....

, as many had speculated he would. This step avoided a potentially divisive gubernatorial primary election
Primary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....

 in 2006 between Schumer and Eliot Spitzer
Eliot Spitzer
Eliot Laurence Spitzer is an American lawyer, former Democratic Party politician, and political commentator. He was the co-host of In the Arena, a talk-show and punditry forum broadcast on CNN until CNN cancelled his show in July of 2011...

, then New York's attorney general
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...

.

His tenure as DSCC chair was very successful. In the 2006 elections, the Democratic Party gained six seats in the Senate, defeating incumbents in each of those races and regaining control of the Senate for the first time since 2002. Of the closely contested races in the Senate in 2006, the Democrats lost only one, in Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

. Senate Majority Leader-to-be Harry Reid
Harry Reid
Harry Mason Reid is the senior United States Senator from Nevada, serving since 1987. A member of the Democratic Party, he has been the Senate Majority Leader since January 2007, having previously served as Minority Leader and Minority and Majority Whip.Previously, Reid was a member of the U.S...

 persuaded Schumer to serve another term as DSCC chair.

In September 2005, two staff employees of the DSCC illegally obtained a copy of the credit report of Lieutenant Governor of Maryland
Lieutenant Governor of Maryland
The Lieutenant Governor of Maryland is the second highest ranking official in the executive branch of the state government of Maryland in the United States. He or she is elected on the same ticket as the Governor of Maryland and must meet the same qualifications.The current Lieutenant Governor is...

 Michael S. Steele
Michael S. Steele
Michael Stephen Steele is an American politician who served as the first African-American chairman of the Republican National Committee from January 2009 until January 2011. From 2003 to 2007, he was the seventh Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, the first African American elected to statewide...

, a Republican senatorial candidate, posing as him and using his Social Security number
Social Security number
In the United States, a Social Security number is a nine-digit number issued to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and temporary residents under section 205 of the Social Security Act, codified as . The number is issued to an individual by the Social Security Administration, an independent...

. Upon learning this, the committee's executive director notified the U.S. attorney's office, and suspended the involved staffers. They are currently under investigation by the FBI. Schumer has not been implicated in the incident, and a spokesperson for the DSCC has said, "Chuck's only involvement was to report this matter to the authorities immediately after first learning about it."

In 2009, for the 111th Congress, Schumer has been succeeded as the DSCC chair by Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey.

Personal life

Schumer and his wife, Iris Weinshall
Iris Weinshall
Iris Weinshall is a vice chancellor at the City University of New York and a former commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation...

, were married September 21, 1980. The ceremony took place at Windows on the World
Windows on the World
Windows on the World was a complex of venues at the top floors of the North Tower of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan that included a restaurant, Windows on the World, a smaller restaurant called Wild Blue, and a bar called The Greatest Bar on Earth, as well as rooms for private functions...

 at the top of the north tower of the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...

. Weinshall was the New York City
Government of New York City
The government of New York City is organized under the City Charter and provides for a "strong" mayor-council system. The government of New York is more centralized than that of most other U.S...

 Commissioner of Transportation
Transportation in New York City
The transportation system of New York City is a cooperation of complex systems of infrastructure. New York City, being the largest city in the United States, has a transportation system which includes the largest subway system in the world, measured by track mileage; the world's first mechanically...

 from 2000 to 2007. The Schumers have two children, Jessica and Alison. They live in Park Slope, Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

. Schumer told a Utica television station that his father was raised in the Utica area.

While Congress is in session, Schumer lives in a rented house with fellow Democratic politicians George Miller, Dick Durbin, and Bill Delahunt
Bill Delahunt
William D. Delahunt is a former U.S. Representative for , serving from 1997 to 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Delahunt did not seek re-election in 2010, and left Congress in January 2011. He was replaced by Norfolk County District Attorney Bill Keating...

.

In January 2007, he published a book called Positively American, outlining strategies with which Democrats could court middle-class voters.

Electoral history

1998 New York Democratic United States Senatorial Primary Election

Chuck Schumer 51%
Geraldine Ferraro
Geraldine Ferraro
Geraldine Anne Ferraro was an American attorney, a Democratic Party politician, and a member of the United States House of Representatives. She was the first female Vice Presidential candidate representing a major American political party....

 21%
Mark J. Green
Mark J. Green
Mark J. Green is an author, public interest lawyer and a Democratic politician who lives in New York City. He worked with Ralph Nader from 1970-1980, eventually as director of Public Citizen's Congress Watch, and is also the former president of Air America Radio .He was New York City Consumer...

 19%

1998 New York United States Senatorial Election

Chuck Schumer (D) 55%
Al D'Amato
Al D'Amato
Alfonse Marcello "Al" D'Amato is an American lawyer and former New York politician. A Republican, he served as United States Senator from New York from 1981 to 1999.-Early life and family:...

 (R) (inc.) 44%

2004 New York United States Senatorial Election

Chuck Schumer (D) (inc.) 70.6%
Howard Mills III
Howard Mills III
Howard D. Mills III is an insurance consultant and former politician from Goshen, New York. He served as New York's Superintendent of Insurance from 2005 to 2007, and previously held elective office in both the New York State Assembly and the Town of Wallkill.In 2004, he ran against Senator...

 (Republican) 24.6%
Marilyn F. O'Grady (Conservative) 3.4%
David McReynolds
David McReynolds
David McReynolds is an American democratic socialist and pacifist activist who described himself as "a peace movement bureaucrat" during his 40-year career with Liberation magazine and the War Resisters League...

 (Green) 0.5%
Donald Silberger (Lib.) 0.3%
Abraham Hirschfeld
Abraham Hirschfeld
Abraham Jacob "Abe" Hirschfeld , was a Polish-born New York real estate developer known for his eccentric endeavors, love for publicity, $2 neckties, strong Yiddish accent, and murder-for-hire plot against a former business partner.Hirschfeld was born in Tarnów, Poland and immigrated to the British...

 (Builders Party) 0.2%
Martin Koppel
Martin Koppel
Martín Koppel is one of the leaders of the Socialist Workers Party in the United States.-Early life:Before joining the staff of the SWP's paper The Militant in 1991, he was a steelworker in Chicago and member of the United Steelworkers of America union....

 (Socialist Workers) 0.2%

2010 New York United States Senatorial Election

Chuck Schumer (D-Inc.) 3,047,775 67%

Jay Townsend (R) 1,480,337 33%

External links


Articles
  • Senator Chuck Schumer interview from Fresh Air
    Fresh Air
    Fresh Air is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States. The show is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its longtime host is Terry Gross. , the show was syndicated to 450 stations and claimed 4.5 million listeners. The show...

    from WHYY
    WHYY-FM
    WHYY-FM is an NPR member station serving the Delaware Valley area, which is the metro area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station is located in Philadelphia. Its transmitter is located in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia.-History:...

    at NPR, January 30, 2007
  • Schumer Seeks Market-Maker Obligations for Computerized Traders, Jesse Westbrook, Bloomberg Businessweek, August 11, 2010
  • Sound of one man voting: Chuck's 'voice' OKs border bill, Richard Sisk, New York Daily News
    New York Daily News
    The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....

    August 12, 2010
  • Israel's man in the US Senate, Al Jazeera, April 25, 2010
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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