Chuck Schumer
Charles Ellis Schumer (/ˈʃuːmər/ SHOO-mər; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as Senate Majority Leader since 2021[2] and the senior United States senator from New York since 1999. A member of the Democratic Party, he has led the Senate Democratic Caucus since 2017 and was Senate Minority Leader from 2017 to 2021. Schumer is in his fifth Senate term, making him the longest-serving US senator from New York, having surpassed Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Jacob K. Javits in 2023. He is the dean of New York's congressional delegation.
Chuck Schumer
Dick Durbin
Office established
- 16th district (1981–1983)
- 10th district (1983–1993)
- 9th district (1993–1999)
2
Amy Schumer (cousin)
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A native of Brooklyn and a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Schumer was a three-term member of the New York State Assembly from 1975 to 1980. He served nine terms in the United States House of Representatives from 1981 to 1999, first representing New York's 16th congressional district before being redistricted to the 10th congressional district in 1983 and 9th congressional district 10 years later. In 1998, Schumer was elected to the Senate, defeating three-term Republican incumbent Al D'Amato. He was reelected in 2004 with 71% of the vote, in 2010 with 66% of the vote, in 2016 with 70% of the vote, and in 2022 with 56% of the vote.
Schumer chaired the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee from 2005 to 2009, overseeing 14 Democratic gains in the Senate in the 2006 and 2008 elections. He was the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, behind Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Majority Whip Dick Durbin. He served as Vice Chair of the Democratic Caucus in the Senate from 2007 to 2017[3] and chaired the Senate Democratic Policy Committee from 2011 to 2017.[4] Schumer won his fourth term in the Senate in 2016 and was then unanimously elected Democratic leader to succeed Reid, who was retiring.[5][6]
In January 2021, Schumer became Senate Majority Leader, becoming the first Jewish Senate majority leader. As majority leader, Schumer shepherded through the Senate some of the Biden administration's major legislative initiatives, such as the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the CHIPS and Science Act, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, and the Respect for Marriage Act. Under his leadership, the Senate confirmed the most federal judges during the first two years of any presidency since John F. Kennedy's, and the most diverse slate of federal judicial nominations in American history,[7] including Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first African American woman to serve on the Supreme Court.
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Personal life
Schumer and his wife, Iris Weinshall, were married on September 21, 1980. The ceremony took place at Windows on the World atop the north tower of the World Trade Center.[283] Weinshall was New York City's commissioner of transportation from 2000 to 2007.[284] Schumer and Weinshall live in Park Slope near Grand Army Plaza.[285]
The Schumers have two children, Jessica and Alison, both graduates of their father's alma mater, Harvard College. Jessica served as chief of staff and general counsel of the Council of Economic Advisers from May 2013 to August 2015.[286] Alison is a marketing manager in Facebook's New York office.[287] In 2018, Jessica gave birth to a son, making Schumer a grandfather.[288]
Early life and education (1950–1974)
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Schumer was born on November 23, 1950, in Midwood, Brooklyn, the son of Selma (née Rosen) and Abraham Schumer.[8] His father ran an exterminating business, and his mother was a homemaker.[9][10] He and his family are Jewish,[11] and he is a second cousin, once removed, of comedian Amy Schumer.[12][13][14] His ancestors originated from the town of Chortkiv, Galicia, in what is now western Ukraine.[15]
Schumer attended Brooklyn public schools, scoring 1600 on the SAT and graduating as the valedictorian of James Madison High School in 1967. He competed for Madison High on the television quiz show It's Academic.[16] He attended Harvard College, where he originally majored in chemistry before switching to social studies after volunteering on Eugene McCarthy's presidential campaign in 1968.[17] After graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1971, Schumer attended Harvard Law School, earning his Juris Doctor with honors in 1974. He passed the New York state bar in early 1975, but never practiced law, opting rather for a career in politics.[18]
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Political positions
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Abortion
Schumer is pro-choice, and has a 100% rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America.[97]
In 2002, Schumer authored a provision to an industry-sponsored bill intended to make it harder for people to erase their debts by filing for bankruptcy. Anti-abortion activists opposed the measure, claiming it restricted their ability to use bankruptcy courts to write off court fines. After the bill appeared to die in May, J. Dennis Hastert spokesman John Feehery opined, "Schumer really was pretty obnoxious about how this provision was going to hurt people who were pro-life and that really got some of our folks ginned up." In response, Schumer said the provision was a compromise with Henry Hyde and other colleagues and it was opposed by people who did not properly read the law.[98]
After Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy retired in 2018, Schumer voiced concern about Trump's choice of replacement, believing they would try to overturn Roe v. Wade.[99]
Agriculture
In March 2019, Schumer was one of 38 senators to sign a letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue warning that dairy farmers "have continued to face market instability and are struggling to survive the fourth year of sustained low prices" and urging his department to "strongly encourage these farmers to consider the Dairy Margin Coverage program".[100]
Bicycle safety
Schumer is noted for his love of cycling in New York City, especially around his home in Brooklyn.[101] In 2011, he was reported to have joined a group of neighbors on his street in Park Slope, near Prospect Park. They attempted to remove a new "parking-protected" bicycle path on their street,[102] which ran adjacent to the curb, with a protection buffer provided by parallel-parked cars next to the bike lane.[103] 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, is a prominent opponent of the project, and the New York Post reported that Schumer has lobbied against the bike path behind the scenes.[104] In addition, a major Schumer campaign contributor[105] has fought a controversial pro bono legal battle against the project, drawing criticism.[106]
Bush administration judicial nominations
In January 2004, after President Bush renominated Charles Pickering to the federal appeals court along with 30 other nominees who had failed to win confirmation under the previous Democratic-controlled Senate, Schumer stated his intent to prevent Pickering's confirmation and said the US could do better.[107]
In 2007, after Bush nominated former federal judge Michael Mukasey to become attorney general of the United States (replacing Gonzales, who had resigned), Schumer expressed support for Mukasey. Despite appearing troubled by Mukasey's refusal to declare in public that waterboarding was illegal torture, Schumer announced on November 2 that he would vote to confirm Mukasey.[108] He said Mukasey had assured him in a private meeting that he would enforce any law declaring waterboarding illegal, and that Mukasey had told him Bush would have "no legal authority" to ignore such a law.[109]
Other work
In January 2007, Schumer published a book, Positively American: Winning Back the Middle-Class Majority One Family at a Time, outlining strategies by which Democrats could court middle-class voters. One of his aides at the time, Daniel Squadron, helped write it, and they drew from Schumer's experience helping his party win in the 2006 midterm elections.[31][281]
On November 21, 2023, Schumer made his Broadway debut in a one-night performance as the Producer in Gutenberg! The Musical!.[282]
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