Charles E. Schumer

Says Deal Needs 'Additional Scrutiny' From Consumers And Congress

October 9, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), the Chairman of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee and a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, raised new concerns Friday over Diebold’s proposed sale of its voting machine business to its biggest competitor, and announced that his Rules Committee staff would begin a formal review of potential problems posed by the merger.

Schumer announced he would be seeking input from state and local election officials to investigate the deal’s impacts on the administration of elections across the United States. The findings will be compiled into a public report that could be shared with the Department of Justice.    » read more »

Major Boost For High Threat Areas, Transit, And Ports; House and Senate Set to Approve DHS Funding Bill Next Weeks

October 9, 2009 -- (New York, NY) – In light of Najibullah Zazi’s efforts to stage a terrorist attack against New York City's mass transit system, U.S. Representative Joseph Crowley and U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced today that New York City is in line to receive millions in additional security funding to protect our city against terrorist attacks.    » read more »

Funding Will Benefit the Northeast Solar Workforce Training Project in Troy; Schumer, Gillibrand: Funding Will Add Green Jobs to Capital Region

October 9, 2009 -- Today, United States Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand announced that the Hudson Valley Community College in Troy will receive $3,497,595 from the Department of Energy. The grant, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), will be used to provide training to the Northeast Solar Workforce Training Project. It is intended to address the critical need in New York for qualified energy system installers.    » read more »

Number of Children with Food Allergies and Number of Severe Allergic Reactions Have Skyrocketed in Recent Years

October 7, 2009 -- Today U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that he will push legislation to address the growing problem of potentially life-threatening allergic reactions in school age children. Schumer said that despite growing numbers of allergic reactions, schools lack resources to train parents, students, faculty and staff in the best way to prevent and treat these incidents. He also said that there are no federal guidelines that detail how schools can address student allergies, which has resulted in neighboring school districts, and even neighboring schools, having different policies with wildly different results.    » read more »

Schumer Calls On Congress To Quickly Pass His Legislation Banning Dangerous Practice

October 4, 2009 -- Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer released a new report showing the severe danger of texting while driving posed to New York City area teenagers. Schumer’s report found that nearly 100 teenagers were killed in the New York City area in just the last five years in accidents where the driver was found to be texting while they were driving.    » read more »

Proposal Would Expand Hardship Waiver To Exempt More Americans From Mandate To Buy Insurance If Affordable Plans Are Not Available

October 1, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) today offered a major revision to the Senate health care bill in order to exempt a greater number of middle-class Americans from an obligation to purchase health insurance if there are no affordable plans in their area and to prevent any penalty from being imposed on any American who fails to buy insurance in the first year after the overhaul takes effect.    » read more »

Federal Dollars Would Fight Invasive Species, Pollution And Contamination

October 2, 2009 -- Washington, DC – U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, joined with their Great Lakes colleagues this week to call for $475 million for the Great Lakes in the combined Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill.

The Senate version of the legislation only included $400 million, whereas the house version has $475 million. Schumer and Gillibrand are urging the conference committee tasked with combining the bills to approve the higher number. New York shares roughly 700 miles of coastline with the Great Lakes.    » read more »

October 2, 2009 -- U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand today announced $1.5 million for the Northern Border Regional Commission (NBRC) in the final Energy and Water Appropriations Bill. The Senate-passed bill did not allocate any funding to the Commission and the senators pushed for money to be allocated in the final package.

The funding would help address the community and economic development needs of the most severely distressed areas of New York, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont and would help these states capitalize on their respective region’s assets to build a stronger economic future.    » read more »

In July, Schumer Introduced First-Ever Legislation To Require States To Bar Texting While Driving or Else Lose Federal Highway Funds

September 30, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, DC—U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) today urged the Obama administration to endorse tough penalties for states that refuse to impose bans on texting while driving, as proposed under legislation Schumer offered in July.

Schumer, in remarks made at the Transportation Department’s distracted driving summit, said that while the administration has supported the concept of such a ban, it has so far stopped short of specifically endorsing Schumer’s bill due to concerns about the sanctions that would befall states that fail to comply with a federal ban.    » read more »

Amid Foreclosure Crisis, Local Prosecutors Lack the Resources, Manpower to Fight New Wave of Mortgage Scams

September 29, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, DC—U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ) announced new legislation Tuesday to better protect homeowners from the recent wave of mortgage scams by providing up to $200 million over two years for State and local prosecutors offices to battle real estate fraud. The bill authorizes the Justice Department to award competitive grants to prosecutors’ offices that seek to hire specialized staff—including investigators, forensic accountants, and attorneys—to combat such scams.    » read more »

Schumer, Gillibrand: It is Critical That We Invest in Environmentally Friendly Transportation to Reduce Both Pollution and our Reliance on Foreign Fossil Fuel

September 30, 2009 -- U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand today announced that a $10,315,033 U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) grant has been allocated to the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority. The grant will be used to purchase hybrid buses in Buffalo to improve the city's public transit and reduce its environmental impact.    » read more »

$290 Million Will Be In Direct Payment To Farmers

September 30, 2009 -- Washington, DC - U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand today announced $350 million to the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help New York farmers struggling during the dairy crisis in the final Agriculture Appropriations Bill.

Senators Schumer and Gillibrand aggressively lobbied their colleagues in the House of Representatives and Senate to include the provision in the final legislation. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont authored the measure that was included in only the Senate version of the legislation. Senators Schumer and Gillibrand said that the $290 million in direct payments is a big win for New York's dairy farmers.    » read more »

Bill, Endorsed By 72 Media Organizations, Would Create a Legal Protection For Journalists Guarding Their Sources' Anonymity

September 17, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) urged the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday to approve a revised version of the reporter shield bill authored by him and Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA), calling it a “balanced bill” that will guard journalists’ ability to protect their sources in many cases, while still compelling the disclosure of certain information that seriously impacts national security.    » read more »

Schumer, Gillibrand announce $300,000 in DOT funding coming to Ithaca Tompkins for the nation's first "green" airport master plan; $500,000 for new equipment

June 23, 2009 -- U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand today announced that the Department of Transportation (DOT) will provide a total of $790,135 to Ithaca Tompkins Regional Airport through the Federal Aviation Administration.

The first grant of $505,135 will fund new airplane de-icing equipment and other winter weather preparations, while a second grant of $285,000 will fund an update of the airport’s master plan to provide a forecast of future expansion and development. The master plan is the first “green” master plan for an airport in the country.    » read more »

Introduces legislation mandating airline carrier disclosure on travel websites; Legislation will require online travel websites to alert passengers if the tickets are for regional airline carriers

June 23, 2009 -- Washington, D.C.- U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer introduced new legislation requiring online travel websites to notify customers, on the first page after they enter in a search for airline tickets, as to what carriers will be running their flight. Some travel websites already provide this information to customers when they book online, but many do not.    » read more »