Abortion Schumer is
pro-choice, and has a 100% rating from
NARAL Pro-Choice America. 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. 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.
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".
Bicycle safety Schumer is noted for his love of
cycling in New York City, especially around his home in
Brooklyn. 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, which ran adjacent to the curb, with a protection buffer provided by
parallel-parked cars next to the bike lane. 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. In addition, a major Schumer campaign contributor has fought a controversial
pro bono legal battle against the project, drawing criticism.
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. 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. 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.
Cannabis In April 2018, Schumer said that he would back efforts to
decriminalize cannabis at the federal level. On April 20, a day known as
4/20, he announced his sponsorship of legislation to remove cannabis from the
Controlled Substances Act. The bill would also provide funding for women and minority-owned businesses and for research into the public health effects of cannabis. On June 27, 2018, Schumer formally introduced the
Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act. On July 14, 2021, Schumer, along with senators
Ron Wyden and
Cory Booker, released for public comment a comprehensive federal legalization bill known as the
Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act. On July 21, 2022, he formally introduced the bill.
Clinton impeachment Schumer voted on the
impeachment charges of President
Bill Clinton in both houses of
Congress. Schumer was a member of the
House of Representatives (and
Judiciary Committee member) during a December 1998
lame-duck 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, also voted "not guilty" on the two impeachment charges.
Consumer issues Schumer has given legislative attention to consumer issues. He passed 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 known as the "
Schumer box". Schumer has also aggressively pushed to end the practice whereby customers can be charged two
ATM fees, one by their own bank and one by the bank that owns the ATM, if the ATM is outside their bank's network. With Representative
Nita Lowey, Schumer has been working to ban the chemical
bisphenol A (BPA), often found in baby bottles and plastic children's food containers. The Canadian government has already banned BPA in baby bottles and children's products. Schumer is also seeking a ban on the use of
cadmium, a carcinogen known to impair brain development in children, in toys and children's jewelry. When companies began selling gloves, pills, inhalers, diuretics, shampoos and other products during the
2009 swine flu scare, Schumer urged the
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to open an investigation. In the end, the FTC put ten companies on notice and identified a total of 140 scams. Schumer has championed
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. Schumer received an "A" grade on the 2008
Drum Major Institute's Congressional Scorecard on middle-class issues. In October 2013, Schumer announced his support for a proposal ending restrictions on shipping beer, wine, and spirits through the U.S. Postal Service, saying it would "help keep local post offices open by bringing in an estimated $225million in new revenues to the USPS" and broaden the availability of beers and wines to consumers.
Death penalty In 2013, Schumer said the death penalty would be "appropriate" in the case of
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the perpetrator of the
Boston Marathon bombing. "The federal law allows the death penalty.... I wrote the law in 1994 when I was head of the crime subcommittee in the House. This is just the kind of case that it should be applied to."
Disaster relief In 2014, Schumer was recognized for helping to achieve the award of $700,000 in compensation from the
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for
Gowanda, New York, as a result of the devastating flood there in 2009. A flash flood devastated the village, causing two deaths. Four feet of flood waters swept through the village, and caused much damage. In December 2016, Schumer called on Trump cabinet nominees to release their tax returns and in doing so follow the precedent set by
Steve Mnuchin and
Tom Price. In February 2017, before Trump's
speech to a joint session of Congress, Schumer predicted that the speech would be less memorable than ones delivered by Trump's predecessors due to what he called "a yawning gap between what he says and what his administration actually does for working Americans". Though acknowledging Trump's populist campaigning style, Schumer said Trump "governs like a pro-corporate, pro-elite, hard-right ideologue". In March 2017, Schumer released a statement calling on Trump to apologize for claiming the Obama administration had wiretapped him during his presidential campaign. He advocated that Trump stop tweeting to better focus on working on behalf of the United States and said Trump had "severely damaged his credibility" by promoting conspiracy theories. In June 2018, Schumer delivered a Senate floor speech decrying Representative
Maxine Waters's call to harass members of the Trump administration as protest of the administration's policies: "I strongly disagree with those who advocate harassing folks if they don't agree with you. If you disagree with a politician, organize your fellow citizens to action and vote them out of office. But no one should call for the harassment of political opponents. That's not right. That's not American." In August 2018, in response to Trump's charge that American Jews who vote for Democrats are "disloyal", Schumer tweeted, "When he [Trump] uses a
trope that's been used against the Jewish people for centuries with dire consequences, he is encouraging—wittingly or unwittingly—
anti-Semites throughout the country and world." Schumer was participating in the certification of the
2021 United States Electoral College vote count on January 6, 2021, when Trump supporters
attacked the U.S. Capitol. Schumer and other members of Congress were removed from the Senate chambers. He and Mitch McConnell joined
Nancy Pelosi and
Steny Hoyer in an undisclosed location. As the attack persisted, Schumer and Pelosi released a joint statement calling on Trump to demand the rioters leave the Capitol and its grounds immediately. When the Senate reconvened after the Capitol was secure, Schumer gave remarks, calling it a day "that will live forever in infamy". Later that day, he blamed Trump for the attack, calling on Vice President
Mike Pence to invoke the
Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution to remove Trump from office. He also said he would support impeachment.
Election reform In March 2002, as the Senate worked on a compromise to save an election reform bill that stalled due to Republicans' believing it was not combative enough against voter fraud, Schumer and Senator
Ron Wyden led a successful effort in protecting an amendment allowing first-time voters to be verified with only a signature.
Equal pay In April 2014, the United States Senate debated the
Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 2199; 113th Congress), a bill aimed at addressing the
gender pay gap in the United States. Republicans argued that the Democrats were attempting to use the votes on this bill and the issue of equal pay as political issues in the 2014 midterm elections. In 1999, Schumer supported Congress's repeal of Glass–Steagall, saying: "There are many reasons for this bill, but first and foremost is to ensure that U.S. financial firms remain competitive." Since 2010, the securities and investment industry has been the largest donor to Schumer's senatorial campaigns. According to a December 14, 2008, article in
The New York Times Schumer embraced the free-market and deregulatory agenda more than any other Democrat in Congress, and supported measures blamed for the
2008 financial crisis. A review of his record showed that he took steps to protect the
investment banking industry from government oversight and tougher rules. Over the years, he helped save financial institutions billions of dollars in taxes or fees. The article claimed that Schumer succeeded in limiting efforts to reform and regulate credit-rating agencies the
George W. Bush administration and the SEC had proposed. The Charles Schumer-Rob Portman Senate bill of 2015 proposed to tax the $2.2trillion multinational corporations are holding outside the country in
tax-haven subsidiaries, on which 35% was already owed, as a one-time tax "at a rate significantly lower than the statutory corporate rate". In his book released in March 2010,
No One Would Listen,
Bernie Madoff whistleblower
Harry Markopolos passed along an unsourced claim that Schumer called the SEC for information about the Madoff investigation. Schumer denied this. In response to ''
The American Prospect's'' Day One Agenda, Schumer announced a new stance on eliminating student debt. In November 2020, he said, "I have a proposal with Elizabeth Warren that the first $50,000 of debt be vanquished, and we believe that Joe Biden can do that with the pen as opposed to legislation".
Foreign policy In 2009, Schumer criticized Scotland's release of convicted
Pan Am Flight 103 bomber
Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and called for the United States to impose economic sanctions on the United Kingdom if Megrahi's release was tied to a massive oil deal between the United Kingdom and
Libya. In April 2017, after the
Shayrat missile strike, Schumer said a "pinpointed, limited action to punish and hopefully deter Assad from doing this again is appropriate" while warning against the United States becoming further involved in
Syria. In July 2017, Schumer voted for the
Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, which grouped together
sanctions against
Iran, Russia, and
North Korea. In July 2018, after Trump criticized Germany's decision to approve a
new Russian-German gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea bypassing
Poland and
Ukraine, Schumer and House Minority Leader Pelosi released a joint statement condemning Trump's comments as an embarrassment and his behavior as "another profoundly disturbing signal that the President is more loyal to President Putin than to our NATO allies". In October 2020, Schumer called on the Trump administration to immediately suspend
U.S. military aid to
Azerbaijan, sent through the
Pentagon's "building partner assistance program". According to critics, the aid could be used in the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan and
Armenia. He co-signed a letter stating: We have been very critical of U.S. security assistance to Azerbaijan given the country's human rights record and aggression in the region. Earlier this year, at Senator Menendez's request, the Government Accountability Office agreed to conduct a review of security assistance to the country to ensure that it aligns with U.S. interests; this violence indicates that it does not.
Afghanistan In March 2006, the House Appropriations Committee voted to block an amendment allowing Dubai Ports World to operate some terminals at U.S. ports, an amendment that was inserted into the emergency supplemental funding bill for military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. The same day, Schumer introduced an amendment barring a company from operating in a U.S. port if the company was owned by a country that recognized the Taliban's regime in Afghanistan, the amendment being touted as similar to the House measure. Senate majority leader
Bill Frist subsequently asked for a quorum call that effectively gnarled proceedings, Schumer afterward opining that the Democrats had "bent over backwards to try and accommodate the Republican schedule" and that Frist's move meant Republicans did not want a vote at all. In October 2009, Schumer said, "It cost us $6 trillion and 4,500 lives, approximately, to bring stability to Iraq. Just in terms of the loss of life and treasure, do we want to do the same exercise in Afghanistan?" He said the United States could potentially be able to keep itself safe without bringing stability to Afghanistan and advocated that American forces be scaled back in Afghanistan in favor of more reliance on unmanned drone attacks. In April 2017, Schumer called for caution in Afghanistan, noting the casualties in Iraq, and said the military would have to come to Congress if it wanted more American soldiers in Afghanistan.
China In 2006,
NPR reported that Schumer and Senator
Lindsey Graham were highly critical of the
trade imbalance between the U.S. and China, and its alleged cause of Chinese
currency intervention. In 2017, Schumer wrote to Trump advocating for a block on China that would prevent it from purchasing more American companies to increase pressure on Beijing to help rein in North Korea's nuclear missile program. In May 2018, after Trump signaled his willingness to ease sanctions on
ZTE in a bid for a trade deal with Beijing, Schumer observed, "This seems to be an area where Democrats and Republicans in the House and the Senate are coming together and telling the president, you've got to be tough on China, you have to have your actions match your rhetoric." Before the Trump administration took concrete
measures against China in late March 2018, Schumer and other Democratic leaders pressed Trump to focus more on China. Schumer said, "China has stolen millions of jobs and trillions of dollars [but] administrations from both parties haven't been strong enough to fight back." In October 2023, Schumer led a bipartisan congressional delegation's visit to China that included a meeting with Chinese president
Xi Jinping. In a press conference, Schumer said the two sides spoke about their "respective priorities" and that he told Xi that "America wants fairness and stability. At the foundation of the relationship must be a level playing field for American businesses and workers, as well as responsible competition". The delegation also met Foreign Minister
Wang Yi, National People's Congress Standing Committee chairman
Zhao Leji, and Shanghai Communist Party Secretary
Chen Jining.
Iran nuclear deal On August 6, 2015, Schumer announced his opposition to the
nuclear deal with Iran. He planned to tell the White House, then his Senate colleagues, and then the public, but the White House leaked the news during the Republican debate in what
CBS News described as an "apparent attempt to limit coverage". Arms control expert Jeffrey Lewis derided Schumer's decision, noting that Schumer was making factually incorrect claims about the amount of time in which the treaty would allow inspection of Iranian nuclear facilities. In what
The Guardian described as a "shot across Schumer's bow",
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said that fellow Democrats might remember Schumer's decision when deciding whom to elect as their next majority leader.
Iraq Schumer was a supporter of the
Iraq War Resolution but was very critical of President
George W. Bush's strategy in the
Iraq War; he suggested that a commission of ex-generals be appointed to review it. In April 2002, during a Senate speech, Schumer called the Bush administration's Middle East policy "muddled, confused and inconsistent" and said the planned meeting between Secretary of State
Colin Powell and
Yasser Arafat would contradict Bush's stated stand against terrorists and those harboring them.
Nat Hentoff of the
Village Voice wrote in November 2006 that "the loquacious Schumer has been indifferent to the administration's war on the Constitution and on our laws and treaties", particularly on the issue of
torture. In July 2006,
Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri al-Maliki stated that Iraq was urging the international community "to take a quick and firm stance to stop this aggression against Lebanon, to stop the killing of innocent people and to stop the destruction of infrastructure". In response, Schumer, Harry Reid, and
Dick Durbin signed a letter to al-Maliki in which they charged him with failing to condemn the aggression of Hezbollah as well as Israel's right to defend itself, arguing the oversight raised serious concern about whether Iraq under his rule could "play a constructive role in resolving the current crisis and bringing stability to the Middle East". Schumer was the first senator to call for U.S. support for
Kurdish independence after the
2017 Kurdistan Region independence referendum, releasing a resolution calling for the U.S. government to change its policy to "support a political process that addresses the aspirations of the Kurds for an independent state". He called upon
Iraq to "engage in a dialogue and peacefully determine the best way to accommodate the well-deserved and legitimate aspirations of the Iraqi Kurds".
Israel Schumer has called himself "
Shomer Yisrael" or "Guardian of Israel", an epithet he has used for years, calling it one of his "roles" in the Senate that he will continue to play "with every bone in my body". In 1994, Schumer joined the
Anti-Defamation League and the
American Jewish Congress in a campaign to get the
IRS to revoke the tax-exempt status of the Palestinian-American charity the
Holy Land Foundation, which by the time it was shut down in 2001 was the country's largest Muslim charity. In June 2010, while speaking at an
Orthodox Union event in Washington D.C., Schumer made comments about Israel's
blockade of the Gaza Strip that were later criticized. Schumer added, "The
Palestinian people still don't believe in a
Jewish state, in a
two-state solution. More do than before, but a majority still do not ... They don't believe in the
Torah. They don't believe in
King David. So they don't think it's our land". Schumer supported Israel in the
2014 Israel–Gaza conflict. In March 2018, he told
AIPAC's delegates that
Israeli settlements in the
Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, have nothing to do with the
Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Schumer is a co-sponsor of a Senate resolution expressing objection to the
UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which condemned Israeli settlement-building in the occupied
Palestinian territories as a violation of international law. He criticized Obama, saying: "past administrations—both Democrat and Republican—have protected Israel from the vagaries of this biased institution [the U.N.]. Unfortunately, by abstaining on United Nations Resolution 2334, this administration has not followed in that path." in Tel Aviv during the
Gaza war on October 15, 2023 In May 2017, Schumer co-sponsored the
Israel Anti-Boycott Act, Senate Bill 720, which made it a federal crime, punishable by a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment, for Americans to encourage or participate in boycotts against Israel and Israeli settlements in the occupied
Palestinian territories if protesting actions by the Israeli government. The bill would make it legal for U.S. states to refuse to do business with contractors that engage in boycotts against Israel. Schumer introduced a Senate resolution celebrating the 50th anniversary of the
Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem. In May 2018, Schumer praised Trump for
opening the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, saying, "I sponsored legislation to do this two decades ago, and I applaud President Trump for doing it." He had previously accused Trump of "indecisiveness" for his delays in implementing the move by waiving the
Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, as previous presidents had done. In a March 14, 2024, Senate speech, Schumer said Israeli prime minister Netanyahu was an impediment to peace in the Middle East and called for elections to replace him when the
Gaza war abated. Schumer said the many civilian deaths in Gaza were causing international support for Israel to fall to historic lows. Netanyahu responded by arranging to address a Senate GOP conference by video. In a March 2025 interview with
Bret Stephens, Schumer said, "My job is to keep the left pro-Israel." He said that his Democratic caucus remains "overwhelmingly pro-Israel" and pointed out that during a Senate vote on the largest aid package to Israel in history in 2024, only three Democrats opposed it, including
Bernie Sanders. Schumer warned that "the greatest danger to Israel, long-term" is if they lose the support of the United States'
liberal half. Recalling a past conversation with Netanyahu, Schumer said he advised him to appear on progressive platforms like
The Rachel Maddow Show rather than only conservative ones like
The Sean Hannity Show, advice Netanyahu ignored. Schumer later called for new elections in Israel during a Senate speech, a move he said he was "fiercely proud" of, as he said it signaled to Democrats that one can oppose Netanyahu while supporting Israel. Schumer also drew attention to right-wing antisemitism, saying that just as some anti-Israel demonstrators on the left use "Zionist" as a substitute for "Jew", elements on the right employ coded antisemitic language such as "neocons" or "globalists". Of a remark by Trump questioning his Jewish identity, Schumer said, "There's a long and dark history of non-Jewish people trying to decide who gets to be Jewish" and urged Trump to "spend less time trafficking in bigotry and focus more on rooting the antisemites out of his administration". Schumer warned of a "pincer" movement—antisemitism emerging from both the extreme left and the extreme right that could align in "strange and dangerous ways". He compared the situation to those of France during the
Dreyfus affair and Germany in the leadup to the
Third Reich. While insisting that his outlook stems from "nervousness rather than pessimism", Schumer also pointed to the enduring strength of American values, saying, "the roots of America's warmth toward Jews run deep". But he cautioned, quoting Irish diplomat
Conor Cruise O'Brien, that "antisemitism is a light sleeper". Schumer did not endorse
Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee in the
2025 New York City mayoral election, citing his
criticism of Israel. House Democratic leader
Hakeem Jeffries also spoke at the event and also pledged support to Israel. In April 2026, Schumer was one of seven Democratic senators to join all Republicans in opposing a pair of resolutions that would have blocked sales of bulldozers and 1,000-pound bombs to Israel.
North Korea In February 2017, Schumer said that North Korea had proved itself to be "an irresponsible nation in every way" and that China could be used to curtail North Korea as most of North Korea's imports and exports go through China. He advocated that the United States tell China "they have to put the wood to North Korea in a much more serious way than they have done so far." In August, after Trump said North Korea would be "met with fire and fury like the world has never seen" in the event of continued threats against the United States, Schumer released a statement advocating that the United States be "firm and deliberate with North Korea, but reckless rhetoric is not a strategy to keep America safe." In May 2018, Schumer called for
Kim Jong-un to be removed from the commemorative coin memorializing the
2018 North Korea–United States summit, calling Kim a "brutal dictator" and offering the Peace House as a more appropriate alternative. In June, Schumer was one of seven senior Democratic senators to sign a letter to Trump outlining the conditions of their caucus's support for any deal resulting from the North Korea-US summit. After Kim and Trump issued a joint statement, Schumer said the meeting between the two had given "a brutal and repressive dictatorship the international legitimacy it has long craved" and that the agreement lacked details on achieving a pathway to the Korean peninsula being denuclearized, how the United States would verify North Korea's disarming, and an assurance of cessation for enrichment of plutonium and uranium from North Korea. In a speech on the Senate floor, Schumer questioned what the United States had gained from the summit and added that the country had "won far stronger language on denuclearization" in previous agreements with North Korea. In response, Trump tweeted, Thank you Chuck, but are you sure you got that right? No more nuclear testing or rockets flying all over the place, blew up launch sites. Hostages already back, hero remains coming home & much more!
Russia In a June 3, 2008,
Wall Street Journal op-ed, Schumer wrote that cooperative economic sanctions from the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China could topple
Iran's
theocratic government. In discussing the importance of Russia's cooperation, Schumer wrote, "
Mr. Putin is an old-fashioned nationalist who seeks to regain the power and greatness Russia had before the fall of the
Soviet Union." He added, "The anti-missile 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." On June 10, the East European Coalition sent Schumer a letter about his article, writing, "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 August 2013, after Russia granted asylum to
Edward Snowden, Schumer said Putin was behaving like a "schoolyard bully", adding, "The relationship between the United States and Russia is more poisonous than any time since the Cold War because of all of this." In December 2016, Schumer joined John McCain,
Lindsey Graham, and
Jack Reed in a letter to Majority Leader McConnell urging the formation of a Senate select committee on cyber. Schumer said the panel would focus on Russian meddling and potential threats from other countries such as China and Iran. In December 2016, Schumer demanded a congressional inquiry into Russian meddling in U.S. affairs. In January 2017, in response to those questioning the U.S. intelligence community over its assessments, he said, "Let me tell you, you take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you". Later that month, he introduced legislation to limit executive action on Russian sanctions. In a May 2017 Senate floor speech, Schumer called on the White House to release unedited transcripts of the meeting between Trump and Russian officials the previous week, saying the continued confidentiality would ensure "the American people will rightly doubt if their president can handle our nation's most closely kept secrets." In July, Schumer disavowed claims that the Democratic Party considered Russia its top priority and named health care and economic stability for working-class families as its primary concerns. "Obviously Russia is in the news. Obviously we want Bob Mueller to be able to pursue and our committees to be able to pursue their investigations unimpeded." Schumer spearheaded a non-binding resolution in July 2018 "warning President Trump not to let the Russian government question diplomats and other officials". The resolution stated the United States "should refuse to make available any current or former diplomat, civil servant, political appointee, law enforcement official or member of the Armed Forces of the United States for questioning by the government of
Vladimir Putin". It passed 98–0.
Gun laws In 1994, then-representative Schumer and Senator
Dianne Feinstein authored the
Assault Weapons Ban. Supporters of gun control legislation give Schumer much of the credit for passage of both the Assault Weapons Ban and the
Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act. The Assault Weapons Ban, which banned semi-automatic rifles, shotguns, and handguns with certain 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 gun rights organizations, Schumer has supported hunters, sponsoring legislation to provide millions in outdoor recreation grants to landowners who allow hunting and fishing on their private property. For these efforts,
Field and Stream magazine honored Schumer in its "Hero Awards" in 2008. He supports tax deductions for hunters who donate venison and other game to feeding programs. In response to a question at a debate during his 2010 reelection campaign, Schumer denied having a handgun or a permit for one. He has produced a letter from the NYPD stating that neither he nor his wife, Iris Weinshall, has a handgun license from NYC. Schumer aide Brian Fallon said, "except for winning an NRA marksmanship award at age 14, the senator does not own a gun or have a license to carry one". In February 2018, after the
Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, Schumer was one of four Democratic senators to sign a letter to Trump asserting that were he "to endorse legislation to require a background check on every gun purchase, without other poison pill provisions attached, we could finally move much closer towards the comprehensive system that you called for after the Stoneman Douglas attack" and that there was no justification for allowing people denied firearms by federally licensed dealers to "simply visit a gun show or go online to purchase the same gun that they were denied at the store". In January 2019, Schumer was one of 40 senators to introduce the Background Check Expansion Act, which would require background checks for either the sale or transfer of all firearms including all unlicensed sellers. Exceptions to the bill's background check requirement included transfers between members of law enforcement, loaning firearms for either hunting or sporting events on a temporary basis, providing firearms as gifts to members of one's immediate family, firearms transferred as part of an inheritance, or giving a firearm to another person temporarily for immediate self-defense.
Health care In March 2004, Schumer,
Jon Corzine,
Ted Kennedy, and
Frank Lautenberg signed a letter to President Bush urging him to instruct staff to avoid taking action against whistleblower Richard Foster after Foster spoke out on the subject of White House efforts intended to keep Congress unaware of alternative higher cost estimates for the new Medicare prescription drug program. Schumer supported Obama's health reform legislation; he voted for the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in December 2009 and for the
Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. In 2009, Schumer proposed that any new government-run health insurance programs follow all the standards applicable to private insurance. He did this to "address fears that a public program would drive private insurers from the market". Schumer said he wanted "a level playing field for competition". In May 2017, in response to an amendment by
Fred Upton to the
American Health Care Act, Schumer released a statement saying the amendment "leaves Americans with pre-existing conditions as vulnerable as they were before under this bill" and compared it to "administering cough medicine to someone with stage 4 cancer". After the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) showed the American Health Care Act would cause millions of Americans to lose health coverage, Schumer said, "Republicans in Washington and the president should read this report cover to cover, throw their bill in the trash can and begin working with Democrats on a real plan to lower costs for the American people." In June, Schumer sent McConnell a letter requesting that all senators meet to discuss the American Health Care Act, citing the need for both parties to "come together to find solutions to America's challenges". Later that month, Schumer estimated the bill had a 50% chance of passing the Senate and added that Democrats were doing everything they could to fight the measure, calling the legislation "devastating for the middle class".
Homeland security In 1995, Schumer sponsored the
Omnibus Counterterrorism Act of 1995 (H.R. 896) in the House of Representatives. As a senator, Schumer has worked to secure homeland security funds for the New York State and New York City and provide resources to its first responders. He delivered over $20 billion to support New York's security and recovery efforts after the
9/11 terrorist attacks on New York City and worked to deliver $200 million in Homeland Security funds to protect New York City mass transit. In November 2001, Schumer announced hearings on George W. Bush's decision to try terrorists in military tribunals amid Washington concerns that Bush would skip the American legal system in handling such cases. Schumer said the hearing's two goals were to ascertain whether Bush had the power to form a tribunal apart from an attempt at interacting with Congress and whether a military tribunal was the most efficient instrument. In August 2004, after American officials leaked the arrest of
Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan to reporters, Schumer said he was troubled by the decision to reveal Khan's identity, citing the fact that the public had learned little of Khan's role in providing the information that led Homeland Security Secretary
Tom Ridge to announce a higher terror alert level. Schumer supported continuing to fully fund the FIRE Grant program the
Federal Emergency Management Agency administered. The program allows fire departments and first responders nationwide to apply for grant funding for major purchases that localities have difficulty providing, namely apparatus 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 March 2018, Schumer said the bipartisan legislation sponsored by
Bob Casey and
Pat Toomey would assist the children of deceased first respondents afford college by increasing the availability of Pell grant funding. In August 2018, Schumer announced that the Senate had passed $1 million in FY2019 funding for the national firefighter cancer registry as an amendment to the upcoming FY2019 Health and Human Services minibus appropriations bill. He said firefighters needed "first-rate medical care and treatment" for the work they did and the registry would help "researchers track, treat, and eventually prevent firefighters being stricken by cancer".
Immigration While discussing an immigration bill on the Senate floor in 2010, Schumer likened Indian tech giant
Infosys Technologies to a "chop shop". When his statement set off a wave of outrage in India, he acknowledged his characterization was incorrect. The remark was also called "outrageous" by U.S.-India Business Council head
Ron Somers. In June 2013, the immigration bill passed the Senate with a strong majority—68–32, with 14 Republicans joining all Democrats—but the House of Representatives under Speaker
John Boehner refused to take up the bill, and the legislation died. In April 2012, Schumer introduced
SB 1070, a bill that would kill Arizona's anti-immigration law, and ones like it if the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the states. He backed his position, saying: "States like Arizona and Alabama will no longer be able to get away with saying they are simply 'helping the federal government' to enforce the law when they are really writing their own laws and knowingly deploying untrained officers with a mission of arresting anyone and everyone who might fit the preconceived profile of an illegal immigrant." In January 2018, Schumer stated that any agreement on the status of
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals before its March expiration would have to be included in the spending bill. Schumer offered Trump congressional approval of more than $20 billion for his border wall in exchange for protecting recipients of DACA. Trump declined the offer. A week later, Schumer announced that conversations on immigration and border security were resuming between the White House and himself. In a March CNN op-ed, Schumer wrote that Trump had stood in the way of progress on "compromise proposals that both sides should be proud of" and charged Trump and the White House with using Dreamers as "bargaining chips to push forward their anti-immigrant agenda". He called on Trump to change course and said Americans would be aware that he was behind the prevention of Congress from settling the matter. In June, before a planned meeting between Trump and House Republicans for discussions on the compromise immigration bill, Schumer warned that House moderates would lose credibility if they succumbed to pressure and enacted "the hard right's agenda".
IndyMac Bank controversy On June 26, 2008, Schumer took the extraordinary step of publicly releasing letters he had written to regulators about
IndyMac Bank, the country's seventh-largest
savings and loan association and ninth-largest originator of mortgage loans, which he considered a severely troubled institution. Schumer wrote that 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 IndyMac depositors either panicked or, from another perspective, justifiably acted and withdrew funds in the 11 days before IndyMac failed. A Treasury Department's inspector general audit found that the primary causes of IndyMac's failure were associated with its business strategy of originating and securitizing
Alt-A 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 after the public release of Schumer's 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.
Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) director
John Reich immediately blamed IndyMac's failure on the letter's release. Reich said Schumer gave the bank a "heart attack", saying, "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 amid a Treasury Department audit and investigation revealing that Indymac had been allowed to backdate its financial reports. Schumer conceded his actions might have caused some depositors to withdraw their money prematurely, but said, "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 added, "IndyMac was one of the most poorly run and reckless of all the banks ... 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 sharply criticized Schumer.
CNBC financial analyst
Jerry Bowyer charged that he 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 called Schumer's actions "wrong and irresponsible". On October 18, 2008,
The Wall Street Journal published an article suggesting that an investment company's interest in IndyMac might have prompted Schumer's letter. His reported close ties to the founders of
OneWest Bank have long been of interest to many action groups. On December 22, 2008,
The Washington Post reported that the OTS regional director in charge had been removed from his position for allowing IndyMac to falsify its financial reporting. The same day, conservative commentator
Rush Limbaugh continued to blame Schumer and recast IndyMac's July bankruptcy as an "October Surprise" planned by Democrats to help win the 2008 election.
Same-sex marriage in 2007 Schumer voted for the
Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 1996. He opposed the
Federal Marriage Amendment, saying in 2004 that DOMA made it obsolete. In March 2009, Schumer announced his support for same-sex marriage, noting that it "was time". He previously supported
civil unions. At a private dinner with gay leaders on March 22, 2009, Schumer said he not only supported same-sex marriage, he also backed a full reversal of DOMA. When the New York State Senate took up a bill to legalize gay marriage in December 2009, Schumer and other statewide officials aggressively lobbied wavering senators to support the legislation.
Student loan forgiveness Schumer supports the cancellation of $50,000 or more in
federal student loan debt for every borrower by
executive action.
Subprime mortgage and foreclosure crisis In September 2007, Schumer proposed that the
Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) raise
Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac's
conforming loan ("affordable") limits from $417,000 to $625,000, thereby allowing these
government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) to back mortgages on homes priced up to $780,000 with a 20% down payment. After the March 2007
meltdown of the
subprime mortgage industry, Schumer proposed a federal government bailout of subprime borrowers to save homeowners from losing their residences and to shore up communities that were seeing neighborhoods destabilized due to foreclosures and the resulting decreases in neighboring home values. As part of a package of regulatory reforms that Schumer pushed in response to the subprime foreclosure crisis, he called for the creation of mortgage industry regulators to protect borrowers from deceptive lending practices and called for the
Securities and Exchange Commission to move from Washington to New York so that it was in closer proximity to the industry it was charged with overseeing. Schumer's top nine campaign contributors are all financial institutions that have contributed over $2.5 million.
Taxes on high incomes Schumer had been a staunch defender of low taxes on hedge fund and private equity managers in the mid-2000s, arguing that this was necessary to protect the industry. Then serving on both the Senate Banking and Finance Committees, Schumer was in a position to block attempts to tax their financial gains at the rate other taxpayers pay for income. But in 2010, he suggested that a hedge-fund tax would be acceptable and not hurt the industry. In February 2012, Schumer at first said he disagreed with the Obama administration's call to raise taxes on those making more than $250,000 a year, calling for a million-dollar floor instead. According to Schumer, "in large parts of the country, that kind of income does not get you a big home or lots of vacations or anything else that is associated with wealth." He later stood by the assertion but also said that raising taxes on those making more than $250,000 was necessary to bring in enough revenue. One opinion website said the senators wanted "to disrupt [the]
Silk Road drug website". Schumer was a sponsor of S. 968, the controversial
PROTECT IP Act, which would restrict access to websites judged to be infringing copyrights. On January 18, 2012, the NY Tech Meetup and other cybertech organizations held a demonstration with 2,000 protesters in front of the offices of Schumer and
Kirsten Gillibrand, who also supported the bill. Some demonstrators complained that the bill had originated with wealthy campaign contributors who would reward legislators for passing the bill. In March 2012, Schumer and Senator
Richard Blumenthal gained national attention after they called upon Attorney General
Eric Holder and the Department of Justice to investigate practices by employers to require Facebook passwords for employee applicants and workers.
Facebook Schumer has offered political support to Facebook, acting as an ally and seeking to advance the company's interests in Senate debates about regulating it or probing its involvement in various controversies, including Russian interference in the 2016 election. In July 2018, he confronted Senator
Mark Warner, and urged him not to lose sight of the need for Facebook to tackle problems with right-wing disinformation and election interference, as well as consumer privacy and other issues. Although he was at one point criticized for being a lead investigator of the affair while also chairing the
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, 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 Alberto Gonzales to resign for
firing eight
United States Attorneys. In an interview on
CBS News's
Face the Nation, Schumer said that Gonzales "doesn't accept or doesn't understand that he is no longer just the president's lawyer". When Gonzales's chief of staff,
Kyle Sampson, 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 controversy. Like other members of the
Senate Judiciary Committee from both parties, Schumer was angered during Gonzales's testimony on April 19, 2007; Gonzales answered many times that he did not know or could not 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" about the firings (most press reports counted 71 instances) and did not seem to know about the inner workings of his 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. ==Other work==