Chuck Schumer

An intra-Democratic fight over border security portends a power struggle in the upcoming Congress.

Last September, the big hats in the political hierarchy of New York and New Jersey spent an hour at the White House with President Trump. They were seeking a pile of money to pay for a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River connecting northern New Jersey and Manhattan.

For decades, Republicans have been stuck with the epithet “the stupid party,” and they’ve often deserved it. But there’s been a switch in the Trump era. Democrats now are the stupid party.

Top Democratic leaders are calling to provide the FBI and Department of Homeland Security with hefty funding boosts to expose and counter Russian election interference ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.

President Trump on Wednesday threw his weight behind Sen. Chuck Grassley’s immigration plan, urging the Senate to pass the “responsible and commonsense” proposal based on the White House’s immigration priorities and threatening to veto proposals that contain further Democratic concessions.

The freewheeling, open process that was expected to define this week’s high stakes immigration debate in the Senate is off to a slow start. On Tuesday morning, the chamber did what it does best—that is, not much.

Editor's note: It has been our great privilege to publish dozens of articles over the years by Jeffrey Bell, and it was with great sadness that we learned of his death over the weekend. You can read a tribute to Jeff by his colleague Rich Danker elsewhere on this page (as well as other tributes,…

Senate leaders announced Wednesday afternoon that they reached a massive two-year budget deal after weeks of negotiations in hopes of averting a government shutdown when funding runs out Thursday at midnight.

The Trump administration on Thursday released a framework for a compromise immigration deal to members of Congress. The plan calls for a pathway to citizenship for people brought to America illegally as children, increased spending for security on the U.S.-Mexico border, and new restrictions on…

It’s not surprising that members of Congress would have a habit of repeating a short list of talking points, given how often they face the media and how important it is for them to stay on message. But that tendency was more apparent than usual last week during a feud over a stopgap spending…

After a two-day impasse, enough Senate Democrats agreed to pass a short-term continuing budget resolution Monday, the first step to ending a government shutdown that began early Saturday morning. The measure passed overwhelmingly, with just 18 senators, mostly Democrats, opposing. The House of…

Time dulls the sharp edges of painful memories, but some events are so traumatic that they are burned into our psyches where they live on forever.

Lawmakers in the Senate reached an agreement to end the government shutdown Monday afternoon, but congressional Democrats who voted down a spending bill that would have kept the government open on Friday because it did not include a replacement for the expiring Deferred Action for Childhood…

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and President Trump negotiated toward a bargain on immigration reform that could have satisfied both parties and reduced the likelihood of a shutdown, the New York Times reported hours before government funding expired at midnight Saturday. Democrats would have…

As Washington stares down the barrel of a government shutdown, the White House is refusing to back down from its budget terms. Appearing on Fox & Friends Tuesday morning, press secretary Sarah Sanders said Congress must pass a continuing resolution now, then try to find a bipartisan deal on…

*Correction, 1/3/17: The piece originally stated that "President Trump will meet with Paul Ryan, Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConnell, and Chuck Schumer on Wednesday to start on the list with a discussion of the government funding bill." Officials from the White House, not President Trump, will be meeting…

Athens, Alabama

Democratic lawmakers are at odds about whether the president should declare Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a recognition he is expected to make Wednesday.

President Trump was planning to meet with Democratic leaders Tuesday to discuss a deal to prevent a government shutdown next month. But Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer canceled the meeting Tuesday morning after Trump attacked them on Twitter and said he didn’t expect to strike a deal.

Republicans finally released a full working draft of their mammoth tax reform plan on Thursday. The 400-page Tax Cuts and Jobs Act doesn’t deliver the full Christmas list of tax priorities the White House requested in April, but it’s still a massive reorganization of the tax code that includes huge…

A trio of Republican senators are hoping to solve the DACA problem, and they have reason to believe President Trump will get on board. The senators, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Orrin Hatch of Utah, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, have introduced the Solution for Undocumented Children through…

“I was very proud of the Senate Democratic Leader, Chuck Schumer. He could speak New York to the president.” So said Nancy Pelosi, showing the distance between hard-left San Franciscans, for whom every belief is a red line they cannot cross, and pragmatic New Yorkers of both parties.

In President Trump’s politics, “the overall impression matters more than the details,” writes Newt Gingrich in his book Understanding Trump. This is not only true and insightful, it also explains Trump’s conduct of late.

The President has decided that enough is enough. Until a few weeks ago, he relied on Republican leaders in the Senate and House—majority leader Mitch McConnell and House speaker Paul Ryan—to convert his wish list into legislation. They assured him they could do so relying solely on Republican…

It has taken just under eight months for the signature issue of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign—the construction of a border wall along our southern border with Mexico—to become negotiable. You could almost hear Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer grinning as they typed their statement out…

In President Trump’s politics, “the overall impression matters more than the details,” writes Newt Gingrich in his book Understanding Trump. This is not only true and insightful, it also explains Trump’s conduct of late.

Nobody knew MAGA could be so complicated.

On Wednesday night Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer dined with Donald Trump. Following the meeting, the Democrats announced that they had reached a deal with the president on DACA, to give permanent amnesty to the 800,000 or so DREAMers who are, through no real fault of their own, in the country…

In a normal Republican White House, it would be unnecessary for the press secretary to state, on multiple occasions, within a single briefing, that “The president is a Republican.” But this is not a normal Republican White House, so that is the position in which Sarah Huckabee Sanders found herself…

Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi came away from their Wednesday White House dinner with a simple message: President Donald Trump is ready to reinstate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, and he doesn’t mind not getting a border wall in return.

When the White House first announced its intent to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program last week, many speculated that President Donald Trump was planning to use the issue as part of a grand bargain to win additional funding for immigration enforcement and a border wall.

Blindsided congressional Republicans worried Thursday about whether President Trump's surprise fiscal deal with the Democrats would mean more shocks are ahead on issues such as tax reform.

President Donald Trump has fiscally conservative Republicans in a serious bind.

Nearly a month ago, it looked as if Donald Trump could be setting himself up to leave the Republican party. His departure could either be official or de facto, but the signs were beginning to suggest that Trump, who has no real ties to the GOP establishment or its infrastructure, was putting…

Fred Barnes writes in the Wall Street Journal:

Democratic lawmakers are criticizing President Trump for unleashing heated rhetoric against Pyongyang this week, including his threat of “fire and fury” against the North Korean regime. That warning was "reckless and shows a serious lack of judgment," said House minority whip Steny Hoyer.

What began as a bill slapping sanctions on Iran for ballistic missile development and human rights violations is being mired in minutiae over a single added word—“Russia.”

Camille Paglia is one America's smartest and most fearless writers. Like Elvis, she's the kind of superstar who really needs no introduction—though it is worth pointing out that Pantheon has just published a collection of her essays on sex, gender, and feminism, titled Free Women, Free Men. It's…

In the wake of President Trump's surprise firing of FBI director James Comey, Democrats are redoubling their calls for an independent investigation into Russian election interference, including any potential ties between the Trump campaign and Russi.

While some members of Congress, like Kentucky senator Rand Paul, are questioning President Trump's legal authority for launching a military strike Thursday night against the Syrian regime, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says Trump was acting well within his inherent…

The impending filibuster of Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch continues apace, but one Democrat is on record questioning whether Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer's plan to return the favor after the Senate GOP stymied Merrick Garland's nomination will backfire.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced his expected plans to vote "no" on Judge Neil Gorsuch's nomination to the Supreme Court and promised that Republicans would have to overcome a Democratic filibuster in order to seat him.

Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch has been well-received on Capitol Hill ahead of the start of his confirmation hearings next week, raising the possibility that Democrats won't filibuster his nomination.

The New York Times Magazine's Charles Homans has an in-depth look at the rapid evolution of Democratic resistance to the Trump administration.

A day before President Trump is slated to address the nation before a joint session of Congress (note: Not a State of the Union), Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi addressed reporters at the National Press Club to offer a prebuttal.

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said President Donald Trump's behavior in the first few weeks of the new administration necessitates a "new standard" for Supreme Court nominees, including a unique a demonstration of judicial independence.

President Donald Trump continued encouraging his party's Senate leader Wednesday to waive a 60-vote threshold to confirm Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, if necessary, the morning after the upper chamber's top Democrat suggested a nomination fight was coming.

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday night he has "very serious doubts" whether Judge Neil Gorsuch will meet his standard for winning confirmation to the Supreme Court. "The burden is on … Gorsuch to prove himself to be within the legal mainstream and, in this new era, willing to…

After the successful effort last year by Senate Republicans to deny Merrick Garland, Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court, a confirmation vote, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer told Americans "...we're not playing tit for tat here. We want a mainstream nominee because that's the right thing…

In mid-October, when it seemed likely that Democrats would win the White House and a Senate majority, retiring Senate minority leader Harry Reid said that Senate Democrats would scrap the 60-vote hurdle for Hillary Clinton's Supreme Court nominee, just as they had done in 2013 for lower-court and…

West Virginia senator Joe Manchin said he won't block President Donald Trump's choice to replace Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court, who is scheduled to be announced Tuesday evening.

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer announced Monday he will vote no on the confirmation of five additional nominees to President Trump's cabinet, adding to his list of Betsy DeVos, Rex Tillerson, and Jeff Sessions as individuals he would oppose.

The weather Monday in Washington was windy, rainy, and messy—but those were hardly the conditions inside the West Wing on what the Trump administration was calling its first "working day." President Trump had an early meeting with CEOs of some of the country's largest manufacturers, a phone call…

Republican leadership is rethinking its relationship with Democratic minority leader Chuck Schumer after Schumer betrayed a promise to allow a vote last Friday on President Donald Trump's pick for CIA director, according to a top Republican lawmaker who spoke to THE WEEKLY STANDARD.

When President Donald Trump visited the CIA Saturday, he had hoped that CIA Director Mike Pompeo would accompany him. But when Trump arrived at the Langley, Virginia, headquarters of the Agency, he was instead accompanied by Congressman Mike Pompeo.

It was an odd time for the inauguration goers to sing the boos. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, a liberal Democrat, had just delivered a few lines that could have easily prompted applause had they been uttered by President Donald Trump, the populist Republican most people in attendance were…

To hear Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer tell it, Democrats intend to block the confirmation of any justice President-elect Trump nominates to the Supreme Court. They'll inherit guardianship of the eight-member panel they dreaded just last year—and, by God, they'll guard it with their lives.

Republicans plan to use a 2006 border security law supported by more than half of Senate Democrats to fund the wall President-elect Donald Trump pledged his administration would construct, Politico reported Thursday. The Secure Fence Act mandated double-layer fencing between particular ports of…

The new minority leader in the Senate, New York Democrat Chuck Schumer, said Tuesday he would "absolutely" attempt to keep open the Supreme Court seat once held by the late justice Antonin Scalia. "It's hard for me to imagine a nominee that Donald Trump would choose that would get Republican…

Tucked away in Jason Zengerle's New York magazine profile of outgoing Senate minority leader Harry Reid is a little nugget about what Senate Democrats and their new leader, Chuck Schumer, plan to take their first stand on in the new Congress: Donald Trump's nominee for Health and Human Services,…

Perhaps unsurprisingly, incoming Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer is among the Democrats willing to work with President-elect Trump to pass some of his more "populist" ideas into law. But the tough liberal campaigner issued a blanket statement about cooperating with the new administration.

Fred Barnes, the WEEKLY STANDARD executive editor, joined the Wall Street Journal's Mary Kissel Tuesday for the paper's Opinion Journal webcast. Barnes discussed his recent Journal op-ed about how incoming Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer has the unenviable task of defending Barack Obama's…

Fred Barnes, in the Wall Street Journal:

Incoming Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said Sunday that President-elect Donald Trump and the Republicans controlling Congress do not have a mandate to implement their agenda.

As Republicans in the Senate bring forward a bill next week that would ban most abortions after 20 weeks of gestation—when babies are capable of feeling pain and can survive outside the womb—Senate minority leader Harry Reid declined to say whether he supports any limits on abortion during any…

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York is the highest-ranking Democrat to oppose President Obama's executive agreement with Iran over the Islamic republic's nuclear program. But during the Senate Democratic leadership's final press conference prior to a vote on the deal, Schumer didn't say anything…

President Obama once made promises about changing the “tone” in Washington. But when the spirit moves him, he can get down with the condescending name-calling, though he can’t compete with Trump in that league. (But who could?) 

The New York Post reports that Senator Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has expanded on his rationale for opposing the White House's Iran Deal:

Chuck Schumer is coming under fire from President Obama's former top political adviser, David Axelrod. The former advisor is using Twitter to question Schumer's decision to oppose Obama's nuclear deal with Iran. 

When Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced that he would vote against the nuclear deal with Iran, he didn’t just take a position -- he rejected every major argument President Obama has made on the agreement’s behalf. Schumer argues this is not a deal that prevents Iran from getting nuclear weapons,…

Chuck Schumer, the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, has released a statement saying he will oppose President Obama's Iran nuclear deal.

The Huffington Post reports that Chuck Schumer, the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, will oppose President Obama's Iran nuclear deal:

New York assemblyman, Dov Hikind, a Democrat, was arrested outside Senator Chuck Schumer's office while protesting the Iran nuclear deal. The Israeli news outlet Arutz Sheva has video:

The Emergency Committee for Israel has released an ad urging voters to hold Senator Chuck Schumer to his Iran deal red line:

Carly Fiorina has a message for Democrats who oppose a ban on late-term abortions: You don't represent most women. The Republican presidential candidate and former Hewlett-Packard CEO said she backs a bill, passed by the House of Representatives and just introduced in the Senate, that limits…

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with editor William Kristol on whether Senator Schumer's Israel record will hurt his chances to replace Harry Reid as minority leader.

There's more Obamacare bashing from the political left today. This time it's from outgoing Senate majority leader Harry Reid. 

New York senator Chuck Schumer criticized President Obama's passage of Obamacare. It "made no political sense," Schumer complained yesterday at the National Press Club. “Unfortunately, Democrats blew the opportunity the American people gave them.” 

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York said Tuesday that he and his fellow Democrats made a mistake in pursuing health care legislation that eventually became Obamacare. Bloomberg Politics's Kathleen Hunter has the story:

New York senator Chuck Schumer will head to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. to tell Democrats to "embrace government." 

New York Democratic senator Chuck Schumer, an author of the Senate immigration bill, may have succeeded in helping Republicans kill his own bill.

The Sochi Olympics are busy setting some sort of record for glitches and one of them has attracted the attentions of the indefatigable Senator Charles Schumer who is perturbed by the Russian’s unwillingness to allow the importation of yogurt.  

Ted Cruz says that anyone in favor of the so-called immigration reform bill "should go ahead and put a 'Harry Reid for Majority Leader' bumper sticker on their car."

Timothy P. Carney, writing for the Washington Examiner:

Chuck Schumer will introduce legislation to make it illegal to make guns with 3-D printers, according to the Huffington Post. He's expected to introduce the bill in the Senate next week.

New York senator Chuck Schumer is "disappointed" with the nuclear deal with Iran, according to a statement released by his Senate office. 

Douglas MacKinnon, writing for the Washington Examiner:

Senator Schumer's off-the-shelf solution to any problem, real or merely perceived, is to form a "gang of eight" that comes up with a bipartisan fix.  As Keith Laing reports on the Hill, Schumer appeared onFace the Nation and:

New York senator Chuck Schumer was given the opportunity this morning on national TV to endorse his one-time protege Anthony Weiner in the New York City mayoral race. Schumer refused the offer. 

Democratic senator Chuck Schumer conceded that Obamacare is "part" of the reason health care costs are increasing:

If immigration reform passes Congress, the law will almost certainly have a way to allow those in the country illegally to eventually become citizens. But the bill, as it is written, contains a number of enforcement and border security benchmarks that must be met before the path to citizenship is…

Chuck Schumer would not comment this morning on former congressman Anthony Weiner's political rehabilitation:

Senator Pat Toomey has finally posted the full text of "The Public Safety And Second Amendment Rights Protection Act," the so called gun Senate compromise bill, agreed upon by Toomey, Joe Manchin, and Chuck Schumer. Here's the text of 7,800 word bill:

Senator Schumer is playing to his softer, more rural side, again.  First, he proposed subsidies to stimulate maple syrup production in upstate New York.  Now, he wants to reduce the taxes paid by producers of hard cider.  As reported by Ramsey Cox in the Hill, Schumer is arguing:

Senator Charles Schumer has discovered a new cash crop that requires taxpayer support.  As Pete Kasperowicz writes in the Hill:

Forget the sequester. If you're Chuck Schumer, there are ways around it. Consider the recent example of a U.S. Marine Corps band cancelling its scheduled performance at a St. Patrick's Day parade due to the "sequester"--and Chuck Schumer's successful "push" for the band to come anyway.

John Podhoretz, writing in the New York Post:

The New York Post editorializes:

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with Fred Barnes hosted by Michael Graham:

The Wall Street Journal editorializes:

Charles Schumer sees a branding opportunity and he takes it. Schumer

Senator Chuck Schumer is not down with the idea of people selling their tickets to the presidential inauguration next week. And he has "asked" Craigslist and eBay to cease and desist offering them.  It is a matter of civic hygiene, don't you know.  As the senator helpfully explained, "Having a…

In a private meeting Monday—not just any old private meeting, but a 90 minutes long private meeting!—New York senator Chuck Schumer was reassured by secretary of defense nominee Chuck Hagel that he didn't mean the many things he's said over the years and didn't stand by the many votes he's cast…

Former New York City mayor Ed Koch, who supported President Obama's reelection, says the nomination of Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense will be a test for Senator Chuck Schumer:

New York senator Chuck Hagel would not commit to supporting Chuck Hagel, if President Obama nominates him to be the next secretary of defense:

Senator Chuck Schumer does not know President Obama's position on Jerusalem: 

President Obama just announced from the White House a plan to maintain current tax rates for the middle class, while hiking the tax rates for those earning above $250,000 per year. And while Republicans have already voiced opposition to the president's plan, Democrats are now beginning to express…

New York Democratic senator Chuck Schumer has so far remained on the sidelines in the contentious Democratic primary in New York's Eighth Congressional District between Charles Barron and Hakeem Jeffries. Reid Pillifant of Capital reports:

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has come out against fellow Democrat Charles Barron, a House candidate for the state's Eighth Congressional District. "Any candidate who is anti-Israel does not share Senator Gillibrand's values," says spokesman Glen Caplin in an email to THE WEEKLY STANDARD.

Two of the top Senate Democrats are blasting Republicans for inaction in Congress. They blame the Republican House for not passing laws, even though Democrats control the Senate and the White House, and even though their own aides said months ago that nothing would get done this year, in an…

ABC host George Stephanopoulos asked New York senator Chuck Schumer this morning whether Democrats should return Bill Maher's money. Schumer responded by saying "no," because "Bill Maher is a comedian who is on at 11:00 at night but has very little influence on what’s happening here."

New York senator Chuck Schumer commented on Mitch Daniels's Republican response to the State of the Union Address at a press conference today on Capitol Hill. "The Republican speaker last night, Mitch Daniels, talked about Americans must talk about the state of the union as grave," Schumer said.…

Declare the pennies on your eyes: Jan Schakowsky doesn't think you deserve to keep all the money you earn.

An awkward minute on live TV as Harry Reid waits for New York senator Chuck Schumer to begin his press conference on the debt ceiling: 

Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg: "I have message to the person who attacked us and the people who are behind it: You're not going to destroy us. You're not destroying our democracy and our work for a better world. We're a small country but a very proud country. No one can bomb us to be…

There's a conspiracy theory floating around some of the fever swamps on the right that goes something like this: President Obama's economic policies aren't merely misguided; his policies are designed to hurt the economy in order to bring about a more socialist state and consolidate power. "This is…

While President Barack Obama apparently regrets his 2006 vote against raising the debt ceiling, some of the other Democratic senators who joined him aren’t as apologetic.

On CBS's Face the Nation yesterday, the number three Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer of New York, and the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, debated the budget. But of particular interest is their discussion of Paul Ryan's budget plan, which was…

This morning on CBS's Face the Nation, Democratic senator Chuck Schumer indicated that his party's response to GOP congressman Paul Ryan's budget plan would be to raise taxes:

Always be mindful of the mute button: 

Ben Smith reported this morning that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee sent out a fundraising email, signed by Harry Reid, that tries to ride the anti-Koch bandwagon. Here's the relevant part of the email:

If there's one thing more annoying than hypocrisy, it's illogical accusations of hypocrisy (e.g. for some reason, those who want freedom to save for their own retirement as they see fit and oppose Social Security in principle should not accept Social Security benefits after they've already paid…

Chuck Schumer, not content with the liberal trope that conservatives want to 'turn the clock back' to the 1950s, says that some "hard right people" in America "seem to be wanting to move us back to the 19th century." 

On November 7, 2006, the Democrats marked their takeover of Congress with a raucous celebration at the Hyatt Regency hotel on Capitol Hill. Balloons and confetti fell from the ceiling as the party’s leaders stood on the stage arm-in-arm, beaming with joy. “Tonight is a great victory for the…

As the proposal to build a 13-story Islamic center two blocks from Ground Zero moves forward and controversy surrounding the plan grows, top New York Democrats are maintaining radio silence on the matter.