Newsroom

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that Plug Power in Latham, NY will receive a $2,500,000 award from the U.S. Department of Energy to retrofit 15 electric tow tractors with hydrogenpowered fuel cells, which will be deployed at two of FedEx's domestic airports in Memphis, Tennessee, and Oakland, California. Both sites, which are known for their high volume of traffic, will utilize lowcost natural gas as the feedstock to produce hydrogen. The first phase will consist of developing,... Read More

Today, at Washington Park's Henry Johnson Statue in Albany, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced the launch of a national online petition to urge all decisionmakers to expeditiously award the Medal of Honor to the late World War I hero, Sgt. Henry Johnson. The decisionmakers include the Secretary of the Army, Secretary of Defense, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and President of the United States. In March 2011, Schumer and his staff revealed that they had uncovered gamechanging evidence to... Read More

United States Senator Charles E. Schumer, in a personal letter to Jon Wellinghoff, Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), pressed the agency to immediately reconsider a decision that is likely to result in an electricity rate hike of up to $500 million for New York residents. In the recent decision, FERC disallowed companies with more efficient power plants from selling electricity at a lower rate to the New York market.  Schumer requested that FERC go back to the drawing... Read More

U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney today announced that the National Park Service (NPS) has approved New York City's application for a 99 year lease term extension for the Kaufman Astoria Studios under the Historic Surplus Property Program. Kaufman Astoria Studios was designated a National Historic District in 1978. Earlier in October, Schumer and Maloney asked NPS to approve this application because it would allow the studios to expand its business and provide... Read More

Today, at the Playland Parkway in Rye, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer joined local law enforcement and other officials in Westchester County to crackdown on the recent rash of scrap metal theft in the city that threatens critical infrastructure, local residents, business owners and taxpayers. Due to the high price of iron, copper, and other metal on the market, theft in Westchester County has jumped significantly in recent years, and includes recent thefts at a Yonkers storage yard; theft of... Read More

Schumer: As More & More Vets Return from Battlefield, They Must Have Place to Work Today, at Crouse Hospital in Syracuse, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer joined local veterans, including employees at the hospital, and revealed his plan to prioritize the extension of the Returning Heroes and Wounded Warriors Tax Credits, which are proven successes in incentivizing companies and organizations like hospitals to hire veterans and set to expire at the end of this year. Crouse Hospital already... Read More

U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today called on the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to immediately address the recent reports of their agents stealing property from luggage and security checkpoints at airports all over the country.  Some of these stolen items include iPads, cameras, laptops and video game consoles. Schumer today wrote to TSA Administrator John Pistole, and asked him to implement random and frequent audits at checkpoints to immediately address this problem.  Schumer... Read More

Today, at Paladin Center in Carmel, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer toured the Paladin Center and revealed his plan to prioritize the extension of the Returning Heroes and Wounded Warriors Tax Credits, which are proven successes in incentivizing companies to hire veterans and set to expire at the end of this year. Paladin already employs numerous veterans, and Schumer applauded their goal to hire more veterans in the future as they expand. He also urged other Hudson Valley businesses to... Read More

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer urged the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to fasttrack the approval of a final wetlands mitigation permit for the Ontario County Industrial Development Agency (OCIDA) to expand the runway at the Canandaigua Airport. Last month, Schumer announced over $7 million in Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) funding for the project, which would allow the Rochesterbased DiFiore Construction to increase the width of runway 1331, as well as extend the runway's... Read More

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that he has helped secure a crucial waiver from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that will finally allow the Town of Union to utilize funding that was awarded to the community after severe flooding damage from Tropical Storm Lee. Without this waiver, critical disaster relief awarded through HUD's Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) disaster relief funding could not have been obligated to make vital repairs to the... Read More

U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today revealed that unless the Farm Bill, which expires today, is renewed shortly, milk prices in stores across New York could double, according to agriculture economists.  This is because starting tomorrow, October 1st, the nation will begin to revert to 1940's era agriculture policy until a new Farm Bill is passed.  If carried out, the 1940's era policy requires the government to purchase nonfat dry milk, cheese and butter at prices significantly above current... Read More

WASHINGTON, DC-U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced Thursday that he has reached an agreement with the top four rental car companies in the U.S. to stop the renting or selling of vehicles that have been recalled by their manufacturer.   Under the agreement, rental car companies Enterprise/National/Alamo, Hertz/Advantage, Avis/Budget, and Dollar/Thrifty, as well as the American Car Rental Association, have all endorsed new legislation authored by Senator Schumer and his colleagues Barbara... Read More

Today, overlooking Onondaga Creek, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer called on both the federal and NYS Department of Transportations to allow the City of Syracuse to keep a total of $1.2 million in federal infrastructure funding in Syracuse, that would otherwise be revoked at the end of this year under a recent Administration decision. Specifically, Schumer is urging that this unused federal funding be directed to the removal of three abandoned Jefferson Railroad Bridges over the Creek and other... Read More

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand today announced a federal grant worth $70,000 for the Hudson Valley Regional Council. The investment comes through the U.S. Economic Development Agency, and will be used to support the publicprivate partnership to strengthen the Hudson Valley's economy. "The bottom line is that the federal government should do everything it can to support economic development and get people back to work," said  Senator Schumer. "The work... Read More

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer called on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to persuade the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) to finalize an agreement with American Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) to establish prescreening of trucks and cargo on the Canadian side of the border. Moving the screening of trucks to the Canadian side of the border would clear the way for a new plaza, that would facilitate increased commerce and international tourism. It would also significantly reduce... Read More

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer called on the Federal Aviation Administration to speed up the approval of the Onondaga Sheriff's office's request for an FAA commuter charter license for its Air1 helicopter. The Sheriff's office has applied for an FAA license, which would allow the chopper to charge for its flights, thus relieving local taxpayers of the heavy operating costs. The County legislature is expected to vote on funding levels for the helicopter when it considers its budget for... Read More

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that the Genesee Gateway Local Development Corporation is set to receive $58,000 in US Department of Agriculture's Rural Development Program, for infrastructure upgrades in Genesee Valley AgriBusiness Park at the site for Alpina Foods. Alpina Foods is a dairy products company, and recently began work to construct its first U.S. yogurt plant in Batavia. Specifically, this investment will fund site preparation for the new yogurt plant by extending... Read More

U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today called on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to put in place clear standards for imported fruit and vegetable juice concentrates and step up inspection of concentrates from countries that use toxic, inorganic arsenic in their pesticides, or with high levels of environmental contaminants. Schumer pointed out that, although serious questions exist over the methodology used by a daytime talk show last week that covered the subject of arsenic in apple juice,... Read More

United States Senator Charles E. Schumer, today, called on Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Director Lisa Jackson to have the agency take the lead role for the cleanup of the toxic Bethpage chemical plume that threatens over 20 additional public drinking wells that serve over 250,000 Nassau County residents in the Massapequa, Bethpage, and South Farmingdale Water Districts. The slowness of the response on the part of the Navy to contain and remediate the toxic plume put local projections... Read More

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer called on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to direct the Economic Development Administration (EDA) to conduct an Economic Impact Statement for New York following Tropical Storms Irene & Lee. The two agencies would work together with local officials to gather a comprehensive overview of the damage from the storms, prioritize rebuilding projects and map out a road to recovery, and help identify potential streams of federal funding to help... Read More