Newsroom

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that the Lake Plains Community Care Network, in Batavia, will receive a grant totaling $288,680 in Round 19 of the FY10 Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Program and the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) program. AFG awards are administered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and are designed to strengthen the response programs of fire departments throughout the country by promoting and maintaining 24hour... Read More

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer wrote to the U.S. Postal Service Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe urging him to abandon a USPS plan to close the Staten Island Processing and Distribution Center by having Staten Island mail trucked to other parts of the city for processing. In his letter, Schumer noted that the closure of the processing facility would damage the local economy, impact timely delivery of local mail, and impact hundreds of jobs. In the face of rising gas prices, Schumer also believes... Read More

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer toured Crown Maple, a nearlycomplete, stateoftheart maple production facility that could create hundreds of new jobs in Dutchess County. The facility and surrounding farm, set to open in just a few short weeks, host both maple sap tapping and syrup production infrastructure, and will employ approximately 100 people when they reach full capacity. Thanks to new production technologies, the facility is able to produce nearly three times the amount of maple... Read More

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Customs and Border Protection Agency (CBP)  will restart construction on the Churubusco border crossing after Schumer pushed the agency to do so. Just a short time ago, CBP was planning to halt the project after the Canadian government decided to close their side of the port. Schumer contacted DHS and CBP and asked them to reverse course saying that closure would cost the area construction jobs... Read More

Today, United States Senator Charles E. Schumer announced his support for legislation called "Billy's Law," also known as Help Find the Missing Act, to close loopholes in our national missing persons systems. Schumer has sponsored this legislation in the past, and his cosponsorship this Congress comes in the wake of the recent death of George Delaney, a Rochester Institute of Technology student. When George Delany went missing on March 12th, RIT faculty and students joined with law... Read More

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that the East Rockaway Fire Department will receive a grant totaling $707,480, the New Hyde Park Fire Department will receive a grant totaling $96,780, and the Great Neck Fire Department will receive $63,580 in Round 17 of the FY10 AFG Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) program. These federal funds, which are administered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), will allow these fire departments to strengthen their... Read More

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (DNY) and U.S. Representative Tim Bishop (DNY) announced today that the budget compromise agreed to last week in Congress will save Brookhaven National Laboratory from draconian budget cuts that could have resulted in a loss of almost 1,000 jobs. The continuing funding resolution bill that passed the House last month would have cut $1.1 billion from the Department of Energy's Office of Science and resulted in Brookhaven Lab having to shutdown many of its core... Read More

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced his final push to secure a $100 million federal grant that would be a huge boost to the U.S. Photovoltaic Manufacturing Consortium (PVMC), a partnership between SEMATECH and the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) at UAlbany, along with the University of Central Florida. Following a tour of the CNSE Albany NanoTech complex, Schumer announced his push for approval of the application to form a new photovoltaic manufacturing... Read More

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that he is introducing a new Maple Tapping Access Program (Maple TAP) Act, legislation that would provide grants to states that create programs to help maple farmers tap into trees that are currently untapped on private lands. The legislation would also provide for the creation of grants to states to support the domestic maple syrup industry through the promotion of related research, education, natural resource sustainability and marketing, as... Read More

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that he is pushing the U.S. Department of Commerce to protect Syracuse candle making jobs that are being put at risk by the unfair trade practices of Chinese candle exporters. Currently, the U.S. imposes an import tariff on cheap candles that Chinese companies send to the U.S. in an attempt to undercut domestic producers like Cathedral Candle. These tariffs have helped push back against the unfair trade practices of the Chinese, boosting domestic... Read More

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, in cooperation with the City of Rochester, BIDCO Marine Group, and Edgewater Resources, will receive $1,450,000 to revitalize the Port of Rochester and boost boating and recreation on Lake Ontario. The funding will be used to construct a new Marina at the Port of Rochester, add 64 transient slips with dockside utilities, create a deepdraft safe harbor, create an access... Read More

U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer (DNY) announced that Bill Kuntz, who Schumer recommended to President Obama in September, has been officially nominated by the President to serve as a judge on the prestigious United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. If confirmed, Kuntz would become the second African American judge on the court. "I am pleased that the President has nominated Bill to serve as a federal judge from New York on the Eastern District bench," said Schumer.... Read More

Today, United States Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano will deploy militarygrade radar technology to the Northern Border to combat rampant drug smuggling. This comes at Senator Schumer's urging, after a February Government Accountability Office (GAO) report showed that only 32 of the nearly 4,000 miles that make up the USCanada border are considered secure. In conjunction with President Barack Obama's and Prime Minister... Read More

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that he is urging the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to establish a firm timeline for completion of the long overdue veterans' cemetery in Western New York. Due to repeated delays and indecision, the VA has yet to acquire the necessary land for the cemetery, further delaying the design and building phase that will ultimately lead to a suitable resting place for Western New York veterans. Schumer is also urging the VA to establish a liaison... Read More

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that he is reintroducing legislation protecting the residential discount programs for Grand Island residents on the Grand Island bridges. The Residential and Commuter Toll Fairness Act of 2011 provides express Congressional authorization for local governments to issue or grant transportation toll, user fee or fare discount programs based on residential status. The legislation, which was originally introduced in 2009 and passed the House by a... Read More

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that he will oppose House Republicans' attempts to end renewable energy project loan guarantees, which would pose a major threat to the jobcreating Taylor Biomass Energy project. The Republican budget proposal that passed the House last week would ultimately kill funding for the Taylor Biomass Energy project underway in Montgomery, NY and cost hundreds of current jobs, and more than 400 future jobs.   In December, Schumer joined Jim Taylor of... Read More

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that the Plattsburgh Fire Department has received a federal grant totaling $38,760 as part of Round 13 of the FY10 Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Program administered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The funding will be used to replace fire hoses and water supply lines.   "This essential grant ensures that the fire departments in Clinton County will continue to have the basic resources required to do their jobs, improve safety... Read More

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that he is joining more than 20 bipartisan colleagues to introduce legislation that will cut the excise tax on small breweries in half, helping small brewers across New York reinvest in their business, hire new employees, and revitalize downtown communities. Currently, brewers pay a $7 excise tax for the first 60,000 barrels they brew per year. Under the BEER Act that Schumer will introduce, that rate is slashed to $3.50 per barrel, resulting in... Read More

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (DNY) and U.S. Representative Tim Bishop (DNY) today blasted the GOPled House's continuing resolution budget proposal that could gut Brookhaven National Laboratory's (BNL) research and development and result in the potential loss of 930 employees, one third of the lab's population. It could also result in BNL shutting the doors on the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) and Realistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) machines, world class research facilities. If... Read More

U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer (DNY), and Kirsten E. Gillibrand (DNY), today called on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to promote proven fishery management tools in the wake of their decision to encourage flawed catch share programs that could hurt fishermen on Long Island and across the country. In a letter to U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Schumer  and Gillibrand, joined by U.S. Senators Kay Hagan,  Richard Burr (RNC),and Scott Brown (RMA), and... Read More