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WASHINGTON, DC- Senate Democrats today urged Speakerelect John Boehner to  protect seniors by not repealing  a new fix to Medicare's "donut hole" and warned they would block any health care repeal effort that  does so. The provision, which took effect Saturday,  is scheduled to save 3.4 million seniors thousands of dollars annually on prescription drug costs.   The incoming House Republican majority has promised to enact a "clean repeal" of the federal health care law in the opening days of... Read More

Today, U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand, Susan M. Collins and Congressman Bill Owens announced that the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives has now passed the Northern Border Counternarcotics Strategy Act of 2010 which will help law enforcement officials along the northern border stem the flow of illegal drugs coming into their communities. The bill requires federal law enforcement to develop a comprehensive and coordinated plan to blunt the illegal drug trade. A recent... Read More

Normal 0 false false false ENUS XNONE XNONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 WASHINGTON, DC- U.S. Senators Kirsten E. Gillibrand (DNY) and Charles E. Schumer (DNY) announced Wednesday that the Senate has unanimously passed major legislation to finally provide health care for 9/11first responders who fell ill in the years after performing rescue work at Ground Zero. The breakthrough came after marathon negotiations between the New... Read More

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer released a letter to Dr. Donald Berwick, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) urging the agency to designate Auburn Memorial Hospital a 'Sole Community Hospital,' which would provide the hospital with approximately $2 million extra dollars in increased funding and more resources that will allow doctors to better treat their patients. In order to become a Sole Community Hospital, the Department of Health and Human Services'... Read More

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has released $69 million in federal emergency heating funds to New York. The funds which come through the Low Income Heating Assistance Program, LIHEAP, help New Yorkers heat their homes during the long winter. Today's announced funding is only a partial allocation New York could receive much more once Congress passes a fiscal year 2011 (FY11) budget.   "This emergency heating aid should... Read More

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that the Lockheed Martin Plant in Owego is set to receive a military contract work $45,779,349. The contract will pay for the procurement of two cargo unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and predeployment activities that will directly help the troops in Afghanistan. Today's announcement will mean increased job creation and a growing economy in New York's Southern Tier.   "Right now there's nothing more important to helping middle class families in... Read More

Normal 0 false false false ENUS XNONE XNONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Today, United States Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that the Senate Judiciary Committee, passed his legislation to protect the New York and United States fashion industry from copycat knock offs. The legislation provides a very limited intellectual property protection to the most original fashion designs - those that are extremely unique and... Read More

Normal 0 false false false ENUS XNONE XNONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Today, United States Senators Charles E. Schumer and Richard Durbin, introduced a fiveyear moratorium on the requirement that Long Island homeowners purchase expensive new flood insurance policies if they live in a community recently designated as a flood zone. Schumer has been highly critical of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood mapping... Read More

U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today renewed his call on the EPA to reimburse Nassau County for over $20 million in federal sewer construction funds so that Nassau County can use the funding to permanently fix the sludge leaking from the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Facility into the Reynolds Channel. In October, the DEC discovered that several critical components of the facility were defective, resulting in brown plumes in the Reynolds Channel. In light of this leak, Schumer today wrote a letter... Read More

Normal 0 false false false ENUS XNONE XNONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that he has personally called Deputy Secretary of the Department of Interior David Hayes, urging the rejection of the Cayuga Indian Nation's plan to take 125 acres of land intro trust in Seneca and Cayuga counties. During the call, Schumer said that the FEIS made only minor changes from the draft, released... Read More

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that he has personally called Daniel M. Ashe, Director of Policy for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), urging him to expedite review of the locations 'site plan' that would clear the way for a $150 million distribution center in Orange County that has the potential to create up to 2,000 jobs. A site plan, which details the layout of buildings, overall architecture of the project and the impact that the project may have on the... Read More

Today, U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand and Congressman Bill Owens announced that the Adirondack Region Medical Home, run by Adirondack Health Institute (a collaboration of over 120 physicians and 96 physician assistants and nurse practitioners), five hospitals, seven commercial health plans, the New York State Department of Health, the Medical Society of the State of New York, and the New York State Association of Counties has been awarded  a prestigious federal... Read More

Normal 0 false false false ENUS XNONE XNONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Normal 0 false false false ENUS XNONE XNONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Washington, D.C . - U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and Congressman Maurice Hinchey (DNY) and John Hall (DNY) today announced that the Air Force has named Stewart Air National Guard Base as... Read More

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has agreed to expand soybean crop insurance to 14 New York counties after a public push by Schumer which included a personal call to USDA Secretary Vilsack in June. Today's announcement by USDA will expand this essential insurance program to Chemung, Chenango, Clinton, Columbia, Dutchess, Essex, Franklin, Herkimer, Madison, Oneida, Otsego, St. Lawrence, Tioga and Washington counties, and will... Read More

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer revealed that food products produced in China that are fraudulently labeled 'organic' threaten to undermine a lucrative and growing industry in Sullivan County - the organic farming industry. Schumer said that reports have shown that some Chinese growers are mislabeling their products as "organic" and he today called on the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to more aggressively act to halt the practice. If it continues, consumers' confidence in... Read More

Today, U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand and Congresswoman Louise Slaughter announced that $16,500,000 in federal grant funding would be coming to Niagara Falls to revitalize the Niagara Falls Customhouse which will soon be known as the Niagara Falls International Railway Station. The funding comes from the Department of Transportation's competitive TIGER grant program which was enacted as part of the stimulus bill. "Over two decades ago this community set its mind to turning... Read More

Normal 0 false false false ENUS XNONE XNONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Normal 0 false false false ENUS XNONE XNONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer released a letter to FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt urging him to reject a formal advisory group's recommendation to scale back the 1,500 hour training requirement... Read More

United States Senator Charles E. Schumer announced today that New York State has been made eligible for $55 million in funding to support lending programs for small businesses throughout the state. Part of the recently passed Small Business Lending Bill, the funding is designed to unfreeze credit, spur lending to small businesses, and help entrepreneurs get access to capital to create jobs. In order to access the dollars, New York State must demonstrate that for every one dollar of investment an... Read More

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer revealed that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has completed an audit conducted at his urging, and will beef up security at nuclear power plants around the country, as Schumer asked them to do in March.  Schumer requested the audit after it was revealed that suspected AlQaeda member Sharif Mobley was allowed to work at nuclear facilities in New Jersey for six years, before he moved to Yemen and was arrested for having ties with AlQaeda.   In the... Read More

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer formally requested the federal watchdog agency, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate the long wait times that New Yorkers must battle through in order to cross the border. A timely border crossing is essential to New York's economy which depends on the commerce and tourists that come through the international border. Current wait times of up three hours slow down economic activity and discourage the type of commerce that New York's... Read More