(20.03.2024)
WASHINGTON — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke virtually to Republican senators during a closed-door meeting Wednesday and found a welcome reception.
But Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., declined a request by Netanyahu to address the Senate Democratic caucus, a spokesperson for Schumer said, adding: “Sen. Schumer made it clear that he does not think these discussions should happen in a partisan manner. That’s not helpful to Israel.”
(20.03.2024)
US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer convened a meeting Tuesday with executives from major American Jewish organizations to defend the lightning rod speech he gave last week calling for early elections in Israel to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“There was a fundamental question of whether he would backpedal or defend himself, and he very clearly defended himself,” said one the executive on the call Schumer held with the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
(19.03.2024)
It was here, he recalled, inside this hulking red brick school deep in south Brooklyn, where at 16 he was glued to his transistor radio to hear breaking news of the Arab-Israeli War of 1967. It was where he idolized Sandy Koufax, the Jewish pitcher for the Dodgers who refused to play on Yom Kippur, and learned it was cool to be proud of his heritage.
And on Sunday, Mr. Schumer, the New York Democrat, majority leader and highest-ranking Jewish official in the United States, returned to explain how his upbringing in Jewish Brooklyn in the shadow of the Holocaust prompted him to deliver a politically risky speech that brought about a watershed moment in the politics of U.S.-Israeli relations.
“I spent two months thinking about this and wrestling with it,” Schumer told me in an interview Friday. Far from being an attack on Israel, Schumer said, it was an attempt to shore up support for the Jewish state, particularly among young Americans who have known Israel only under Netanyahu’s leadership.
(15.03.2024)
But sometimes in Washington, the most telling indicator is not a public statement but the absence of one. Mr. Biden could have asked Mr. Schumer to hold back, so that he did not endanger the president’s future ability to deal with Mr. Netanyahu, with whom he now barely speaks. He could have said the United States should not express an opinion on the inner workings of Israel’s democratic processes. He did none of that.
Lawmakers and aides who have spoken with Mr. Biden in recent weeks say his anger at Mr. Netanyahu is now eating away at his reluctance to go public with his critiques.
What they are saying: „I‘m not going to elaborate on his speech,“ Biden said in response to a question at the top of his meeting with the prime minister of Ireland at the White House.
„He made a good speech, and I think he expressed serious concern shared not only by him, but by many Americans,“ Biden added.
(14.03.2024)
Behind the scenes: Schumer told senior White House officials on Wednesday that he was going to give a speech about Israel, but he didn‘t give them a copy of the speech or ask for their permission, U.S. officials told Axios.
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„I don‘t know if people in Israel really understand how big of a step it is for him to do this,“ one U.S. official said.
(14.03.2024)
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., delivered an address on the Senate floor to call for a two-state solution amid the conflict in Gaza and new elections in Israel.
Netanyahu sei „vom Weg abgekommen, indem er sein politisches Überleben über die besten Interessen Israels gestellt hat“. Die vom israelischen Regierungschef eingegangene Koalition mit weit rechts stehenden Extremisten habe zur Folge, dass Netanyahu „zu sehr bereit“ sei, „die zivilen Opfer im Gazastreifen zu tolerieren“. Dieses Handeln lasse die weltweite Unterstützung für Israel auf einen Tiefstand sinken. Das Land könne aber nicht überleben, wenn es zu einem „Paria“ – einem Ausgestoßenen – werde, warnte Schumer.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s warning that Israel risked becoming a “pariah” and his call for new elections marked a momentous moment in modern US-Israel relations.
(14.03.2024)
„As a lifelong supporter of Israel, it has become clear to me: The Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after October 7. The world has changed — radically — since then, and the Israeli people are being stifled right now by a governing vision that is stuck in the past,“ he said.
„At this critical juncture, I believe a new election is the only way to allow for a healthy and open decision-making process about the future of Israel, at a time when so many Israelis have lost their confidence in the vision and direction of their government,“ he said.
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He also called for a two-state solution.
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Schumer also called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to step aside.
Members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) Region 9A; American Postal Workers Union (APWU); United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers (UE) Eastern Region; New York City’s arm of Democratic Socialists of America (NYC-DSA); Adalah Justice Project, American Muslims for Palestine N.Y./N.J.; Jewish Voice for Peace-N.Y.; New York Communities for Change; the New York Working Families Party; and more took to the streets to call for “peace and justice for Palestine.”
They carried signs stressing U.S. worker demands for a cease-fire in the conflict that has killed more than 20,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including over 8,000 children.
Banners at the front show how much $ @ChuckSchumer, @HakeemJeffries, & @SenGillibrand have taken from AIPAC.
@StatusCoup
(17.08.2023)
The report came a week after two Democratic lawmakers told The Times of Israel that they were “dumbfounded” by US President Joe Biden’s decision to pursue the normalization agreement in addition to potentially accepting Israel into the US Visa Waiver Program, in what will shore up Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government at a time when they believe it is egregiously undermining the administration’s interests with its judicial overhaul and antagonizing policies toward the Palestinians.
(June 30, 2023)
Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) want President Joe Biden to forgive $50,000 in federal student loans per borrower. They claim that he can do this unilaterally through executive order.
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The $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan proposed by President Biden does not include any student loan forgiveness.
Earlier this week, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said the House has no plans to take up legislation that would boost military aid to Ukraine above levels included in the recent debt ceiling legislation, a position that put him at odds with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.).
“So I’ve asked Leader Schumer to ask the Senate to allow another Democratic senator to temporarily serve until I’m able to resume my committee work.”
In a statement, a spokesman for Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, said that Mr. Schumer would make that request of the Senate next week.
(Feb 15, 2023)
Driving the news: Israeli officials said Schumer and his delegation are expected to visit Israel Feb. 23–25.
“The Senate cannot leave until we get the job done, and Democrats will keep working with Republicans to find a path forward that everyone can support,” he announced on the Senate floor.
The Democratic leader began the so-called Rule 14 process on Wednesday evening to put a House-passed bill to avert the rail strike on the Senate calendar.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) recently floated using the legislation, known as “NOPEC,” as one way to respond to the group, which includes Saudi Arabia and Russia.
Some lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have gone even further, saying that the decision by the Saudi-led group to reduce production by 2 million barrels a day is a reason to significantly shift relations with Riyadh.
(26.02.2021)
„The Department of Defense briefed Congressional leadership before the action last night,“ confirms @PressSec
. „The administration has been briefing the Hill at the Member- and staff-level today. There will be a full classified briefing early next week at the latest.“
(26.02.2021)
“The Department of Defense briefed Congressional leadership before the action last night. The Administration has been briefing the Hill at the Member- and staff-level today. There will be a full classified briefing early next week at the latest,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.
Das kündigte der demokratische Mehrheitsführer im US-Senat, Chuck Schumer, gestern an. Trumps Amtszeit ist zwar diese Woche abgelaufen – aber das Verfahren könnte eine lebenslange Ämtersperre für ihn bringen. Die Demokraten wollen Trump wegen des Angriffs seiner Anhänger auf das US-Kapitol am 6.Jänner zur Verantwortung ziehen. Sie werfen ihm „Anstiftung zum Aufruhr“ vor.
(07.01.2021)
In an interview with The New York Post, Jacobs warned the congresswoman against launching a primary challenge against Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Jacobs argued that a race between Ocasio-Cortez and Schumer would harm both candidates’ careers and described Schumer as a “progressive.”
Other groups on the left were thinking about joining the call for Feinstein to step down but held off after Schumer’s office put out word that the Democratic leader was working on the situation, according to sources familiar with the haggling over Feinstein’s future.
Sen. Schumer went on to say “he’s being really dumb to do this,” to which Maddow replied “what do you think the intelligence community will do”, Schumer says “I don’t know, but from what I am told that they are very upset by how he has treated them and talked about them.”
So in Schumer’s words, the intelligence community will get back at you if they do not like what you have said about them and they have the power to do it.
(01.07.2020)
Saagar Enjeti and Ryan Grim evaluate Amy McGrath‘s victory in the neck and neck Kentucky primary race against progressive challenger Charles Booker.
Engel is liberal on most domestic issues but fiercely hawkish on foreign affairs, particularly on policies that advance Israel’s national security interests. He is considered a classic AIPAC-type congressman, one of a dwindling group of old guard Democrats who have helped maintain a semblance of bipartisan support for Israel in an era of political polarization and Democratic radicalization.
Krystal and Saagar discuss poll numbers and endorsements of progressive candidate Charles Booker in Kentucky.
(10.06.2020)
Progressives see hypocrisy rooted—not in principle or policy—but in maintaining power. “It’s almost like all the rules are thrown out the window if you’re not coming from the left,” progressive strategist Rebecca Katz told me.
Democrats asked for restrictions on how companies can use the money from the central bank’s bond purchases but were rebuffed by the administration during negotiations about the Cares Act, said a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.).
Schumer, D-N.Y., called for the investigations on MSNBC Saturday after Burr, R-N.C., Feinstein, D-Calif., as well as Sens. James Inhofe, R-Okla., and Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., were hit with allegations of selling large amounts of stocks before the coronavirus crisis rocked Wall Street.
“The answer, in one word, is yes. There should be and there will be,” Schumer said on MSNBC. “I don’t own any stocks. I think it’s a very bad idea for senators to own stocks.”