Our democracy is under attack. From Donald Trump’s big lie about a rigged election that incited the Capitol insurrection to Jim Crow-style voter suppression laws passed by state legislatures, there is a concerted, organized attempt to sow distrust in our elections and stop people from voting.

Despite Republicans trying to stand in the way, Chuck Schumer has never backed down in the fight to save our democracy. He continues to lead the fight to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, get dark money out of politics, secure our elections from Republican attacks and ensure every eligible American is able to cast their ballot.

For too long, big corporations and the wealthy have gotten even richer, while working Americans got left behind. When Republicans were in control of Congress and the White House, they passed billions of dollars in tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, and did nothing to help working families get ahead.

But Chuck Schumer puts working families first. As Senate Majority Leader, he passed the Inflation Reduction Act – without a single Republican vote. From fighting inflation to lowering the cost of health care to making corporations pay their fair share, the Inflation Reduction Act is one of the most important bills ever passed to support working Americans.

The Inflation Reduction Act

• Lowers the cost of health care by allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices for seniors, capping the cost of insulin co-pays and out-of-pocket drug costs for Medicare recipients and expanding the Affordable Care Act
• Lowers energy costs by providing tax credits and incentives for clean energy
• Creates good-paying union jobs and invests in American manufacturing to build a clean energy economy
• Makes corporations pay their fair share in taxes, while not raising taxes on any family making less than $400,000 per year

Bipartisan CHIPS and Science Bill

After years of advocacy, the Senate passed Chuck’s historic CHIPS and Science bill to help lower costs for families, address inflation, and strengthen national security. The bill provides billions in funding to manufacture more microchips in America, especially in Upstate New York, where — after years of relentless Schumer advocacy — Micron has announced it will invest $100 billion and build the world’s largest memory chip super-fab. Upwards of 50,000 jobs will be created.

The vast majority of microchips are currently manufactured in East Asia, but the Bipartisan CHIPS and Science bill will bring manufacturing back to America and invest in critical technology and research so New York and the country can lead the world in innovation.

Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill

After years of Donald Trump claiming “Infrastructure Week” was coming, Chuck Schumer delivered what Trump never did: historic investments in American infrastructure. Roads. Bridges. Broadband. Water-sewer systems and more.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure & Jobs Bill will deliver over $1 trillion to rebuild and revitalize America’s physical infrastructure, powered by good-paying union jobs

• Expands access to clean water and eliminates toxic lead pipes
• Ensures every American has access to reliable high-speed internet
• Repairs and rebuilds American roads and bridges
• Invests in public transit like trains, buses and passenger rail to connect communities and lower greenhouse gas emissions
• Upgrades ports and airports to minimize disruptions to supply chains and the economy
• Build a network of electric vehicle chargers across the United States
• Upgrades the American energy grid to deliver clean, affordable energy and make our energy system more resilient to the effects of climate change
• Invests in communities harmed by decades of pollution by cleaning up Superfund sites and former industrial and energy sites

Covid Relief

The COVID-19 pandemic is the worst public health and economic crisis our country has faced in a century. It demands bold, decisive action, and that’s what Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer delivered with the American Rescue Plan (ARP). The ARP is the most ambitious, anti-poverty legislation ever passed in American history, and it delivers $100 billion in aid specifically to New York.

• Direct checks: The American Rescue Plan included up to $1,400 direct stimulus payments to almost every American, including adult dependents.
• Funding for vaccines: Billions of dollars were allocated to speed up the production and distribution of the COVID vaccines, significantly increasing the rate at which vaccines get into people’s arms.
• Slashing child poverty: Through the expansion of the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit, families can receive up to $3,600 per child. This will cut the national child poverty rate in half.
• State and local relief: To support first responders, frontline healthcare providers and other critical government services, the American Rescue Plan sends $360 billion to state and local governments across the country and $23.8 billion to New York.
• School funding: The American Rescue Plan gives schools — from elementary schools to universities — critical funding to support students and ensure schools can reopen safely.
• Expanded Unemployment Insurance: Millions of Americans were forced out of work due to COVID-19. The American Rescue Plan provides an additional $300 per week in unemployment benefits through September, and guarantees that the first $10,200 of benefits are not taxable.
• Restaurants Act: $28.6 billion was set aside for hard-hit restaurants, who can receive grants to cover payroll, rent or other operating costs. This lifeline for small restaurants is based off the RESTAURANTS Act, a bipartisan bill championed by Chuck Schumer.
• Save Our Stages: Theaters and independent entertainment venues were the first places to close at the beginning of the pandemic, and they’ll be the last to re-open. Chuck Schumer championed the Save Our Stages Act to provide grants to hard-hit, live venues.
• Funeral Assistance: No one should go into debt paying for a loved one’s funeral, especially during the pandemic. Chuck Schumer worked with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to ensure Americans can receive a reimbursement of up to $9,000 for a loved one’s funeral costs.
• Paycheck Protection Program: Chuck Schumer passed a critical extension of the Paycheck Protection Program to allow small businesses to get loans to keep paying their employees during the pandemic.

For generations, we’ve told young Americans that a good education is the ticket to the middle class. But for more and more Americans, that dream has been pushed out of reach because of the sky-high cost of a college education and crushing burden of college debt. Chuck Schumer is committed to increasing access to quality education starting with our youngest children, and ending the college affordability crisis so a college degree doesn’t leave students in debt for decades. Schumer delivered a record billions of dollars in education aid during covid to help our entire education system weather, and then recover from, the covid epidemic.

Leading the Fight to Cancel Student Debt

Chuck Schumer is one of the most outspoken proponents of student debt relief – and worked with Senator Elizabeth Warren to lead the efforts to push Joe Biden to cancel student debt.

Following years of advocacy from Chuck, President Biden announced in August 2022 that the federal government would cancel up to $10,000 of student debt for people making under $125,000 per year and up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients.

More than 40 million Americans have student loan debt. It is a terrible burden that holds people back from going to college, buying a home or starting a business for the first time. Student debt also disproportionately impacts people of color. On average, black college graduates owe a staggering $25,000 more in student loan debt than white graduates.

Canceling student debt is one of the most effective ways to provide immediate financial relief to millions of Americans, close the racial wealth gap, and help build long-term economic opportunity.

In addition to leading the fight to cancel student debt, Schumer has long pushed to make college more affordable and help families keep up with the ever-increasing cost of a college education. He helped extend the Perkins loan program, greatly increased funding for Pell Grants, and created tax credits for students.

Early Childhood Education and Care

Studies show that the earlier children have access to a quality education, the more successful they’ll be when they’re older. That’s why Chuck Schumer has championed funding for early childhood education through programs like Head Start, which provides support for early education, social, emotional and nutritional health, social services and services for children with disabilities.

Chuck also expanded the child tax credit as part of the American Rescue Plan, which provides families with up to $3,600 per child. This policy radically reduced the child poverty rate and boosted families’ incomes. These policies have demonstrated positive impacts on children’s future educational attainment.

Climate Change

Climate change is a human-made and existential crisis, plain and simple. And it disproportionately harms poorer and working class communities and communities of color, making it not only an environmental crisis, but also an economic and justice crisis.

For years, Republicans in Congress refused to take action to stop climate change. But under Chuck’s leadership, Congress passed the biggest climate action in American History, the Inflation Reduction Act, which will reduce American greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030

The Biggest Action Against Climate Change in History

The Inflation Reduction Act is Congress’s biggest investment ever in tackling the root causes of the climate crisis – carbon pollution — and it makes a real impact in the lives of working families:

• Lowers energy costs at home and at the gas pump by providing incentives for making homes more energy efficient and tax credits for buying vehicles that run on clean energy
• Invests in American clean energy manufacturing, reducing our reliance on foreign energy sources and transitioning the U.S. to a clean energy economy
• Reduce American greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030
• Invests in environmental justice initiatives in communities disproportionately hurt by the impacts of climate change, like addressing the public health effects of air pollution
• Supports rural communities by investing in climate-smart agriculture and clean energy development while centering the role of rural communities in climate solutions

Chuck Schumer believes that every American deserves access to quality, affordable health care. As Senate Majority Leader, he beat the big pharmaceutical companies and ushered in some of the most significant measures to lower the cost of healthcare for millions of Americans.

• Lowered the cost of prescription drugs by allowing Medicare to finally negotiate drug prices for seniors
• Capped out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for Medicare recipients at $2,000 per year
• Capped the price of insulin co-pays at $35 per month for Medicare recipients
• Expanded the Affordable Care Act through 2025, lowering health insurance premiums and allowing tens of thousands of New Yorkers to gain coverage
• Passed additional funding for Medicaid through the American Rescue Plan to incentivize states to finally expand Medicaid

For decades, we’ve told seniors that if you work hard, you’ll be able to retire with dignity. That’s the promise of Social Security and Medicare. And as Senate Majority Leader, Chuck delivered on that promise by passing some of the most significant measures to lower the cost of healthcare for millions of seniors.

The Inflation Reduction Act

• Lowered the cost of prescription drugs by allowing Medicare to finally negotiate drug prices for seniors
• Capped out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for Medicare recipients at $2,000 per year
• Capped the price of insulin co-pays at $35 per month for Medicare recipients

For years, Republicans in Congress have tried to slash Social Security funding and privatize Medicare, and leave seniors without the benefits they’ve earned. And they’ve indicated that if they take back the majority in Congress, they’ll put Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block. Chuck Schumer stopped their attacks before, and is leading the fight to elect more Democrats who will save Social Security and Medicare.

From state legislatures to the MAGA Supreme Court, Republicans have launched an all-out attack on women’s rights at every level of government. Now, more than ever, we need leaders like Chuck Schumer fighting back against Mitch McConnell and the real threat of national abortion ban.

Protecting Abortion Access 

With the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the MAGA Supreme Court sent women’s rights back decades. They opened the floodgates for states to pass all-out abortion bans with no exceptions. And Mitch McConnell indicated that if Republicans take back the majority in Congress, they’ll try to ban abortion in every state, even in places like New York where abortion is currently safe and legal.

Chuck Schumer is leading the fight to lass federal legislation that will guarantee equal access to abortion, no matter what state you live in. By codifying abortion rights into federal law, a woman’s right to get an abortion will be protected, no matter what bans a state legislature tries to pass.

Paycheck Fairness and Equity

Women still make just 82 cents on the dollar compared to men for doing the same work, and the pay disparity is even larger for women of color. Chuck Schumer championed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which requires employers to ensure that their pay practices are non-discriminatory and to make certain that they keep the records needed to prove the fairness of pay decisions. Schumer also supports federal legislation to close loopholes in the Equal Pay Act that allow the gender wage gap to persist and strengthen protections for women in the workplace.

Reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act

Chuck Schumer helped write and pass the The Violence Against Women Act of 1994, the first federal legislation protecting women from domestic abuse. For decades, it strengthened the federal government’s ability to investigate and prosecute acts of domestic violence and provided support for victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence. Unfortunately, the Violence Against Women Act expired in 2019 and then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to even let the Senate vote on reauthorizing it.

But under Chuck’s leadership, the Senate broke through the gridlock and finally reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act in 2022.

When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, conservative Justice Clarence Thomas signaled that the right to same-sex and interracial marriage could be on the chopping block next. In the Senate, Chuck is leading the fight to enshrine the right to marriage equality and interracial marriage into federal law to against future attacks from the MAGA Supreme Court.

The LGTBQ+ community also still faces unprecedented and unjust discrimination. Many states states don’t have any laws prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, and we’ve seen a wave of state legislatures try to pass despicables bills that ban transgender kids from participating in sports or receiving gender-affirming health care.

As the proud parent of an LGBTQ+ person, Chuck Schumer believes it’s long past time for the federal government to ban discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community once and for all and pass The Equality Act.

Marijuana Legalization

America’s war on drugs was a failure, and it disproportionately hurt communities of color. It’s time to finally end the federal prohibition of marijuana.

Chuck Schumer introduced the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act, a historic bill to:

• Decriminalize marijuana at the federal level
• Expunge federal records for cannabis-related charges
• Creates grants for small businesses in communities disproportionately hurt by the failed war on drugs
• Funds research for research related to marijuana-impaired driving
• Restricts cannabis marketing to minors

Stop Asian Hate

Throughout 2020, Donald Trump spewed vitriol and misinformation about Asian people, like referring to COVID-19 as the “Chinese Virus.” This led to an alarming increase in hate and violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders that must stop. In response, Chuck Schumer helped pass the bipartisan COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, sponsored by Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) and Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI), to give the Justice Department and local communities the ability to more quickly review COVID-19 hate crimes, create resources in multiple languages, report incidents and educate communities on ways to talk about COVID-19 that are not racially charged.

Immigration

We are a nation of immigrants, and throughout our history, our country has always been powered by people who came to America in search of a better life. Particularly during the pandemic, immigrants have been on the frontline working in health care, farming, transportation, and other essential services. But our immigration system is broken and creates unnecessary fear and uncertainty for so many.

Chuck Schumer believes comprehensive immigration reform should be one of the Senate’s top priorities, as well as extending DACA provisions. He cosponsored the U.S. Citizenship Act, a comprehensive reform bill that will create a pathway to citizenship for both documented and undocumented individuals, reunify families, boost our economy, address the causes of migration from other countries to the U.S., and create a smarter and more secure border-management system.

He also supports creating a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients, or young immigrants who came here as children and have always considered the U.S. home.

America has a gun violence crisis — and it’s getting worse. Despite overwhelming public support for common-sense gun safety measures, Mitch McConnell and Republicans in the Senate refused to take any action to stop the devastating wave of gun violence while they were in power.

But with Chuck Schumer leading the Senate, Congress passed the first major bill addressing gun violence in nearly 30 years, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act:

• Enhances background checks for individuals under age 21
• Supports community-based violence intervention programs with $250 million in funding
• Provides funding for state crisis intervention orders (red flag provision) to keep guns out of the hands of individuals who are a danger to themselves or others
• Invests in mental health care for children and families
• Increases funding for schools to expand mental health and support services and create safer learning environments

Chuck Schumer wrote the original Brady Law requiring background checks on gun sales, as well as the original Assault Weapons Ban, and now as Senate Majority Leader he is committed to legislation that will keep guns out of dangerous hands and keep our communities safe. There is no single solution that will end gun violence overnight, but by establishing smart gun safety measures, like universal background checks, closing the gun show loophole, and red flag laws, we can keep guns out of the hands of people who could hurt themselves or others.

Universal Background Checks

As a member of the House of Representatives, Chuck Schumer wrote the original bill requiring background checks on gun sales from federally licensed dealers or manufacturers, also known as the Brady Bill. Since it went into effect in 1994, background checks have blocked 3.5 million gun sales because the purchaser was prohibited from owning a gun.

However, dangerous loopholes still allow some guns to be sold without a federal background check, like online or at gun shows. Chuck Schumer supports passing the bipartisan legislation known as H.R. 8, which would require background checks on all gun sales and close the gun show and online loopholes. Universal background checks have widespread public support. 93% of voters support background checks on all gun sales, including 89% of Republicans and gun owners.

Assault Weapons Ban

Chuck Schumer helped write and pass the 1994 assault weapons ban, which outlawed the manufacture and importation of semi-automatic weapons like the AK-47. The original assault weapons ban expired in 2004, and Congress has not renewed it since then. Semi-automatic assault weapons were designed for war and have no place in our communities, our streets or our schools, so Chuck will continue to push for a new assault weapons ban.