Us Senate | The New York Observer

The Schumer Option: A Short-Term Winner

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 09:34:00 -0400

We still don’t know for sure what the final Senate health care plan will look like, but the most likely resolution to one of the stickiest issues has been obvious since early May. That’s when Chuck Schumer outlined his own compromise vision for an optional government-run insurance package. His proposal, a “level playing field” public option that would be subject to the same rules that govern private insurance plans, was vintage Schumer, reflecting his...

The Anti-Gun Schumer Returns

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 13:38:00 -0400

In the minutes before the Senate barely voted down an amendment that would have allowed gun owners to carry concealed weapons across state lines, Chuck Schumer delivered an impassioned speech on the Senate floor urging his colleagues not to back the measure. "This amendment will incite a dangerous race to the bottom in our nation's gun laws," he said. It was like watching the Ghost of Schumer Past. As a member of the House of...

Obama's Grim Choice on the Public Option

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 21:22:00 -0400

A moment of choosing is fast approaching for Barack Obama and his party’s congressional leaders: to sacrifice the public option that the Democratic base holds so dear, or to stick with it, damn the consequences. Their decision looms as the difference between (almost) sure-thing passage of a compromise health care plan and an ugly, protracted legislative fight that could end up sinking all hopes of meaningful health care reform and severely wounding Obama. But...

What Is Jeff Sessions' Agenda?

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 06:56:00 -0400

How many candidates for Congress—Democratic and Republican—have you heard loudly insist that they don’t believe in party labels, just in doing the right thing? And how many of them, once elected, end up voting with their party pretty much all the time? It’s an absurd dance. Voters like hearing about “independence” and “bipartisanship,” so candidates indulge them, only to take office and immediately morph into the party-line loyalists they just spent a year swearing...

Obama's Dusk, Obama's Morning

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 06:43:00 -0400

High unemployment is the domestic equivalent of an unpopular war--an overpowering drain on presidential popularity that can’t be countered with policy achievements in other areas, personal charm, or any other conventional political weapon. Barack Obama may soon offer the latest affirmation of this. A few weeks ago came news that the unemployment rate for June had climbed to 9.5 percent—a slight uptick that silenced wishful suggestions that the economy had bottomed out and that...

The Swift, Brutal Primary Strategy of Kirsten Gillibrand

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:00:00 -0400

Earlier this month, Kirsten Gillibrand stood in front of the steps of City Hall to accept the endorsements of two more members of Congress and repeated her standard response to all inquiries related to her facing a potential primary challenge. "For my part, I am very focused on being the best senator I can be," Gillibrand told The Observer. "And I really do leave the politics to themselves. I think they will take care of...

Lots of Counties for Gillibrand, But Brooklyn Still Won't Take Her Calls

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:44:00 -0400

ALBANY—Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's campaign announced today she had been endorsed by the leaders of 52 of the 62 Democratic county leaders in New York. Among the holdouts: the chairmen of all five boroughs of New York City. I found Assemblyman Vito Lopez, also chairman of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, on the floor of the chamber and asked him what he was waiting for. "I initially supported Caroline Kennedy, and then when Caroline withdrew and the governor...

Senator Working Mom Keeps Working

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:24:00 -0400

Earlier today, Kirsten Gillibrand announced yet another family-friendly legislative proposal, this time to reduce the costs of child care for New York families. "The bottom line is that day care and early childhood education is very expensive," she said. The call introduced a six-part plan, part of which has been introduced by some of her colleagues and part which is original, to make child care better, more affordable and closer to home. "I am co-sponsoring Senator Barbara...

Tasini, At Least, Isn't Dawdling

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 12:08:00 -0400

While some members continue to toy with the possibility of challenging Kirsten Gillibrand for the Democratic nomination for Senate, Jonathan Tasini, the labor advocate, announced his candidacy on a conference call just now. Tasini, who took on Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination for Senate in 2006, said that he would not be intimidated by "party insiders clearing the field for a favored candidate" and called himself the "only progressive in the race." He also tried...

Obama Redefines the Debate for New York's Israel Boosters

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:59:00 -0400

Barack Obama is changing what it means to be a pro-Israel politician in America. That much is obvious from the unusually thoughtful, nuanced and varied reactions by officials in New York—the world capital of Israel-boosterism—to his criticisms of the Netanyahu government’s settlement policies. “I think Obama feels that this type of shock therapy will have an effect on Netanyahu and also cause some American Jews to rally to his side,” said Representative Pete King, a staunchly...

Gillibrand Consolidates, Maloney Denies That Biden Asked Her to Desist

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 11:52:00 -0400

As part of her continuing effort to become primary-proof, Kirsten Gillibrand announced on the steps of City Hall today the support of two more Democratic members of Congress, Ed Towns and Nydia Velazquez. "I'm extremely grateful," said Gillibrand, as she stood flanked by the two representatives in front of four reporters and one television camera. She called Towns a leader in the House and said that Velazquez introduced her to Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee Sonia...

Clinton on 'This Week': Like 2008 Never Happened

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 21:22:00 -0400

Exactly one year to the day after she formally ended her presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton appeared on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday on behalf of the man who beat her. Clinton, in her new role as Barack Obama’s secretary of state, presented the administration’s perspective on an array of international hot potatoes, from North Korea’s resurgent nuclear program to Israel’s reluctance to curtail its West Bank settlement program. Unintentionally, though, her performance served as a reminder...

Gillibrand Adviser: Sharpton Endorsement Part of Accelerated Rollout

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 14:17:00 -0400

A close adviser to Kirsten Gillibrand said that her endorsement this morning by Al Sharpton and Representative Gregory Meeks reflected a broad effort on the senator's part to accelerate the endorsement process with the goal of demonstrating irreproachable strength to stave off potential challengers. "All the endorsements have been pushed out to show momentum," said the adviser. "And Sharpton is a big catch, for sure." The announcement comes a day after reports that Vice President Joe...

Gillibrand Keeps Selling Senator Mom

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 10:30:00 -0400

In the latest installment of Kirsten Gillibrand's effort to rebrand herself as Senator Working Mom in the wake of a messy Senate selection process, she is today announcing a "three-point plan to address autism," according to a release from her Senate office. "With autism affecting more American children than pediatric cancer, diabetes and AIDS combined and with insurance companies not covering necessary autism treatment, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand will announce her three-point plan to help improve the lives...

Dr. Ruth Likes Kirsten Gillibrand's Acumen

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:30:00 -0400

During the Israel Day Parade on Sunday, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand walked a good distance up Fifth Avenue hand-in-hand with Governor David Paterson (on her left) and Dr. Ruth Westheimer (on her right). When I called Dr. Ruth to ask her about the experience. "I was impressed with her because she did a whole fund-raising campaign during the walk of a couple of blocks," said Westheimer, 80, referring to the senator. "She talked to them about what...

Ask Not What Arlen Specter Can Do for Sonia Sotomayor

Sun, 31 May 2009 21:46:00 -0400

In the fall of 1991, the political right was gunning for Arlen Specter. Four years earlier, he’d infuriated them by lending a critical assist to the successful campaign to kill Robert Bork’s Supreme Court nomination and he’d done little in the intervening time to make peace with them. Now, with Specter facing re-election in 1992, they were threatening him with a primary challenge. Specter seemed likely to withstand the challenge from Stephen Friend, a...

Schumer and Gillibrand Take Their Bows for Sotomayor

Tue, 26 May 2009 11:05:00 -0400

President Barack Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor as his first Supreme Court appointment amounts to another victory for Chuck Schumer, who has pushed for Sotomayor for weeks. And he is taking his credit. A statement just issued by Schumer's office points out that he, along with Kirsten Gillibrand, recommended Sotomayer back in April. In the statement, Schumer said that it was an especially wise choice because it met "three very important standards... excellence, moderation and diversity." Schumer...

Massa Still Not For (Or Against) Gillibrand

Tue, 26 May 2009 10:14:00 -0400

ALBANY—Representative Eric Massa, in his first term representing the Finger Lakes and Southern Tier, refused again this morning to endorse Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, or to utter any approving comment about how she's conducted herself on the job thus far. "I'm not even going to go there," Massa told reporters on his weekly conference call. "I have not looked at anything she's done. I have been so focused on what I'm trying to do for the...

Poll: Gillibrand Up, Paterson Still Down

Tue, 26 May 2009 09:30:00 -0400

ALBANY—A new poll finds Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, though still not particularly popular, at least making progress. A quarter the voters surveyed saying they are prepared to vote for her in 2010, up from 20 percent in March. Gillibrand has been working to raise her profile since she was appointed in January, unknown to most of the state. Recently, powerful Democrats, including Chuck Schumer and even Barack Obama, have intervened to help her avoid a primary. "The...

Representative: Is Obama Going to Do Something About Paterson, Too?

Fri, 22 May 2009 14:12:00 -0400

At least one member of the New York congressional delegation thinks Barack Obama may have set himself an untenable precedent when he pressured Steve Israel not to challenge Kirsten Gillibrand in a primary. The representative, a Democrat, said the delegation did not take kindly to the White House's intrusion into local matters anyway. But now that Obama, through the strong-arming of Israel by Rahm Emanuel, has demonstrated a willingness to involve himself in a New York race,...

A Delegation Divided: Serrano and the Gillibrand Holdouts Await Their Due

Fri, 22 May 2009 10:19:00 -0400

According to Jose Serrano, Kirsten Gillibrand is going after the low-hanging fruit first. In the days since Representative Steve Israel decided not to consider a primary against Gillibrand, following calls from President Barack Obama and Senator Chuck Schumer, other members of the New York Congressional delegation have quickly lined up in support of Gillibrand: Nita Lowey, Maurice Hinchey, Brian Higgins, Michael McMahon, Yvette Clarke, John Hall, Michael Arcuri. Soon Nydia Velasquez and Ed Towns...

The Dwindling Challenge to Gillibrand

Wed, 20 May 2009 21:52:00 -0400

One by one, Kirsten Gillibrand’s potential Democratic challengers are removing themselves from the race. Steve Israel, who seemed moments away from jumping in just a week ago, pulled the plug last Friday, while Scott Stringer backed out on Tuesday. Their decisions, of course, came under considerable duress, with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer pushing hard to clear the field for Gillibrand. The number of credible prospective challengers is now down to two: Carolyn Maloney and...

Now, Smith Backs Gillibrand

Mon, 18 May 2009 12:15:00 -0400

ALBANY—A few days after Representative Steve Israel announced he will not engage in a primary against Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, State Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith is endorsing her. Gillibrand already has the support of David Paterson, who appointed her to the seat, and of her senior colleague Chuck Schumer. Smith, in other words, isn't going too far out on a limb by endorsing her now. But the timing is good, coming, as it does, two...

Source: Israel Will Not Challenge Gillibrand

Fri, 15 May 2009 16:34:00 -0400

Representative Steve Israel will momentarily announce his decision not to challenge Kirsten Gillibrand for the U.S. Senate seat, said a source close to Israel. "He is doing it for party unity," said the source. Israel, in choosing not to run for a seat he terribly coveted, is apparently yielding to the pressure exerted by the Democratic establishment, and especially Chuck Schumer, which made its opposition to a potentially damaging Democratic primary clear in recent days. Israel, a four-term...

This Time, Schumer Doesn't Side With Wall Street

Fri, 15 May 2009 11:01:00 -0400

Pending more details, Chuck Schumer is supporting the Obama administration's proposals to provide greater oversight of the derivatives, credit-default swaps, and other complicated financial instruments that helped cause the present economic crisis. "We need to regulate derivatives and Obama's outline is strong and sensible and I look forward to seeing the details," Schumer said in a statement sent to The Observer. It might seem to be a no-brainer for a Democratic Senator to support his party...

A Last-Minute Same-Sex Marriage Push From Chuck and Kirsten

Tue, 12 May 2009 14:39:00 -0400

ALBANY—In a letter sent today, Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer are urging members of the State Assembly to pass a bill legalizing same-sex marriage. "We have expressed our support for full marriage equality in New York and for a reworking of federal law that denies full federal legal equality to anyone who is lawfully married in any state," the two wrote. "Passage of this bill will be a vital step to achieving that goal." The letter...

Why Steve Israel Is Doing It

Mon, 11 May 2009 21:15:00 -0400

You don’t have to like Steve Israel to respect the bold and risky move he’s apparently on the verge of making. The fifth-term Long Island congressman, to believe reports that are now leaking out all over, will soon declare his candidacy for the 2010 Democratic Senate nomination, a slot that most national and some state Democrats would prefer be reserved for Kirsten Gillibrand. Mr. Israel’s odds aren’t exactly good. Hardly anyone knows who he is, he’ll...

Steve Israel Isn't Blinking (or Announcing) Yet

Mon, 11 May 2009 08:39:00 -0400

ALBANY—According to two congressional sources, Representative Steve Israel began telling some colleagues late last week about his intention to mount a primary challenge to Kirsten Gillibrand, who was picked over Israel and others to be senator. Fred Dicker reported that the announcement could come as early as today, but I was told by two people familiar with his plans that a formal declaration isn't going to come until later. (Dan Janison's sources say the same..) For...

The Meaning of Chuck's Public Defense of Kirsten

Fri, 08 May 2009 16:28:00 -0400

The way people who know Chuck Schumer see it, that story on the front page of today’s Times about how the senator has grown defensive of Kirsten Gillibrand was part of a clear, don’t-even-think-about-it message to the handful of Democratic elected officials contemplating a run for Senate. According to two former Schumer aides I talked to, the message that the senior senator is throwing his weight behind Gillibrand should have an impact on her challengers' calculations because...

The Cold Calculations of Judd Gregg

Fri, 08 May 2009 09:49:00 -0400

A few months ago, Judd Gregg volunteered himself as symbol of Republican cooperation with the incoming Democratic president, offering to leave the Senate for an unglamorous Cabinet post in the Obama administration. The new president signed off on the idea and, on February 3, formally named Gregg as his nominee for Commerce secretary. Gregg heaped thanks and praise on Obama, and saluted his “bold and aggressive, effective and comprehensive plan for how we can get...

Republicans Wonder How to Sell a Toxic Brand

Tue, 05 May 2009 12:21:00 -0400

Hoping to re-brand their declining party, a group of prominent Republicans recently launched a national “listening tour,” presumably as an exercise in market research. They would like to know why voters—and especially younger voters—increasingly reject the G.O.P. They want to “ask the American people what their hopes and dreams are” while engaging in a “wide-open policy debate.” And they believe that all Americans deserve “access to high-quality, affordable health care,” and “a high-quality education...not...

Call Specter a Traitor, But Don't Call Him Unprincipled

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 21:49:00 -0400

It's easy to brand Arlen Specter's decision to leave the Republican Party-a move directly precipitated by his realization that his career would end with next year's Pennsylvania Senate primary unless he left the G.O.P.-a nakedly unprincipled act of political survival. And that's just what Specter's critics, on the right, on the left, and in the middle, have been doing this week. "Self-preservation in the first order" and "a cold, crass political calculation" is how G.O.P. chairman...

Lynn Yeakel Isn't Angry Anymore

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 20:00:00 -0400

Back in 1992, there was no senator that Democrats-particularly female Democrats-were more eager to beat than Arlen Specter, who the previous fall had listened to Anita Hill's claims of sexual harassment and responded by accusing Hill of "flat-out perjury." And they almost did beat him-with a candidate named Lynn Yeakel, a previously unknown fund-raiser for women's charities who was inspired to run after watching Specter browbeat Hill during her testimony in Clarence Thomas' Supreme Court...

Specter's a Democrat, But Now What?

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:03:00 -0400

Arlen Specter and the Democratic Party leadership cut a deal that makes plenty of sense on the surface: Specter is rescued from a doomed Republican primary campaign that would have ended his 30-year Senate career next year, while Democrats pick up what will be (after Al Franken is finally seated) their 60th vote in the Senate--enough, at last, to kill any and all Republican filibusters. But it's entirely possible that neither Specter nor the Democrats...

The Meaning of Specter's Switch

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:06:00 -0400

Forty-four years after he left the Democratic Party to launch his political career, Arlen Specter is returning to the fold in an effort to save it, announcing just moments ago that he will leave the Republican Party and seek re-election in Pennsylvania next year as a Democrat. Among the implications of this move: * The most talked about will be that Democrats, once Al Franken is finally seated, will have their coveted 60-seat super-majority, allowing...

Schumer, Gillibrand on Supporting Paterson for Re-Election

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 11:55:00 -0400

Both New York senators have expressed support for David Paterson, who gave a forceful speech in Harlem defending his record this weekend, in an attempt to dispense with the idea that he's vulnerable in next year's election. At the annual fund-raiser for the Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club, held in Riverdale Sunday night, I asked Chuck Schumer what he thinks about the fact that Paterson already has already had to talk about his re-election prospects. “I...

Protesters, Non-Rural Democrats Coming to Democratic Rural Conference

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:48:00 -0400

ALBANY—All of New York's Democratic elected officials will be gathering, or at least stopping in, at the Democratic Rural Conference being held this weekend at theGideon Putnam hotel. The crowd includes many definite and potential candidates for statewide office. The schedule is below. Of particular note are David Paterson and Andrew Cuomo, whose campaign committees will both host receptions tonight, and Representative Steve Israel, who represents a district that is far from rural but who...

In a Manhattan Office Building, Kirsten Gillibrand Meets Her Constituents

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:37:00 -0400

Hillary Clinton's old digs were stiflingly hot yesterday afternoon, teeming as they were with close to 150 eager New Yorkers, all of whom had taken the elevator to an "open house" event on the 26th floor of the red granite building on Third Avenue to welcome Clinton's replacement, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, to her new city offices. "Feel free to mingle wherever," said a staffer, trying to impose some order on the swelling crowd eager to...

What Is Norm Coleman Thinking Now?

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 06:58:00 -0400

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The Tragic Democratic Class of '08

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 07:04:00 -0400

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Gillibrand, Entrenching

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:24:00 -0400

Kirsten Gillibrand has brought in $2.3 million in an abbreviated first quarter of fund-raising activity for her 2010 campaign. The appointed senator boasted of her rake in an email that was ostensibly aimed at supporters but really directed at the media – and the ambitious Democrats who have been toying with the idea of challenging her in next year’s Democratic primary. The $2.3 million figure seems impressive, although the more relevant cash-on-hand total is still...

The Sad Saga of Chris Dodd

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 22:12:00 -0400

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Bloomberg and (Lots of) Company Announce $261 Million in Stimulus for the City

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 12:25:00 -0400

Michael Bloomberg just announced the city is getting $261 million in federal stimulus money that will preserve and create approximately 32,000 jobs throughout the five boroughs. Bloomberg was joined at the announcement in Greenpoint by Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, potential mayoral rival Anthony Weiner, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney and City Councilman David Weprin. "I want to thank President Obama and our congressional delegation for delivering this critical funding to New York City,"...

The Tunnel From Nowhere

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 19:17:00 -0400

Buried deep in the Web archives of Senator Charles Schumer’s press shop (trust us, the Schumer press-release archives are deep), there is a release boasting that the Senate Finance Committee had approved $2 billion in funding for a rail link to connect Lower Manhattan with J.F.K. Airport. With Democrats in control of Congress, approval of the funding was set to sail through the Capitol, the 2007 release suggested in a confident sub-headline: “Long Bogged Down...

Candidate Obama Versus President Obama

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 21:40:00 -0400

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Obama Sells Out a Friend From Connecticut

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 20:51:00 -0400

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Hillary: See Chuck and Kirsten About Obama's Helicopters

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 06:53:00 -0400

Hillary Clinton may not be allowed to push for a plan to build a controversial and pricey fleet of presidential helicopters for Barack Obama anymore, but Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand are picking up the slack. At a private party last week, Clinton said she did everything in her power as senator to make sure that the manufacture of the helicopters in upstate New York went forward, and that any concerns about the future of...

Why Would the Democrats Want Arlen Specter?

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 09:14:00 -0400

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One Way to Pay for a Memorial

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 17:03:00 -0400

The National September 11 Memorial and Museum is taking a numismatic turn. After a four-year effort to raise money from big donors locally and nationally, the memorial’s foundation is now trying to win support for the minting of a commemorative coin that could bring a few million dollars in new funding. The coin requires Congressional authorization, traditionally a competitive process as various nonprofit organizations—along with their sponsoring lawmakers—jostle for a limited number of slots. To this...

How Real Is the Gillibrand Primary?

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 21:01:00 -0400

Officially, it was in the interest of promoting a “fair, open and inclusive” process in the run-up to the spring 2010 state convention that ten Democratic members of New York’s congressional delegation wrote to June O’Neill, their state party’s chairwoman, late last week to urge her not to expend party resources on Kirsten Gillibrand’s re-election efforts. More significantly, though, their epistle served as a vivid reminder to Ms. Gillibrand (in case she needed one) that...