Sen. Charles “Chuck” Schumer
Senate Majority Leader and Senator for New York
pronounced CHAW-rulz // SHOO-mer
Schumer is the senior senator from New York and is a Democrat. He has served since Jan 6, 1999. Schumer is next up for reelection in 2028 and serves until Jan 3, 2029. He is 73 years old.
He is also Senate Majority Leader, a party leadership role. Party leaders focus more on setting their party’s legislative priorties than on introducing legislation.
He was previously the representative for New York’s 9th congressional district as a Democrat from 1993 to 1998; the representative for New York’s 10th congressional district as a Democrat from 1983 to 1992; and the representative for New York’s 16th congressional district as a Democrat from 1981 to 1982.
![Photo of Sen. Charles “Chuck” Schumer [D-NY]](/static/legislator-photos/300087-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Schumer is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the Senate positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills Schumer has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Apr 11, 2024. See full analysis methodology.
Committee Membership
Charles “Chuck” Schumer sits on the following committees:
Enacted Legislation
Schumer was the primary sponsor of 64 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- S.J.Res. 33 (117th): A joint resolution joint resolution relating to increasing the debt limit.
- S. 12 (117th): A bill to provide for an exception to a limitation against appointment of persons as Secretary of Defense within seven years of relief from active duty as …
- S. 11 (117th): A bill to provide for an exception to a limitation against appointment of persons as Secretary of Defense within seven years of relief from active duty as …
- S. 2815 (116th): National Purple Heart Honor Mission Commemorative Coin Act
- S. 2047 (116th): A bill to provide for a 2-week extension of the Medicaid community mental health services demonstration program, and for other purposes.
- S. 2042 (116th): National Purple Heart Hall of Honor Commemorative Coin Act
- S. 1044 (116th): Fentanyl Sanctions Act
Does 64 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.
We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Schumer sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Health (21%) Economics and Public Finance (13%) Arts, Culture, Religion (13%) Transportation and Public Works (13%) Government Operations and Politics (13%) Commerce (11%) Taxation (8%) Armed Forces and National Security (8%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Schumer recently introduced the following legislation:
- S.Res. 638: A resolution calling for the immediate release of Ryan Corbett, a United States …
- S. 4096: A bill to amend title 28, United States Code, to provide for the …
- S.Res. 634: A resolution recognizing the cultural and educational contributions of the Youth America Grand …
- S.Res. 614: A resolution to authorize testimony, documents, and representation in United States v. Miller.
- S.Res. 579: A resolution to authorize testimony and representation in United States v. Kenyon.
- S.Res. 552: A resolution to authorize testimony and representation in People of the State of …
- S.Res. 522: A resolution to authorize testimony and representation in United States v. Todd.
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
As Senate Majority Leader, Schumer may be focused on his responsibilities other than introducing legislation, such as setting the chamber’s agenda, uniting his party, and brokering deals.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 1999 to Apr 2024, Schumer missed 76 of 8,355 roll call votes, which is 0.9%. This is better than the median of 2.8% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- United States Congressional Roll Call Voting Records, 1789-1990 by Howard L. Rosenthal and Keith T. Poole.
- Martis’s “The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress”, via Keith Poole’s roll call votes data set, for political party affiliation for Members of Congress from 1789 through about year 2000
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
