Chuck Schumer

Schumer: GOP Has Lost Its Obstructionist Mojo

Sahil Kapur | February 3, 2012, 3:16PM

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

Does the Senate's passage of the STOCK bill suggest the Republicans have lost their obstructionist mojo? Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) seems to think so.

The third-ranked Senate Democrat made the taunt hours before the chamber's overwhelming 96-3 approval of the President Obama-backed STOCK Act Thursday, which aims to crack down on congressional insider trading. He accused GOP lawmakers of inelegantly dragging their feet on STOCK as well as the payroll tax cut in an effort to sink the measures.

"Haven't they learned the lesson?" Schumer told reporters. "Their obstruction, which they did more artfully last year, is now becoming clear to the public. Their idea of blocking bills with no fingerprints on them is gone. Everyone sees loud and clear what they're doing."

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Taxes

Senate Democrats Plan To Put Republicans On The Wrong Side Of The Middle Class

Brian Beutler | January 25, 2012, 3:11PM

Senate Democrats are preparing an aggressive legislative agenda to complement the vision President Obama outlined in his State of the Union Address. The goal is to test the idea that the public supports an agenda of aggressive federal action on behalf of the middle class, and that Republicans are locked in a pattern of reactionary opposition, even to popular policies.

The push is premised on the notion that the country has turned the corner on the fights over deficits and the size of government, and that keeping issues of equity and opportunity for the middle class at the center of the national debate will redound to Democrats' political benefit, either by breaking the GOP or by putting them on the wrong side of public opinion.

But in an extremely consequential election year, when consensus becomes an endangered species on Capitol Hill, it will take a groundswell of political pressure to force either party to work with the other on a substantive agenda. So expect the Dems to hawk these issues relentlessly.

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Payroll Tax Cut

Dems Redouble Efforts To Break House GOP Will On Payroll Tax Cut

Brian Beutler | December 21, 2011, 1:48PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

With Republicans so perilously on the ropes, Democrats aren't relenting in their push to break House GOP leaders' will, and force them to pass the Senate's payroll tax cut compromise. Not in the White House, not in the House, not in the Senate.

On a conference call with reporters this morning, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) -- joined by Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) -- called on John Boehner to wave the white flag.

"This is the end of the road," Schumer said. "The first thing that they have to do to show their good faith is pass the two-month extension.... I feel for Speaker Boehner because I know he didn't choose this path. But they're pretty far down a dead-end path."

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Payroll Tax Cut

Dems To Boehner: Take It Or Leave It

Brian Beutler | December 19, 2011, 10:26AM

Democratic senators and their aides say House Speaker John Boehner must allow a bipartisan, two-month extension to the payroll tax cut to pass before they'll return to Washington to negotiate an extension through the rest of the year.

On MSNBC Monday morning, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the third ranking Dem in the Senate, left Boehner an unkind choice.

"Speaker Boehner has two choices and there are only two," Schumer said. "The first is to pass the bill, the bipartisan bill, that the Senate passed 89-10 -- vast majority of Republicans, lot of tea party guys voted for it. The second is the middle class tax cut will lapse and he will be responsible."

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Chuck Schumer

Schumer: GOP Message Machine Can't Save Them From Tax Debacle

Brian Beutler | December 7, 2011, 2:26PM

Elaborating on a premise that should be familiar to TPM readers, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) told reporters Wednesday that the political terrain has shifted so much over the last several months that the GOP's playbook isn't working -- and it has them badly wrongfooted.

"You have to follow the broad movements underground that affect our politics," he said. "And it's happening. And they seem to be just stuck on the wrong side of issue after issue after issue. They're very good at messaging. They're very good, you know, they have some media people who just follow their line....but the weight of the issues and the place where America is at is so overwhelming that's no longer enough to sustain them."

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Barack Obama

Senate Dems To Boehner: Don't Even Think About Jamming Us On Payroll Tax Cut

Brian Beutler | December 7, 2011, 2:08PM

Senate Democrats are winning the political fight over the payroll tax cut. But Republicans still control the House and that gives them plenty of agency. Some reports suggest they might pass partisan legislation to extend the payroll tax cut, loaded full of GOP goodies, and then adjourn for the holidays, leaving Democrats holding the ball. (They've tried this before.)

Democratic leaders are fully aware of this and say they're not fazed. They're warning House Republicans not convince themselves they can get away with it.

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Super Committee

Schumer Predicts Super Committee Will Fail (VIDEO)

Brian Beutler | November 7, 2011, 11:18AM

Senate Democrats' top messaging strategist predicted Monday that the deficit Super Committee will fail to meet its required minimum target of $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction.

"I don't think the Super Committee is going to succeed because our Republican colleagues have said 'no net revenues,'" said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on MSNBC. "When Democrats move too far left, we lose. We're now -- the basic mainstream of Democrats...we're willing to move to the middle," Schumer said. "They are not willing to do any revenues."

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Chuck Schumer

Schumer Brands GOP Agenda 'Tea Party Economics'

Brian Beutler | October 12, 2011, 3:37PM

Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

Democrats' efforts to pass jobs legislation before the end of the year don't just rest on President Obama's bully pulpit and the hope that Republicans will demonstrate good will. They're actively trying to dismantle what's left of public support for the Republican economic agenda.

In a memo to party members and the media, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) -- the Dems' top strategist in the Senate -- argues that the GOP is intentionally blocking all measures that could improve the economy for political gain.

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Bush Tax Cuts

Schumer Adopts GOP Argument Against Obama Tax Plan

Brian Beutler | October 5, 2011, 2:00PM

Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

President Obama has made ending the Bush tax on incomes above $250,000 a year a top goal of his presidency. Republicans have predictably fought him at every turn, and used misleading statistics to characterize the plan as one that would cripple small businesses -- when in fact only sliver of the impact would fall on truly small businesses.

Wednesday, those Republicans got a big rhetorical assist from Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) -- a member of Democratic leadership, who has been a leading advocate for setting the threshold at $1 million in income.

"There are people making 250, 300 [thousand dollars] in many of our states who are not rich; there are small businesses struggling," Schumer told reporters at a Capitol press conference about Obama's jobs bill. "So we prefer the million dollars."

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Jobs

Reid Casts Doubt On Unanimous Dem Support For Obama Jobs Bill

Brian Beutler | October 5, 2011, 1:27PM

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY)

At a Wednesday Capitol press conference, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) again couldn't confidently predict that President Obama's jobs bill has the support of the entire Democratic caucus -- even after leadership tweaked some of its controversial measures to broaden party support for the plan.

"I don't know what 'unanimity' means," Reid told reporters. "We'll get most all the Democrats."

Unanimity, of course, means all Democrats -- which will be important. If one or two Democrats defect from the bill, Republicans can (and will) say that the opposition to the plan is bipartisan.

There's a chance that he could unite the party, particularly after replacing Obama's proposed tax measures with a simpler five percent surtax on millionaires to pay for the jobs programs.

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Jobs

Dems Float Surtax On Millionaires To Pay For Jobs Bill

Brian Beutler | October 4, 2011, 6:07PM

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)

Seeking to consolidate party support for President Obama's jobs bill, Senate Democrats are considering a proposal to impose a five percent surtax on millionaires to pay for the legislation, according to two party aides.

As currently written, Obama wants the joint Super Committee to increase its deficit reduction target by enough to pay for the whole jobs bill. That way its cost could be offset by spending cuts and revenue measures and other reforms that have bipartisan support. But failing that, Obama's bill would trigger a series of new taxes on wealthy Americans, including oil and gas companies, hedge fund managers and others.

This enforcement mechanism caused some strife in the Democratic caucus. Now, driven by party leadership and Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), whose powerful Finance Committee has jurisdiction over the jobs bill, they're considering a simpler, less parochial, and thus less divisive measure.

A Senate Dem aide cautioned that nothing's final yet, and the party could ultimately settle on different measures. And there's a history of broad Democratic support for raising taxes on millionaires.

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China

Dems, GOP Divided Over Picking Major Economic Fight With China

Brian Beutler | October 3, 2011, 8:45AM

Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

Public anger over the weak economy and populist resentment of the developing world's role in eliminating U.S. jobs will divide both parties on Capitol Hill this week, as a coalition of Democrats and Republicans make a major push to punish China for keeping its currency artificially weak.

Led by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the Senate is expected Monday to advance long-standing legislation intended to stop Chinese currency manipulation by making it easier for companies and workers to take legal action against illegal Chinese trade practices, and by forcing the federal government to impose economic penalties on China until Beijing allows the exchange rate between the dollar and the yuan to fall.

Economists say the yuan is undervalued by up to 40 percent -- a distortion that likely explains the massive trade imbalance between the U.S. and China, and the loss of hundreds of thousands (or more) American jobs as manufacturers set up shop there to save money. Reversing this would act as a form of monetary stimulus in the United States, and the idea is that the threat of these penalties will force China to raise the value of its currency.

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Taxes

Schumer: We Want A Vote On The "Buffett Rule" To Tax Millionaires

Brian Beutler | September 19, 2011, 1:53PM

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY)

Congressional Democrats will draw a sharp distinction between themselves and Republicans by pushing for a vote on the "Buffett Rule" -- that millionaires should, at the very least, pay taxes at the same overall rate as middle class workers.

In a sign that Democrats on the Hill see this as both effective politics and a significant step toward erasing medium term deficits, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) -- tasked with helping the party more effectively message its policies -- said members of Congress should have to go on the record on this issue.

"I'd find it very useful to make some proposal along the lines that fits within the confines of the Buffett rule and put it on the floor," Schumer told reporters in a Monday conference call. "When the President goes around the country and keeps talking about it, as I believe he will do, we are going to win this fight."

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Libya

Schumer: Cut Off Libya Aid If New Govt. Doesn't Turn Over Lockerbie Bomber

Eric Kleefeld | August 31, 2011, 12:26PM

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is calling for the United States to put a new condition on aid to the new government in Libya: Extradite convicted Pan-Am Flight 103 bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi.

"If the new Libyan government continues to shield this convicted terrorist from justice, then they should not get one more cent of support from the United States," said Schumer, NBC reports.

"We put American lives and money on the line to help the Libyan people secure their freedom. It's time the Libyan government lives up to its commitment to create a free and accountable society by handing over al-Megrahi so that justice can finally be done."

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Libya

Schumer Wants More Proof That Lockerbie Bomber is Near Death

Susan Crabtree | August 29, 2011, 4:27PM

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) wants more proof from Libyan officials to back up their claims that Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi is too incapacitated to be turned over to the U.S. government.

The Libyan National Transitional Council, or NTC, last night said al-Megrahi is in a coma and they have no intention of turning over the convicted terrorist.

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FAA

Reid Letter To Boehner Urges Swift FAA Fix Despite Congressional Recess

Susan Crabtree | August 3, 2011, 6:20PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has fired off a letter to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) offering an urgent compromise on Congress' latest impasse: the partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration.

The move comes just hours after President Barack Obama slammed the imbroglio for creating a "lose-lose-lose situation" and urged Congress to resolve the matter before the end of the week.

Complicating matters is the fact that many lawmakers are about to leave DC, or have left already, as this year's Congressional recess has now begun.

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Harry Reid

Debt Deathmatch? Reid And Boehner Introduce Incompatible Plans To Avoid Default

Brian Beutler | July 25, 2011, 3:56PM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

As advertised, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) are pushing dueling plans to raise the debt limit on or before August 2, to avoid a catastrophic default. The plans are similar in key ways, but differ on perhaps the last sticking point in the debt limit debate: Whether the debt limit should be raised all the way into 2013, or whether Congress should replay this debt limit fight again early next year, to force Democrats and Republicans to pass entitlement and tax reforms.

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Democrats

Senate Democrats Declare "Cut, Cap, and Kill Medicare" Dead On Arrival

Igor Bobic | July 20, 2011, 1:15PM

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

Senate Democrats today unleashed a torrent of criticism against the GOP's Cut, Cap, and Balance Act which passed the House late last night via a heavily partisan vote, re-branding it as a political scheme that would "kill medicare" and one that would never pass in the Senate.

"Let me make this as simple as I can: the Republican scheme to cap, cut, and kill medicare is dead on arrival in the senate," declared Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) at a press conference in Washington. "[It] would wreak havoc on our country's seniors, the middle class, military preparedness, and our country's standing in the world - their plan to cut, cap, and kill medicare is the Ryan plan on steroids."

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Eric Cantor

Cantor's Last Stand? GOP Leader Will Own Debt Talks Gridlock

Susan Crabtree | July 15, 2011, 5:55AM

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) has the weight of the world -- not to mention the full faith and credit of the United States -- on his shoulders these days.

The House Republicans' second in command has almost single-handedly stymied progress on a grand deal to produce $4 trillion in deficit reductions over the course of the next dozen years by flat-out rejecting any net tax increases be included, leaving no path for Democrats to negotiate a balanced bargain that allows some cuts to programs for seniors and the poor coupled with tax hikes on the wealthy.

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Debt Ceiling

White House: C'mon Guys, The Holy Grail Is Right In Front Of Us

Susan Crabtree | July 14, 2011, 4:02PM

President Barack Obama/PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS / POOL/EFE/Newscom

Seemingly undaunted by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's (R-VA) continued brickwall response to any deficit reduction deal involving net tax increases, the President plans to keep pressing Republicans to go for the "holy grail" and strike the biggest deal possible, according to White House spokesman Jay Carney.

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Debt Ceiling

Geithner On Debt Limit: 'No Way To Give Congress More Time To Solve This Problem'

Brian Beutler | July 14, 2011, 2:45PM

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says the time is all but up, and Congress must raise the debt limit by August 2, or unleash financial hell.

"There is no way to give Congress more time to solve this problem," Geithner told reporters in brief remarks outside the Senate chamber after meeting with the Democratic caucus.

"We're a country that meets its obligations, we're a country that pays our bills, and that we will act and do what's necessary to make sure that we can maintain that commitment," he added.

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Debt Ceiling

Silver Bullet? Reid, McConnell Hatch Plan To Avoid Default

Brian Beutler | July 14, 2011, 12:06PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) made clear that he wants to avoid a catastrophic debt default when he proposed a solution that would allow President Obama to raise the debt limit, but put a large political onus on the Democratic party.

Now, he and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) are privately crafting a modified version of that plan, which would ease up on the politics, but include some of the spending cuts bipartisan negotiators have identified.

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Eric Cantor

Top Dems: Eric Cantor Has To Go

Brian Beutler | July 14, 2011, 11:41AM

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY)

Behind the scenes, leading members of both parties have concluded that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) is an impediment to resolving the debt limit standoff, and should back down. Now, Democrats are publicly calling for him to get real or go home.

"House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has shown that he's shouldn't even be at the table," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) in a blistering floor speech Thursday morning. "And Republicans agree."

In a press conference shortly after Reid's floor speech, one of his top deputies, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) explained the Dems' frustrations.

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Taxes

Under Growing Criticism, Republicans Show Signs Of Anti-Tax Fatigue

Brian Beutler | July 7, 2011, 9:53AM

The details are still extremely murky. But House Speaker John Boehner might well break the Republicans' no-new-tax-revenue pact in a grand bargain that would have President Obama agree to trillions of dollars in spending cuts.

How we got from "hell no!" to "maybe!" is a still-evolving story. But the fact that it's a story at all reflects a key dynamic in the political fight over raising the debt limit: As much as Republicans oppose tax increases -- even new tax revenues -- they're also feeling pinched by a growing line of criticism that their anti-tax zeal is unreasonable, particularly compared to Democrats' openness to major spending cuts.

We saw this in a couple different ways yesterday. At his weekly Capitol briefing on Wednesday, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) made what sounded to many like a concession on taxes.

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Chuck Schumer

Is The GOP Sabotaging The Economy? Schumer: 'They Give Us No Choice But To Answer Yes'

Brian Beutler | July 1, 2011, 12:49PM

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

To a casual observer's eyes, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is flogging a dead horse. He keeps hinting that the GOP is intentionally try to damage the economy or forestall recovery because it will improve their election chances in 2012. But he also keeps inching closer to outright declaring it.

He took another step in that direction Friday. On a conference call Friday morning, another reporter asked Schumer whether he believes the GOP's committing sabotage (my words, not the reporter's). Here's his response.

"It's a thought you just don't want to believe in, because that would be [horrible]," Schumer said. "But every day they keep giving us more and more evidence that there's no choice but to answer the question 'yes.' They give us no choice but to come to that conclusion."

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Debt Ceiling

Schumer: Obama May Not Need Congress To Avoid Default -- But Congress Needs To Act

Brian Beutler | July 1, 2011, 12:10PM

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

On a conference call with reporters Friday, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) acknowledged that President Obama may not need Congressional authorization to avoid a default on the national debt. But he noted, too, that the Constitutional debate on this question isn't ripe enough yet for Obama to take an end run around Congress, even if Republicans refuse to increase the national borrowing limit.

I asked Schumer, a lawyer, whether, in his view, the administration had the power to continue issuing new debt even if Congress fails to raise the debt limit. He acknowledged that the question's been discussed, but said the White House probably shouldn't go there just yet.

"It's certainly worth exploring," Schumer said. "I think it needs a little more exploration and study. It's probably not right to pursue at this point and you wouldn't want to go ahead and issue the debt and then have the courts reverse it."

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Debt

Going Populist? Dems Put GOP On Spot Over Tax Benefits For The Super-Rich

Brian Beutler | July 1, 2011, 6:00AM

Several weeks after Republicans and Democrats began high-level negotiations to slash federal spending by trillions of dollars -- the GOP's price for raising the national borrowing limit, and avoiding a catastrophic debt default -- Democrats finally peeped up. New tax revenues, of some kind, of some amount, would have to be part of the deal.

The group, led by Vice President Joe Biden, had already identified nearly $2 trillion in cuts to discretionary and mandatory spending programs -- nearly enough to raise the debt limit through the end of 2012 and take a contentious issue off the table this election season.

That's when Democrats said, "your turn to give!" and put $400 billion in tax cuts on the table. Republicans balked. No tax hikes at all. Some Republicans have left the door open to closing certain indefensible loopholes. But party leaders have tried, for all intents and purposes, to take the tax code off the table. Cuts only.

The Democrats' response, from the rank and file up to President Obama, has been a political twofer. If Republicans are taking all taxes off the table, then they're playing reverse Robin Hood -- demanding trillions in cuts to social programs while refusing to budge on preferences to unfathomably wealthy special interests. It's class war, but in tactical sense. If they can make the GOP feel so uncomfortable that they agree to end special tax favors for the ultra-wealthy -- even if those favors don't ultimately cost that much money -- then maybe they can break the anti-tax firewall and encroach on $400 billion.

Here's what they're focusing on.

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Debt Ceiling

Schumer: Republicans' 'Slash-And-Burn' Policies May Be Effort To Sabotage Economy

Brian Beutler | June 30, 2011, 9:28AM

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY)

In a blistering Thursday morning speech at the Economic Policy Institute -- a progressive think tank -- Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) asked a question that's been on the minds of many Democrats and progressives: Are Republicans sabotaging the economic recovery as part of their quest to defeat President Obama next year?

"[W]e need to start asking ourselves an uncomfortable questions -- are Republicans slowing down the recovery on purpose for political gain in 2012?" Schumer said. "Senator McConnell made it clear last October that his number one priority, above everything else, is to defeat President Obama. And now it is becoming clear that insisting on a slash-and-burn approach may be part of this plan -- it has a double-benefit for Republicans: it is ideologically tidy and it undermines the economic recovery, which they think only helps them in 2012."

Schumer -- the third ranking Democrat in the Senate and the party's top political strategist -- has been inching in this direction ever since Republicans trotted out new-found opposition to a payroll tax cut for business owners. But the Thursday speech constituted an escalation of his strategy. And, in a new twist, he pre-emptively saddled Republicans with blame for economic fallout of a debt default if Congress fails to raise the debt limit in a timely fashion.

"If the public comes to believe that Republicans are deliberately sabotaging the economy, it will backfire politically," Schumer said. "If there are any negative repercussions on the economy resulting from the delay in raising the debt ceiling, Republicans rightly fear that Americans will hold them responsible."

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Chuck Schumer

Schumer To Boehner: If You Think You Can Raise The Debt Limit Without Dem Support, You're Dreaming

Brian Beutler | June 29, 2011, 3:49PM

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY)

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) says Republican leaders are kidding themselves if they think they'll prevail in their bid to keep new tax revenues out of a grand bargain to lift the nation's borrowing limit. And to prove it, he says, look no further than the House of Representatives.

[TPM SLIDESHOW: Battle Over The Budget: Behind The Scenes At The White House]

"Speaker Boehner should realize we're in a different world than we were even a few months ago," Schumer told reporters at the Capitol Wednesday. "He needs Democrats to pass a bill through the House."

A number of Republican House members have said they won't vote to raise the debt limit at all, or only under certain, highly partisan circumstances. Schumer's math suggests that means he'll need Democratic votes to pass a viable debt limit bill, and that means new revenues will have to be part of the equation.

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Debt

Top Dems Provide Fresh Detail On High-Income Tax Proposal That Led GOP To Abandon Debt Talks

Brian Beutler | June 24, 2011, 12:58PM

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)

Updated at 1:55 p.m.

Two of the top Democrats in Congress are calling out their Republican counterparts for abandoning high-stakes debt talks, and have provided new details about the tax proposals that sent the GOP packing.

"To paraphrase speaker Boehner, this was not an adult moment," said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on a conference call with reporters. "There needs to be revenues in any deal."

Schumer was not a member of the bipartisan debt discussion group led by Vice President Joe Biden. But Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) was, and on the call he explained the tax proposals Democrats tried to put on the table that the GOP rejected.

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Democrats

Democrats Explicitly Call Out GOP For Sabotaging The Economic Recovery

Brian Beutler | June 22, 2011, 12:36PM

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL)

They've made it explicit. Democrats are accusing Republicans of trying to sabotage the recovery -- or at least stall it -- by blocking all short-term measures to boost the economy, even ones they previously supported.

In a Capitol press conference Wednesday, the Senate's top Democrats argued that Republicans don't want to pass measures like a temporary payroll tax holiday for employers because they'll improve President Obama's re-election chances.

"Our Republican colleagues in the House and Senate are driven by putting one man out of work: President Obama," said Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL).

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Tax Breaks

Dems See Opening To Push GOP On Taxes After Ethanol Subsidies Vote

Benjy Sarlin | June 15, 2011, 3:01PM

Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Tom Coburn (R-OK)

Looking to exploit a rare rift between Republicans and anti-tax groups, Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Bob Menendez (D-NJ) renewed calls on Tuesday to include revenue increases in any deficit deal.

Some 34 Senate Republicans voted for an amendment ending ethanol subsidies on Tuesday, despite warnings from anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist that dropping tax credits counted as a tax hike. The divide over the issue is complicated and hinges on regional factors in both parties, but Democrats largely voted against the unsuccessful amendment due to stated objections to the procedure by which it was brought up.

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Medicare

Senate Dems Draw Line In Sand: No Medicare Benefit Cuts In Debt Limit Deal

Brian Beutler | June 14, 2011, 4:59PM

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) at a press conference in April 2010.

Before the last Senate recess, Republican leader Mitch McConnell (KY) made an epic demand: No raising the debt limit, unless Congress also agrees on a bipartisan basis to unspecified cuts to Medicare.

The strategy was clear. Republicans in both the House and the Senate are suffering politically back home after having voted for the GOP budget, which would phase out traditional Medicare and replace it with a private insurance system. One way to trigger voter amnesia on that vote, Republicans reason, is to replace it with another vote -- a bipartisan vote, with President Obama's support -- to "cut" Medicare.

That would become law, McConnell noted, and thus become the true -- and more warranted -- focus of voter reaction.

Democrats are biting -- but carefully. At a Capitol press conference, Democratic Senate leaders drew a clear line: Medicare cuts can be on the table, but not Medicare benefit cuts.

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Anthony Weiner

Republicans Look To Tar Democrats With Weiner Scandal

Benjy Sarlin | June 6, 2011, 5:35PM

Capitalizing off of Rep. Anthony Weiner's (D-NY) shock press conference admitting to sending lewd tweets to a college student, Republican officials are trying to tar Democrats with the lawmaker's scandal.

"It's time for Democratic leadership to explain why Congressman Weiner's actions never aroused any suspicion, and why they rushed to his defense while so many Americans were shocked and confused by his bizarre and disturbing behavior," Paul Lindsay, communications director for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said in a statement.

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Medicare

Senate Dems Call On GOP To Abandon Ryan Medicare Plan

Susan Crabtree | June 6, 2011, 1:28PM

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH)

With Republicans on the ropes when it comes to defending their proposal to privatize Medicare, a group of Senate Democrats is hoping to deliver a body blow to GOP plans to push for the proposal in talks about reducing the nation's spiraling debt.

Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Charles Schumer (D-NY) on Monday called for Republicans to take Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-WI) plan for Medicare off the table in ongoing bipartisan deficit-reduction talks.

"We owe it to our children and our grandchildren to pay down the debt but not at the expense of our seniors' healthcare," Brown told reporters on a conference call. "Ending Medicare as we know it should not be part of our debt-reduction negotiations."

Ryan's Medicare proposal has sparked a backlash with the public and has been roundly panned in national polls. Some Republicans are already distancing themselves from the plan, but GOP leaders and most of the party's presidential contenders remaining strongly committed to it.

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Chuck Schumer

Chuck Schumer Gives Newt Gingrich A Medicare Death Hug

Brian Beutler | May 18, 2011, 11:41AM

Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

Democrats couldn't be more thrilled to see the Republican party turn on Newt Gingrich. And they're capitalizing on it, politically.

In a conference call with reporters Wednesday morning, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) gave Gingrich a giant bear hug, saying he agreed with Gingrich's critique of the House Republican plan to privatize Medicare and warning Republicans that rejecting Gingrich locks them into a politically disastrous position.

"Newt and I are considered political opposites," Schumer said, "but I couldn't agree more with what he said Sunday about the House Republican proposal to end Medicare.... In a straight shooting way he acknowledged that this is right-wing social engineering."

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Newt Gingrich

As Newt Implodes, Democrats Pass The Popcorn

Benjy Sarlin | May 17, 2011, 4:30PM

Pres. Barack Obama and Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich

Newt Gingrich isn't the only victim of his political implosion this week. His biting remarks on the Republicans' Medicare plan come right as Democrats sharpen their attacks on the Republican budget -- and party officials are only too happy to bank his remarks for later.

"We're getting a gold mine of things we can use," Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), the chair of the DSCC in a difficult election cycle, told TPM when asked about Gingrich.

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Oil

GOP Closes Ranks Around Continuing Oil Subsidies

Brian Beutler | May 17, 2011, 1:15PM

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)

Republicans senators who in the past have supported ending tax subsidies to big oil companies are prepared to vote Tuesday night with their party leadership to keep those subsidies in place.

"I'm going to vote with my party," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) during a Senate vote Tuesday afternoon. "I just think oil subsidies have to be part of a bigger package. If you had expanded drilling, I would consider reducing the subsidies or eliminating them if you got more drilling as part of the package.

"I'm leaning against it because it looks like it's political," said Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL).

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Gas Prices

Dems: Ending Tax Breaks For Big Oil Will Have No Impact On Gas Prices

Susan Crabtree | May 13, 2011, 12:33PM

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

Senate Democrats have spent the week dismissing GOP claims that ending tax breaks for the oil industry would result in higher prices at the pump. Republicans argue that the big five would simply pass along those added costs to consumers.

"It's Economics 101," a spokesman for Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) told TPM earlier this week when asked for an explanation for the assumption.

Democrats brushed aside the claim as baseless, lame excuse for keeping the subsidies intact.

On Friday, the Democrats called in some economic expertise as backup to prove their point. Alan Krueger, an economic and public affairs professor at Princeton University joined Sens. Bob Casey (D-PA), chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on a conference call with reporters. According to Krueger's analysis, ending tax breaks for big oil will do nothing to increase prices, or produce such infinitesimally small increases as to have no palpable impact whatsoever.

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Gas Prices

Senate Dems and Oil Execs Face Off Over Tax Breaks

Susan Crabtree | May 12, 2011, 12:15PM

Oil executives testify at a Senate Finance Committee hearing.

Executives of the five largest U.S. oil companies received a harsh public flogging for near-record gas prices coupled with high profits for the first quarter of the year at a Senate Finance Committee hearing Thursday.

Democrats excoriated the executives for rejecting calls to end tax breaks for the industry when they stand to make record profits and gas prices are reaching an all-time high at the pump.

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