Chuck
Schumer is the senior Senator from New York. He’s a ranking member of the
Committee on Rules and Administration and is a member of the Senate Judiciary
Committee, Senate Finance Committee, and the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs
Committee. Schumer is a member of many subcommittees as well, including Crime
and Terrorism, Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection, and Taxation and
IRS Oversight. He raises a good amount of money for his campaigns, raising
$27,465,087 in 2004 and $19,519,748 in 2010. Schumer sponsors and cosponsors
more bills than almost any other Congressman, primarily in the areas of foreign
trade and international finance, taxation, crime and law enforcement, and
health.
A large
portion of Schumer’s campaigns are financed by Health PACs. He raised $198,142
from them in the past year, more than any sector except for Finance, Insurance,
and Real Estate. Schumer has traditionally had a strong stance on health and health
insurance, and in particular women’s health. 11% of bills he sponsors address
issues related to health. Recently, he voted nay to rescind funds from Planned
Parenthood on September 24, 2015 and voted yea to the Protecting Access to
Medicare Act of 2014. He also cosponsored a bill to protect women’s health from
corporate interference in 2014, and cosponsored a bill to protect a woman’s
right to determine whether and when to bear a child or end a pregnancy by
limiting restrictions on the provision of abortion services. Schumer was rated
100% by Planned Parenthood Action fund on January 9, 2015, reflecting his
voting record from the past six years.
Most
of Schumer’s contributions come from in-state supporters, at 64%. This may be
because much of Schumer’s work involves New York. He is one of the leading
members of Congress when it comes to earmarks, which are used to designate and
provide federal funding to companies, groups, and organizations, usually in the
Congressman’s district or state. He earmarked $291,421,190 in 2010, although
those groups receiving funds often didn’t contribute back to Schumer. He only
received .3% in contributions from those he provided earmarks for.
Surprisingly,
the top metro area that contributed to Schumer was not New York City, but the
Washington DC area. He received $15,600 from DC and only $11,550 from New York.
This correlates with some of Schumer’s committee work. Schumer is a member of
the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs and its subcommittees
Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection, Housing, Transportation, and
Community Development, and Securities, Insurance, and Investment. DC is a
low-income area with housing issues and so on.
I
didn’t find an incredibly strong correlation between Schumer’s policy making
and his campaign contributions. He is so entrenched in his Senate seat in New
York and has enough corporate backing that it would take a lot for him to lose
an election. He out-raised his opponents by an average of $23,067,004 for his
last two elections.
https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cycle=2016&cid=N00001093&type=I
http://media.cq.com/members/371?rc=1
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/charles_schumer/300087
http://votesmart.org/candidate/26976/chuck-schumer#.ViLEmxNVikp
http://www.schumer.senate.gov/legislation
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/charles_schumer/300087/report-card/2014
3 comments:
It's interesting that only about 64% of his contribution come from within state. I wonder if this could be because Schumer is a relatively well-known Senator in the political arena--he is one of the top contenders for the Minority Leader position in 2016. His general popularity and current position in the House is definitely helping him with getting more contributions from those in NY and those from everywhere else in the country. It seems as though it would be difficult for him to lose an election with that much financial support.
I also find it to be intriguing that Schumer gets greater contributions from DC than New York itself. It seems like when a politician has been in office for a good deal of time and has set up political connections and has expanded past just using the support of his constituents the politician becomes more national government and less state oriented, at least in terms of finance and seat security.
Like Mariel sand Phil said, and as we've been discussing in class, I think it's interesting that Senator Schumer receives most of his funding from DC. This probably comes down to two things: that he is a Senator and that he is a senior member of the Senate. Senators do more in Washington than House Representatives, so Senator Schumer has probably developed more of a reputation in DC than in his home state because of that. He is also a senior member of the Senate with a secure enough seat that he probably doesn't feel the need to do much work back in New York to guarantee his reelection. What are your thoughts?
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