Free Republic

It’s hard to imagine a more warped and callous statement about the Iraq War than this one made by Senator Charles Schumer, when asked whether he would support a troop surge in Afghanistan: Yes. The bottom line is I think Obama’s trip was brilliant. Not in the short term, but in the long term, because it’s changed the whole debate. And the whole debate now is focused on Afghanistan more than on Iraq. So: It’s not the U.S. troops who gave everything so that Iraq has a chance at a stable, viable future.

Don't blame Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., member of two influential banking committees - the Senate Finance Committee and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - for IndyMac's collapse, says CNBC's Erin Burnett. Burnett, host of CNBC "Street Signs," disagreed with a claim by MSNBC "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough that a letter to regulators from Schumer caused a run on the beleaguered bank IndyMac, which eventually led to its failure and takeover by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. "I don't think Chuck Schumer caused a run on the bank," Burnett said on MSNBC's July 24 "Morning Joe." "This...

The $32 billion failure of U.S. mortgage lender IndyMac demonstrates just how differently the United States is governed than Canada. This from today’s Wall Street Journal: The director of the Office of Thrift Supervision, John Reich, blamed IndyMac’s failure on comments made in late June by Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.), who sent a letter to the regulator raising concerns about the bank’s solvency. In the following 11 days, spooked depositors withdrew a total of $1.3 billion. Mr. Reich said Sen. Schumer gave the bank a “heart attack.” “Would the institution have failed without the deposit run?” Mr. Reich asked...

A group of Democratic senators led by Charles E. Schumer of New York is appealing to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to block a set of contentious no-bid oil contracts that Iraq has decided to award to the Western oil giants Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP. And if that appeal, which Mr. Schumer’s office said it faxed in the form of a letter to the State Department on Monday afternoon, is not heeded, the senators will try to cut off financing for as-yet-unspecified programs in Iraq that are not directly in support of American troops, Mr. Schumer said in...

There are three reasons. First, Russia has a longstanding, close relationship with Iran and regards itself as Iran's protector. Second, the Russian economy benefits from its relationship with Iran by several billion dollars a year. Third and most important is leverage. Mr. Putin is an old-fashioned nationalist who seeks to regain the power and greatness Russia had before the fall of the Soviet Union. Russia's relationship with Iran is a key point of leverage over the West that he will not relinquish easily. To bring Putin's Russia on board we must make it an offer it cannot refuse. The offer...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   Renewed Attack on Privacy of Gun Buyers   Friday, May 02, 2008   This week, anti-gun U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) introduced National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) registration legislation that would invade the privacy rights of law-abiding gun owners.Cosponsored by like-minded Sens. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Carl Levin (D-MI), Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Jack Reed (D-RI), and Charles Schumer (D-NY), S. 2935 would, among other things, require the FBI to retain records of cleared firearm transactions for at least 180 days.  Current law requires...

Richard Reinwald sees the rising price of wheat and flour in the global economy - but his loyal customers at Reinwald's Bakery in Huntington only see the extra 80 cents they now have to pay for a loaf of rye bread... He had to raise the price to keep up with higher costs - such as the 100-pound sack of flour for which he pays three times more than just a year ago... New York Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer, who convened the hearing... "They don't have extra income for higher food prices and have to stretch their dollars, or even...

March 31, 2008 Group Tied to Pakistani Terrorist to Parade in Binghamton, NY Instead of those plastic toy swords sold at normal parades, they will be selling replicas of the one used by Mohammed to behead infidels.... The city of Binghamton, New York granted a group with ties to Islamic terrorist Sheikh Mubarek Ali Gilani a permit to publicly celebrate Milad-un-Nabi, or Muhammed’s birthday, in the streets of Binghamton this Saturday. The Muslims of the Americas (MOA), the name used by Jamaat ul Fuqra, or “Community of the Impoverished,” was issued a permit for a public celebration that includes a...

Following a spate of campus attacks and threats, including the fatal shootings at Northern Illinois University and a chilling message scrawled in a boys' bathroom at a Levittown high school, federal lawmakers are renewing a push to beef up gun-control laws, fund safety procedures and study the link between college shootings and mental illness. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), at a news conference yesterday in Manhattan, said he and congressional colleagues plan to step up efforts to close loopholes in gun-control measures and create a federal task force to come up with national school safety guidelines. They also plan to push...

I must say that I sympathize with the bind that Democratic leaders are in somewhat. Defeatism is forced upon them by their base. That's why they have no choice but but to insist that Iraq is going disastrously badly, that it was all a mistake, and that we should get out now. Where they have no choice but to acknowledge that progress has been made, they must insist at all costs that President Bush's policies have had nothing to do with it. It is a matter of political reality. Their base will throw them back into the minority if they...

Bloggers have caught a politician saying one thing in a speech, while carrying a very different rendering of a critical passage at a supposed "transcript" of that speech. The difference is significant. The transcript whitewashes a slander on the performance of US troops in Iraq delivered by a United States senator. Specifically, New York's Charles Schumer gave a made a speech on the floor of the Senate last week ascribing the turnaround in the Anbar province in Iraq to the locals, and discrediting the notion that American troops could have had anything to do with it.

Schumer: “[L]et Me Be Clear. The Violence In Anbar Has Gone Down Despite The Surge, Not Because Of The Surge. The Inability Of American Soldiers To Protect These Tribes From Al-Qaida Said To These Tribes: We Have To Fight Al-Qaida Ourselves.” (Sen. Charles Schumer, Congressional Record, 9/5/07, p. S 11090)

Chuck Schumer, senior Senator from New York and self-described member of the Democratic leadership team in the Senate, really knows how to make friends and influence people. This morning, in a speech on the Senate floor, he explicitly told the U. S. Marines in Anbar province that they've failed and are a part of the problem, not part of the solution. Let me be clear. The violence in Anbar has gone down despite the surge, not because of the surge. The inability of American soldiers to protect these tribes from al-Qaeda said to these tribes, "We have to fight al-Qaeda...

Sen. Charles Schumer is a legendary pursuer of television cameras. But look at the way the national media are covering Schumer's heavy-breathing pursuit to make Attorney General Alberto Gonzales cry uncle and resign. It makes you wonder just how hard Schumer has to work to get press attention. The media appear Schumer-owned and operated. One interview really captures how the press acts more like a Democratic goon squad than nonpartisan observers of the national scene. On ABC's "Good Morning America," news anchor Christopher Cuomo, son of Mario Cuomo, asked this pushy question on July 27: "Is Alberto Gonzales out of...

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) declared that his decision not to lead a successful filibuster in January 2006 of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito's nomination was one of his "greatest failings" as a senator. In an address to liberal legal scholars of the American Constitution Society, Schumer said that after watching the work of the newly constructed "Roberts court" the past 18 months, he would block any future Supreme Court nominee of President Bush's should a vacancy arise between now and January 2009. Schumer's address covered his views on the confirmation processes for Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts. Conservatives have...

WASHINGTON -- Senator Charles Schumer says the federal government should scuttle its Department of Homeland Security. The New York Democrat is particularly incensed by the agency's plan to require passports to drive across the Canadian border. He says he's trying to convince his fellow Democrats in the Senate to dissolve the Homeland Security department into smaller agencies. But Schumer says he's not sure if there are enough votes to dismantle the agency formed in response to the September Eleventh terrorist attacks. Speaking to a group of New York business leaders in Washington, the senator called the department a conglomerate that's...

President Bush, urging Congress to craft a war spending bill quickly, offered no clues Saturday about whether he'll compromise over linking U.S. support to stability in Iraq. Bush and Congress have been talking about how to agree on a bill to finance combat operations through September. The president demands the money without strings attached, but Democrats say Bush eventually must accept some conditions on the U.S. commitment to the war. Earlier this week, Bush vetoed a $124 billion bill that would have provided money for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan while requiring troops to begin returning home by Oct. 1....

Radio host Don Imus on Friday took an obviously flustered Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., to task for never bothering up to visit wounded soldiers at the military's Walter Reed Hospital. While Schumer was quick to blast the Bush administration for failing to maintain facilities for wounded military personnel at Walter Reed, he was apparently surprised when Imus began questioning him about his own dealings with Walter

U. S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., embraces Iyanna Brown, 5, in front of an apartment building in Starrett City, in this Feb. 12, 2007, file photo in the Brooklyn borough of New York. President Bush's Housing and Urban Development Secretary, Alphonso Jackson, visited the nation's biggest government-subsidized rental complex Friday, Feb. 16, 2006, warning that a real estate mogul's $1.3 billion bid to buy Brooklyn's Starrett City could threaten the working-class housing market, saying: 'I will aggressively review this sale and give it close scrutiny.'

December 14, 1999 WASHINGTON A prominent commodities trader who acknowledges a business history with a reputed Soviet Bloc crime figure and a notorious arms dealer has been one of New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's top campaign supporters. Commodities trader Semyon (Sam) Kislin and his family also lavished thousands of dollars in contributions to Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer, to the Clinton-Gore re-election campaign, to former Republican Sen. Alfonse D'Amato and to a number of state and city politicians. Kislin sits on the New York City Economic Development Board. Kislin is not alone among emigres from the former Soviet Union who have...

While Democratic Sens. Charles E. Schumer (right) of New York and Richard J. Durbin (center) of Illinois voted to move ahead with the war resolution yesterday, Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, voted no in a parliamentary maneuver.

Politicians are forever trying to protect voters from themselves. Hence the relentless onslaught of campaign-finance regulations. They assume that the average citizen is not sophisticated enough to verify the truth or falsehood of political advertising. So laws are needed to punish anyone - primarily those with deep pockets - who would "mislead" or "deceive" the public. Or to prevent big-time donors from "corrupting" the political process. America's founders were loath to let the government draw the line between deception and hyperbole (or even embellishment), especially in the political arena. That's one reason the language of the First Amendment is so...

President Bush yesterday said there is a growing "income inequality" gap between rich and poor Americans, and told companies they should rethink the giant compensation packages they offer top executives. The markedly populist message, a divergence from the past, in which Mr. Bush has accused critics of practicing class warfare, was all the more noteworthy given his venue -- a speech at Federal Hall in New York, in the middle of Wall Street, the capital of capitalism. But the president called for conservative market-based answers, including demanding that Congress renew trade-promotion authority, which allows him to negotiate trade agreements then...

"But we support the troops!" Has there been any phrase that has been so used and abused by the Democrats as they seek to give themselves cover? But in one fell 'slip', Chuck Schumer gave away the game this morning: the claim to support the troops is a sham. It is merely something to be figured out later, after Democrats, with some Republican support, rush through a resolution telling our troops that the mission for which they are putting their lives on the line is not just meaningless but absolutely antithetical to our nation's interests. David Gregory interviewed Sen. Schumer...

An attorney for former ambassador Joseph Wilson, whose wife, Valerie Plame, is at the center of the Plamegate scandal in Washington, was raked over the coals by a judge Thursday for remarks she made the day before on MSNBC's Hardball. During an interview on the program, Melanie Sloan said that former administration official Scooter Libby could still be convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice even though he may not have been the first person to reveal that Plame was a CIA agent. In a stinging rebuke from the bench, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton said that he "would not...

The city is losing its competitive edge and could give up its place as the financial capital of the world in as little as 10 years, a report commissioned by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Sen. Charles Schumer has found. On Monday at City Hall, the New York leaders were expected to discuss the report from consulting group McKinsey & Co. Bloomberg and Schumer have been concerned about what they say is a growing threat to New York's position as a global leader.

In a revealing new book on politics, Sen. Charles Schumer comes out with guns blazing - not at President Bush, but at his own Democratic Party. Schumer, one of the most powerful figures in Washington, rips his party for being in the clutches of special-interest groups for too long and for losing touch with the middle class. -snip His manifesto puts forth 11 meat-and-potatoes issues that he insists Democrats must press. He says the secret recipe to winning over the Baileys and other middle-class voters is a "50 percent solution." That means Democrats should aim to boost math and reading...

"U.S. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. along with Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. greet Buffalo residents staying at the Edward Saunders Community Center in Buffalo, N.Y. on Saturday, Oct. 14, 2006." "Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., listen to the concerns of an elderly Buffalo resident staying at the Edward Saunders Community Center in Buffalo, N.Y. Saturday, Oct. 14, 2006. A rare early October snowstorm dumped a record 8 inches Thursday, downing tree limbs and toppling power lines, leaving more than 155,000 customers without electricity. Clinton canceled a trip to Nevada so she could visit the area."

HOUSE PASSES ATF REFORM BILL . . . With a 277-131 vote, the U.S. House of Representatives last week passed HR 5092, the "Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) Modernization and Reform Act of 2006." The legislation, which represents a major advance in protecting the rights of firearms retailers, now heads to the Senate. Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) have threatened to stall Senate consideration. The bill will bring consistency to ATF enforcement actions and provide ATF with additional compliance tools short of license revocation.

Associated Press WASHINGTON — President Bush blamed Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid today for the potentially fatal blow dealt to compromise immigration legislation. The landmark bill, which would offer eventual citizenship to millions of illegal immigrants, fell victim Friday to internal disputes in both parties. But Bush — echoing earlier complaints from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn. — sought to place all the blame on Reid, D-Nev., who refused to permit votes on more than three Republican-backed amendments. "I call on the Senate minority leader to end his blocking tactics and allow the Senate to do its work and...

It reads like a novel on the New York Times best selling list. A little over a year before a U.S. Senatorial campaign, two politcal operatives who work for an influential and clearly partisan U.S. Senator, illegally obtain the personal credit report of an African-American U.S. Senatorial candidate, who's trying to make history by being the first black U.S.Senator to represent the state of Maryland. At first glance, it looks like a slam dunk for any news media individual or company trying to garner attention and sell papers or increase their ratings. The story involves "illegal political spying" which seems...

    As the Dubai ports fiasco unravels, it's worth examining the performance of key players in the last few weeks' debate. The senior senator from New York, Charles Schumer, has played a central role. He is the exploiter-in-chief of the Dubai acrimony and merits the first look.     Mr. Schumer has barely missed an opportunity to promote himself. On Wednesday, he hoodwinked fellow senator and Democrat Ron Wyden of Oregon into making Mr. Wyden's unrelated amendment a carry-on for Mr. Schumer's Dubai ports grandstanding. Now, we're with Mr. Schumer on the substance -- there are serious problems with the Dubai deal --...

This weekend I've added the Saturday night/Sunday morning Fox/WSJ "Journal Editorial Report" to the mix.  It looks to be a very interesting addition (on "our side," maybe?).Last weekend I clearly missed the MSM spin on the "White House is being too secretive" meme (though I was on  the right track with the "they're being mean" idea).  When I post a meme it is simply my best guess and I'm desperately reaching out for others to correct or augment anything I post.  That's the purpose of my thread.  Not to declare "this is what is" but to ask "is this close"...

The Washington Timeswww.washingtontimes.com Whose mainstream is it?By Herbert LondonPublished October 7, 2005 Sen. Hillary Clinton, New York Democrat, addressing supporters at a recent fund-raiser in Quogue, said: "I deplore the radical left and the extremists on the religious right. I am in the 'mainstream.' " This is indeed a curious comment from a woman who reflexively defended every position on the left throughout her political peregrination.     Surely there is a method to this ploy. Americans don't like extremists, so the senator has veered to the center. But this is not a true center, "a vital center" as Arthur Schlesinger...

After two days of intense legal questioning, Supreme Court nominee John Roberts finally addressed a subject most Americans could relate to: His favorite movies are "Doctor Zhivago" and "North by Northwest." Frustrated by Roberts' answers, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., suggested on Wednesday that if he dared to ask the nominee his favorite films, he would get a discussion of cinematography and why "Casablanca" is considered one of the greatest. Instead, Roberts answered flat out, bringing laughter from the audience and senators alike. "North by Northwest," Alfred Hitchcock's 1959 classic, starred Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason and Martin Landau,...

So, while many Americans were busy contributing money, clothing and other necessities for hurricane-devastated Gulf Coast residents, what was Sen. Chuck Schumer up to? Raising money off the backs of Katrina's victims — for the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee. In one of the more cynical tricks we've seen lately, Schumer's DSCC urged visitors to its Web site to sign a petition urging the firing of Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown, the focus of much of the criticism of the federal response to Katrina. (Indeed, Brown was summoned back to Washington yesterday as Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad W....

WASHINGTON -- New York Sen. Charles Schumer, a member of the Judiciary Committee and an author of the Democrats' catechism regarding constitutional reasoning, soon will be questioning John Roberts. Herewith some questions someone should ask Schumer: Does Congress have the power to require Americans to floss after brushing their teeth? Or to regulate the amount of homework children do each night? The federal government's powers supposedly are limited because they are enumerated. As James Madison said in Federalist 45, "The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined." For seven decades, however, Congress has...

Democratic Senate Judiciary Committee point-man Charles Schumer said Sunday that he wanted to use confirmation hearings on Judge John Roberts to establish a new standard for the kinds of questions a Supreme Court nominee must answer to be confirmed. "I'm trying to set the predicate for future nominations," Schumer told WCBS TV in New York, "by asking and making sure that everyone agrees it's okay for us to ask a whole lot of questions and for him to answer them as a prerequisite for getting the nomination." The New York Democrat complained that "some on the hard right" don't want...

Illinois' senior Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), the Assistant Democrat Leader in the U.S. Senate, has wasted little time in launching against Judge John Roberts, President Bush's choice for the Supreme Court slot being vacated by retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Durbin has said that the President's decision to put forward John Roberts, 50, who he termed a "controversial nominee" guarantees a "controversial nomination process." Durbin previously clashed with Roberts during the confirmation process for the federal judgeship he now holds. Durbin questioned Roberts characterization of the Rehnquist Court as not necessarily conservative, saying that the the record of the court...

Senator Schumer is planning to use his seat on the Senate Judiciary Committee to reopen a battle he has already lost. "I voted against Judge Roberts for the D.C. Court because he didn't answer questions fully and openly when he appeared before the committee," Mr. Schumer said on Tuesday, referring to President Bush's nominee to the Supreme Court. But despite being rebuked by his colleagues for pressing inappropriate questions on Mr. Roberts when he was a federal appeals court nominee, Mr. Schumer has signaled he is going to revisit the same line of questioning. "It is vital that Judge Roberts...

Are We Dancing to the Tune of the Democrat War Room? In December of 2004, Harry Reid announced that he, along with Ted Kennedy and Chuck Schumer, were forming a Democratic War Room... I think that conservatives would have to admit that on issue after issue - The Democrats are keeping the Republicans off base just enough so that gridlock has emerged - even with the larger majorities that winning elections provides. Look back at the controversies in the year up to this point: War Crimes, Guantanamo Prison, Social Security reform, Immigration Reform, The Minutemen, Bolton, Carl Rove, Tom Delay,...

AgapePress) - A prominent Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee is being called to task for reported comments he made that clearly indicate his prejudicial stance on the White House's pending nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court -- whoever that may be. Two pro-family groups are saying the only proper step for New York's Charles Schumer to take is to bow out of the confirmation process altogether. According to news reports, Senator Schumer was overheard on Wednesday (July 6) discussing "how we are going to go to war over [judicial nominations]." In addition, the senator has stated "It's not...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US administration and Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan believe China is set to revalue its currency, two US senators said after agreeing to shelve an anti-China tariffs bill for now. Senators Charles Schumer and Lindsey Graham, after a meeting with Treasury Secretary John Snow and Greenspan, agreed to put off a late-July vote on their tariffs bill after being assured that a revaluation is coming. The Senators had been assured that the revaluation "could well occur in a very short while, in the next few months", said Schumer, an outspoken Democrat who has been campaigning for...

The old NRA slogan says, "Guns don't kill people. People do." That's no fun, if you're a "lawmaker" -- odious name for a representative, isn't it? U.S. Representative Stephen F. Lynch (D-South Boston), "has filed a bill seeking to pull the controversial drug [painkiller Oxycontin] from the market," reported the Boston Herald Saturday, May 7. In announcing his bill, Lynch referred to a recent robbery attempt in an Arlington, Massachusetts pharmacy. Two would-be thieves showed guns and demanded the druggist's Oxy stash. Lynch did not tell what happened next, which would have suited the NRA's purposes better than his. The...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Tracey Schmitt 202-863-8614“Senator Schumer’s unequivocal support for Democratic efforts to filibuster qualified judicial nominees is nothing more than partisan politicking. When President Clinton sent a nominee to the Senate, Senator Schumer cited the Senate’s ‘Constitutional mandate’ to provide a vote. It’s disappointing that Senator Schumer’s correct interpretation of the Constitution only applies when it suits his political agenda.” - Tracey Schmitt, Press SecretarySEN. CHUCK SCHUMER’S (D-NY) HYPOCRISY ON JUDICIAL NOMINATIONSDuring Clinton Administration, Schumer Believed Filibustering Judicial Nominations Indefinitely Was Not Right:In 2000, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) Said Government Does Not Fulfill Its “Constitutional Mandate” When Judicial...

Calculating Democratic Nonsense by Chris Shugart, Mar 5, 2005 On Feb 17, Democratic Senators Harry Reid and Charles Schumer announced the unveiling of their Social Security calculator, a political contrivance designed to "demonstrate" the unworkability of President Bush's Social Security reform proposals. It wasn't much of a news story until Schumer issued his own press release to the media. All of a sudden the news outlets were parroting the press release as if it was hard news, treating the story as if the Democrats really had just designed an actual Social Security calculator that functioned with the precision and accuracy of...

Questions for judicial nominees Posted: February 28, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com Two weeks ago, President Bush re-nominated 12 candidates for federal appeals court seats whose confirmations were blocked by Senate Democrats during his first term. Bush says judicial nominees deserve an up-or-down vote in the Senate. That's the way the Founding Fathers intended for the Senate to be heard on judicial nominees. Instead, Bush's political opposition, too weak to prevent most nominees from approval, has prevented the nominees from coming up for a vote. While I support some of Bush's judicial nominees, I oppose others. The effect...

WASHINGTON - The federal indictment of a graduate of a Saudi-backed Islamic school in suburban Virginia for plotting to kill President Bush is the latest example of the school's links to troubling activity, Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., charged on Wednesday. Schumer said he is asking Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, to explain where the school receives all of its funding, and whether the school may be "a breeding ground for anti-American sentiment - and, possibly even terrorist activities." It has been widely reported the school receives substantial funding from the Saudi kingdom. Schumer...

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) Monday named New York Sens. Hillary Clinton (D) and Charles Schumer (D) the Co-Porkers of the Month for February for pledging to fight the President's reforms of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. Sens. Clinton and Schumer lashed out at the President, with Sen. Clinton describing the federal grants as "a lifeline" for New Yorkers. President Bush's fiscal 2006 budget includes 154 program cuts or terminations, saving a total of $20 billion. The CDBG program, which is providing $4.7 billion to cities and towns nationally in fiscal 2005, is on that list. The budget...

Senator Schumer kicked off his membership on the Senate Finance Committee yesterday by accusing President Bush of a scheme to "get back at the 'blue states'" through the tax-simplification initiative the White House is preparing. In a speech delivered to the Association for a Better New York, Mr. Schumer invoked Senator Moynihan, saying he had told Mr. Schumer to "do everything I could to get a seat on the Finance Committee." As a member of that committee, Mr. Schumer said, blocking proposals to eliminate the deductibility on federal returns of state and local income tax would be his "no. 1...