Category Archives: Chuck Schumer

Tech leaders agree on AI regulation but divided on how in Washington forum

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Bill Gates, Sundar Pichai, Sam Altman and others gathered for ‘one of the most important conversations of the year’

A delegation of top tech leaders including Sundar Pichai, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Sam Altman convened in Washington on Wednesday for a closed-door meeting with US senators to discuss the rise of artificial intelligence and how it should be regulated.

The discussion, billed as an “AI safety forum”, is one of several meetings between Silicon Valley, researchers, labor leaders and government and is taking on fresh urgency with the US elections looming and the rapid pace of AI advancement already affecting peoples’ lives and work.

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‘What next?’ Schumer lambasts Texas judge’s abortion pills ruling

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Democrats including Senate majority leader warn of ‘dangerous new precedent’ set by ruling and vow to fight it

Democratic lawmakers are doubling down on outrage against Friday’s ruling that threatens access to a widely used abortion medication, saying the ruling sets a “dangerous new precedent” that could harm future medications approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

“Make no mistake, the decision could throw our country into chaos,” said the Democratic Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer on a call with reporters on Saturday. “Republicans have completely eviscerated the FDA as we know it and threatened the ability of any drug on the market to avoid being prohibited.

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McCarthy faces long battle for House speaker after he falls short on third vote

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House adjourned until noon tomorrow as McCarthy becomes the first nominee for speaker in 100 years to fail to win the first vote

In a historic delay, the House Republican leader, Kevin McCarthy, was on Tuesday facing a protracted battle to secure the speaker’s gavel after failing to win the first three votes on the opening day of the new Congress.

A fourth vote – and perhaps more, into the night – was avoided when the House adjourned, by voice vote, until noon on Wednesday.

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Six staffers arrested after climate sit-in at Chuck Schumer’s office

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On Monday, 17 people sat in the Senate majority leader’s office to demand he reopen climate negotiations

Six staffers were reportedly arrested in Congress on Monday afternoon for staging a sit-in at Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer’s office and protesting about a lack of legislative action on the environment.

The congressional staffers and activists had started the demonstration earlier Monday, with 17 staffers sitting in Schumer’s office to demand that he reopen climate negotiations, according to Saul Levin, a policy adviser for progressive congresswoman Cori Bush.

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Schumer ‘poisoned the well’ over debt limit, McConnell says in insult-laden letter

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Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, sought to fight his way out of a corner on Friday by releasing an angry letter in which he blamed Democrats for the impasse over the debt ceiling he broke by ending a refusal to co-operate he had said was absolute.

In the letter to Joe Biden, McConnell complained about a speech in which the Democratic majority leader, Chuck Schumer, attacked Republicans for their behaviour.

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Republicans join Democrats to advance $1tn infrastructure bill – video

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Chuck Schumer warned that coming to a bipartisan compromise could be 'hard' as Republicans joined Democrats to advance a $1tn infrastructure bill in the US Senate, remaining in session over the weekend.

The bill represents the biggest spending in decades on American infrastructure including roads, bridges, airports and waterways, in what Joe Biden has called a 'historic investment' in public works.

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Democrats present united front in For the People Act vote – video

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Democrats demonstrated unity in the US senate as the West Virginia senator Joe Manchin said he would vote in favor of advancing voting rights legislation known as the For the People act to the debate stage.

The Republican Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, denied any voter suppression was happening despite around 400 bills introduced in more than 43 states which could restrict the right to vote. The legislation would remove hurdles to voting.

In the evenly split Senate, Republican votes mean the bill will not garner the necessary 60 votes to advance.

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Trump impeachment: police bodycam footage shows Capitol attack – video

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Police bodycam footage showing officers under attack at the US Capitol attack has been released during the second impeachment trial for Donald Trump. Democrat congressman Eric Swalell played footage captured from the officer's perspective showing the crowd attacking police with whatever items were at hand, including crutches and a Trump flag. Swalell also revealed vision showing the evacuation of representatives including Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer being ushered away by security

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Senate leaders announce Trump impeachment trial rules – video

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On the eve of Donald Trump's impeachment trial on a charge of inciting the deadly US Capitol attack, Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority and minority leaders, have laid out the framework for the trial. ’All parties have agreed to a structure that will ensure a fair and honest Senate impeachment trial of the former president,’ Schumer said. Each side will have 16 hours to present their arguments and the trial will break on Friday afternoon and resume on Sunday afternoon

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Trump impeachment trial set to begin the week of 8 February, Schumer says

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The House will transmit the article against the former president on Monday, giving his legal team time to prepare their case

Opening arguments in the Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump are set to begin the week of 8 February, with the former president facing charges of inciting an insurrection at the US Capitol.

The Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, announced the schedule late Friday after reaching an agreement with Republicans.

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Chuck Schumer: Donald Trump impeachment trial will be full and fair – video

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The US Senate majority leader said the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, would transmit the article of impeachment on Monday. 'Make no mistake, there will be a trial, Schumer said. 'And when that trial ends, senators will have to decide whether they believe Donald John Trump incited the insurrection'

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Democratic and Republican senators unite to condemn US Capitol violence – video

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Senators from both sides of US politics have condemned the violence unleashed on the Capitol building on Wednesday.  The vice-president, Mike Pence, described it as 'a dark day in the history of the United States Capitol'. The Democratic Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, labelled the Trump supporters as 'goons', 'thugs' and 'domestic terrorists', while Republican Mitt Romney labelled the events 'an insurrection, incited by the president of the United States'

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McConnell revels in moving Amy Coney Barrett’s supreme court vote forward – video

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After the Senate voted to move forward with the final vote to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell spoke on the Senate floor, celebrating the lasting influence of the vote for posterity.

'By tomorrow night, we’ll have a new member of the United States Supreme Court,' he told the chamber.

The Senate voted 51-48 to move forward with the final vote for Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination, and the final vote for her confirmation will take place on Monday

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Democrats refuse to participate as Amy Coney Barrett nomination advanced – video

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Amy Coney Barrett’s supreme court nomination was advanced by a unilateral Republican vote to the full Senate despite Democrats’ refusal to participate in the Senate judiciary committee hearing for what they called a ‘naked power grab’.

Democratic senators stood outside the Capital and boycotted the vote to install Donald Trump’s third supreme court nominee less than two weeks before the election.

No supreme court nominee has ever been installed so close to a presidential election and, just four years ago, the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, and senator Lindsey Graham, who now chairs the judiciary committee, said that installing a nominee in an election year would be a shameful defiance of the will of voters

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Senate leaders make speeches before final vote – video

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Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell called for senators to ‘vote to reject the House abuse of power’ during a speech on Tuesday 4 February before a final vote scheduled for Wednesday afternoon on whether to convict Donald Trump. Democratic minority leader Chuck Schumer said that ‘the Republicans refused to get the evidence because they were afraid of what it would show’.

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Bolton’s book ‘goes to the heart of charges against Trump’ – video

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Chuck Schumer has called for John Bolton to testify at Donald Trump's impeachment trial after claims in a book by the president's former national security adviser that Trump tied military aid to Ukraine with his demand to investigate political rival Joe Biden. The Senate minority leader said the revelations in Bolton's book were 'stunning' and that any Republican voting against calling him as a witness would 'be part of the cover-up'.

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Donald Trump’s defence team sets out argument in impeachment trial – video

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The US president’s legal team has set out its argument in a three-hour session on the fifth day of the impeachment proceedings against him.

The White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, argued nothing Trump did in withholding aid to Ukraine merited impeachment. The Democrat leader, Chuck Schumer, said the legal team 'did not do a good job'

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‘Loose with the truth’: Chuck Schumer on the gravity of Donald Trump’s alleged offences – video

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Chuck Schumer, the US Senate minority leader, said Donald Trump’s defence team appeared 'unprepared, confused and unconvincing' during the first day of debate at the president’s impeachment trial on Tuesday.

All but one Republican voted against the amendments offered by Democrats, which was approved by the Senate on a party line vote in the early hours of Wednesday morning

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Iran crisis: Donald Trump receives praise and calls for caution after missile strike – video report

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The US president announced on Wednesday that Iran appeared to be 'standing down' after it launched more than a dozen missiles at Iraqi bases hosting US and coalition troops.

While Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, showed his support for the US president, other world leaders struck a more cautious note. European commission president Ursula von der Leyen called for dialogue to replace the use of weapons. 

In Washington, the US Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said Americans now feared for their safety.

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‘Trials have witnesses’: Chuck Schumer criticises White House handling of impeachment – video

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Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer criticized the White House for its handling of the impeachment inquiry, arguing a Senate trial without witnesses would be the equivalent of a 'cover-up' during a press conference before Congress recessed for Christmas.

'Trials have witnesses,' Schumer told reporters. 'To conduct a trial without the facts is to engage in a cover-up.'

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