Senate Democrats elect NY’s Chuck Schumer as Senate minority leader

New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has been unanimously elected as the Senate Minority Leader Wednesday, taking over outgoing Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

Effective January when Congress begins a new session, Schumer will preside over the Senate affairs as the top Democratic leader. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) will be continuing to serve as Senate minority whip.

First elected in 1998, Schumer scored a landslide victory over Republican challenger Wendy Long on Election Day last week, paving a path toward his third term in Capitol Hill.

During the current congressional session, Schumer voted against the Iran nuclear deal and voted in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act and a bill enabling federal agencies and private entities to share information about cyber threats.

He has served on several committees in the Senate, including the Committee on Finance; the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; the Committee on the Judiciary; and the Committee on Rules and Administration.

When he visited Syracuse University in February, he held a brief press conference about the Reducing Educational Debt Act, a bill that would make the first two years of community college free, allow student loan borrowers to refinance at lower rates and increase the number of Pell Grants, which, unlike loans, do not have to be paid back.

In January, Schumer invited Sean McAllister, then a junior in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, to the 2016 State of the Union Address.