Chuck Schumer: 'Friend Of Wall Street and War'

Last week Sen. Charles Schumer announced that he will oppose the Iran nuclear deal. Schumer's stance drew the ire of the White House and liberal groups such as MoveOn. Right-wingers such as Sen. Ted Cruz, however, praised Schumer for opposing the deal.

Schumer voted for the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002. In his speech, he repeatedly invoked 9/11 and voiced some of the same fabrications that the Bush administration became famous for: "While this behavior is reprehensible, it is Hussein's vigorous pursuit of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons, and his present and potential future support for terrorist acts and organizations, that make him a terrible danger to the people of the United States." See video at C-Span (which includes transcript) and here. In 2005, Schumer said he didn't regret his war vote.

According to OpenSecrets.org, his biggest funders are from the following sectors:

Securities & Investment: $3,877,905
Lawyers/Law Firms: $2,632,447
Real Estate: $1,583,089
Lobbyists: $717,513
Misc. Finance: $682,200

ZAID JILANI, Areo64 at gmail.com, @ZaidJilani
In March Jilani wrote the piece for Alternet: "Chuck Schumer -- Friend Of Wall Street and War -- Ready to Be Anointed Head of the Senate Democrats."

The piece states: "It's not surprising that Schumer would be able to collect so much support in such a short period of time. Recall that he was head of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, and helped recruit as many as one-third of the current Senate Democratic caucus -- and that he was the one who set about raising the funds necessary to bring them to power in the first place. ...

"'Wall Street Welcomes Expected Chuck Schumer Promotion,' read a CNN headline on Friday. 'It'll be a big plus to have somebody like that if he ends up being Democratic leader,' said former Republican Senator Judd Gregg, who until recently was head of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.

"When Senators Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Ted Kaufman (D-Del.) introduced an amendment to break up the largest banks, they were able to recruit the support of a handful of GOP senators, but Schumer worked alongside the Obama administration to kill it. He insists that capital gains tax rates stay lower than those of other income, a direct gift to fund managers. And he has kept alive the idea of granting corporations that store cash overseas to bring funds back to the United States if they are granted a large tax cut."

See this news release for more on Schumer's attempted disruption of the Iran deal.