‘STALL’ IN THE FAMILY
Chuck’s tech-tie links to bill delay
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s extensive ties to Big Tech firms have raised questions about whether the powerful Democrat is putting the brakes on much-sought antitrust legislation being pushed by his own party.
More than 80 former paid staffers of the longtime New York lawmaker have leveraged their time with Schumer to secure prestigious jobs, working directly with companies including Amazon, Facebook, Google and Apple, according to data compiled for The Post.
The information was collected from publicly available filings of congressional staffers on LegiStorm — an online repository of data about congressional staffers and their compensation.
The analysis reviewed approximately 600 former paid Schumer staffers over the last 20 years and crossreferenced their employment history with other publicly available information — including lobbying registration, LinkedIn profiles and company Web sites — to determine their Big Tech ties.
Delaying a vote
The data comes as the Senate Judiciary Committee voted in January to move “The U.S. Internet Innovation and Choice Act and the Open Marketplace Apps Act” forward — but await Schumer’s green light for a full Senate vote.
“Schumer doesn’t want to bring the bills to the floor,” Matt Stoller, an antitrust expert and Director of Research at the American Economic Liberties Project, told The Post. “If he brings them to the floor they’ll pass — if you want to kill this legislation without being overt you’d just stop it from being put up for a vote.”
The Post was first to report that both of Schumer’s daughters are on the payroll of companies Schumer is supposed to be regulating. And the number of Schumer staff alums in Big Tech only adds to the perceived conflict of interest he has with a crackdown.
Jessica Schumer is a registered lobbyist at Amazon, according to New York state records. Alison Schumer works at Facebook as a product marketing manager.
Pro-consumer acts
Schumer’s office provided a list to The Post of various actions the senator has taken to protect consumers. They also note one anti-Big Tech FTC Commissioner, Becca Kelly Slaughter, is a former Schumer staffer.
“If The Post wants to run a story about some ‘list’ related to Senator Schumer and tech, start with the one I provided detailing endless consumer wins, tough antitrust policies and legislative actions that defy, disprove and dropkick any notion of ‘outside influence,’ ” Schumer spokesman Angelo Roefaro said.
The Senate majority leader has also been juggling a busy legislative calendar: confirming Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, getting funding to Ukraine, and most recently an effort to codify abortion rights.
And Schumer just made good on his promise to get anti-tech progressive Alvaro Bedoya confirmed as the fifth commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission — giving Chairman Lina Khan the majority she needs to rein in tech companies.
In a statement, the senator said the FTC can begin “cracking down on bad actor companies … using anticompetitive practices.”
But others suggest that Schumer may be stalling on bringing the bills to the floor as the midterm elections loom and he doesn’t want to ruffle the feathers of his Big Tech benefactors — some of which have come under fire for repressing free speech and operating as a monopoly.
Sole barrier
While Google employees and the company’s PAC have donated approximately $200,000 to Schumer this election cycle according to public filings, a vast majority of donations to Schumer come from dark money — which makes it hard to trace donors.
“Schumer is the only person standing in the way of bipartisan legislation regulating Google, Apple, and Amazon,” a former Senate staffer told The Post. “Given the staffers who work in Big Tech and money he’s raised from Big Tech there are deep concerns as to why he won’t move these bills forward.”
The Internet Innovation and Choice Act — or socalled “non-discrimination bill” — would stop platforms from “self-preferencing” their content. For instance, Amazon would no longer be able to promote its own content over thirdparty sellers on its e-commerce platform.
The Open Marketplace Apps Act would attempt to minimize Apple and Google’s duopoly on app-makers by giving developers more rights like allowing them to use their own payment processor and letting them contact users directly with various offers.
As recently as 2018, Schumer has said he was “sympathetic” and had been “pretty kind” to tech companies. Schumer has also called Facebook a “very positive force” and an “antidote” to the far right.
“I think [Schumer’s staff] might be underestimating how bad the optics are around his conflicts of interest if he does not put the antitrust bills up for a vote,” a former Schumer aide told The Post.