Schumer makes it 22 years in a row of going to all 62 counties in NY

Photos by Tom Rivers: U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer speaks in Medina last Thursday outside Medina Memorial Hospital. Schumer is pushing for federal funds to be released for more Covid testing sites, especially in rural communities like Orleans.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, with a stop in Greene County today, has completed a 62-county tour of the state. This is the 22nd year he has made it to all 62 counties.

Schumer was able to go to all of the counties despite Covid-19 and the increasing demands of his role in the U.S. Senate as minority leader.

Schumer said he is the first state-wide elected official to visit every single county in New York each year he has been in office.

“Twenty-two years ago, upon my election to the United States Senate in 1998, I promised that each and every year I served, I would visit all 62 of New York State’s diverse counties,” Schumer said. “Not only has this ritual remained a steadfast passion of mine because of all I learn from my constituents and bring to Washington, D.C. as both a senator and the Democratic Leader of the Senate.”

Schumer said he made 86 visits to upstate New York and Long Island. Last Thursday he was in Orleans County at Medina Memorial Hospital to highlight the need for federal funding to expand Covid testing in rural areas, especially options for free testing sites.

“Especially this year, when New York battled the global health and economic pandemic especially hard, visiting all 62 counties was vital for me to learn firsthand the struggles and needs of New Yorkers, from one end of the state to the other,” Schumer said. “Through a year that much has changed – I, too, traveled with masks and disinfectant in tow to much smaller and more understated events – one thing remained the same: my commitment, dedication, and love for New York.”

In recent years some of Schumer’s stop in Orleans County included:

• On Nov. 27, 2019, Schumer visited Miller’s Organic Hemp Farm on Route 98 in Carlton to discuss the emerging hemp industry and the need for federal government to improve regulations for sampling and testing hemp. Terry and Gina Miller hosted Schumer’s visit to their farm.

• Schumer was at the Village of Holley Police Department on Aug. 24, 2018 when he was in Orleans County. He launched a push to pass the “Providing Officers with Electronic Resources (POWER) Act” as part of a package of bills to address the opioids crisis across Upstate New York and the United States.

• The senator stopped in Kendall on Oct. 9, 2017 at the Eagle Creek Marina to highlight a push for federal funds for infrastructure updates that will improve Great Lakes fisheries and restore habitats through the Great Lakes Aquatic Connectivity and Infrastructure Program Act.

• On Nov. 11, 2016, Schumer joined Nelson Leenhouts, chairman and CEO of Home Leasing, to discuss the importance of keeping federal tax incentives for redeveloping historic sites, including the former Holley High School. Those tax credits were an importance piece in allowing Home Leasing to complete the $17 million renovation. Schumer also observed Veterans Day at the Holley VFW earlier that day.

• Anthony Piedimonte Farms in Hulberton hosted Schumer on June 29, 2015 to discuss a June 9 computer crash of the federal system that processes temporary farm-working visas. Schumer joined local farmers and urged the U.S. Department of State to fix the computer glitch. That computer crash created a backlog of stalled applications and prevented farms across the state from accessing legal temporary workers to harvest their crops.

• Aug. 14, 2014, Schumer was in Holley at the former Diaz Chemical, where he pressed the federal EPA to continue a Superfund cleanup.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer shakes hands with Terry Miller, owner of Miller’s Organic Hemp Farm, during a stop at the farm on Nov. 27, 2019.