From the National Press Club in Washington, DC, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-GA) discuss their political priorities for the country. As chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Sen. Schumer played a roll in his party's recent reclaiming of the Senate. Newt Gingrich oversaw his party's reclaiming of House control in 1995. Sen. Schumer explains the issues that are most important to him in his new book, Positively American: Winning Back the Middle-Class Majority One Family at a Time. Speaker Gingrich's ideas are expressed in his 2005 book Winning the Future: A 21st Century Contract with America.
Bio
Newt Gingrich
Newt Gingrich is former speaker of the US House of Representatives. Now a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, Gingrich continues to advocate for smaller government and what he terms "fundamental values." He is also the founder and General Chairman of the American Solutions for Winning the Future group. On May 11, 2011, Gingrich announced he will seek the Republican nomination to run against Barack Obama in the 2012 United States Presidential election.
Gingrich is the author of Rediscovering God in America and To Try Men's Souls: A Novel of George Washington and the Fight for American Freedom.
Senator Charles Schumer
Chuck Schumer was elected to the New York State Assembly at age 23—making him one of the youngest members since Theodore Roosevelt. Six years later he was elected to Congress at the age of 29.
In his eighteen-year career in the House of Representatives, he accumulated an impressive slew of accomplishments, from the Brady Bill and assault weapons ban to the Violence Against Women Act and the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, from the Omnibus Crime Bill, which is the law that put 100,000 cops on the beat, to credit card and other consumer protection laws.
For the 2006 election cycle, Chuck was the senator in charge of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee (DSCC), the organization responsible for electing Democrats to that chamber; he has been widely recognized for crafting the successful strategy to win the majority for the Democratic Party.
In the newly formed 110th Congress, Chuck will again be in charge of the DSCC and, in his new role of vice chairman of the Caucus, is now the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate.