Schumer’s daughters work in big tech while Senate pursues antitrust bills

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s two adult daughters work for big tech, raising questions about whether he has conflicts of interest as the Senate pursues legislation to rein in the companies. 

The New York Post reported Tuesday that Jessica Schumer is a registered lobbyist for Amazon, while her sister Alison Schumer works for Facebook as a product marketing manager.    

Schumer’s first test could come soon, as a bill is making its way through the Senate Judiciary Committee that would prohibit companies like Amazon from ‘self-preferencing’ their content – essentially marketing their products over those from other sellers.   

A source close to Schumer told The Post he will back the bill once the mark-up process is completed. 

The bill, the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, is bipartisan legislation sponsored by Sens. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, and Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican. 

‘For too long, tech giants have used their power to suppress their rivals, unfairly put their products first in their marketplaces, and force sellers on their platforms to buy more services from them in exchange for better placement on their site. This has hurt both small businesses and consumers,’ Klobuchar said in a statement last week. 

‘A broad, bipartisan group of our colleagues agree and have signed on to our legislation to implement common sense rules of the road for these platforms,’ she added. 

Additional co-sponsors includes Republicans Sens. Lindsey Graham, John Kennedy, Cynthia Lummis, Josh Hawley and Steve Daines and Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal, Cory Booker, Mazie Hirono and Mark Warner.  

As Senate Majority Leader, Schumer decides which bills get a vote on the Senate floor. 

Schumer’s spokesman Angelo Roefaro told The Post that there was ‘no basis’ for the narrative of the newspaper’s story. 

‘Sen. Schumer is championing these issues both legislatively and with his appointments to federal agencies,’ Roefaro said. ‘He will fight for action and success that delivers a fairer and more innovative playing field for all.’ 

Jeff Hauser, the founder and director of the Revolving Door Project, told The Post that Schumer’s ties to big tech are cause for concern. 

‘When they are on opposite sides of the divide it can make the public servant member of the family too sympathetic to the company that employs their child or family member,’ Hauser said. 

Additionally, an unnamed progressive operative told the paper, ‘When you put together the amount of money Speaker Pelosi made off tech with the fact that leader Schumer’s two kids work for giant tech companies, Democrats are going to have a very hard time explaining if major legislation doesn’t move forward this session.’ 

‘It’s not just a messaging problem – it also raises substantive concerns,” the source said. ‘If you were a judge with a kid who worked for Facebook you’d recuse yourself from the case.’

Glassdoor indicates that a product marketing manager based in New York for Meta, the new name for Facebook’s parent company, would make an average base salary of $165,849, with additional income from cash and stock bonuses.  

Jessica Schumer hasn’t updated her LinkedIn profile to list her specific position with Amazon.