Every year, Chuck commits to traveling to all62 counties in New York to meet with constituents.
On July 6, 2021, continuing his months-long effort to safely reopen the U.S.-Canadian Border, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer stood in Sackets Harbor to double down on his calls to immediately allow nonessential travel across the Northern Border and for the U.S. to unilaterally take steps to expand essential travel definitions for Canadian travel into the U.S. if a binational agreement for reopening is not reached between the countries by July 21st.
Despite the senator’s repeated calls for transparency – which he made in personal visits to the Northern Border and in direct calls to Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and Canadian Ambassador Kirsten Hillman – and demands for a detailed, publicized plan based on science and agreed upon by public officials and health experts from both governments, no such plan has been agreed upon. The senator said for residents in Northern Border communities that have economic, educational, property, medical, business, or family ties to Canada, the delay in reopening the border is unacceptable, especially given the high rates of vaccination against COVID in New York. Therefore, Schumer said it is high time for the U.S. and Canadian governments to give stakeholders on both sides of the border the clarity they deserve.
“It is imperative that U.S. and Canadian officials and public health experts continue to make headway on a plan to reopen the northern border to all vaccinated nonessential travelers that will allow for staged and steady border travel that will reunite families and friends and jumpstart local economies; however, if an agreement cannot be reached, New York communities, families and economies cannot continue to suffer and the United States must do two things: 1) expand the definition of essential travel to include vaccinated Canadian citizens with family, property, educational, medical, or business interest and 2) unilaterally open the Northern Border to those vaccinated Canadians,” said Senator Schumer. “For over a year, we have been told to follow the science, facts, and data, it’s time for the U.S. to do the same and finally take the first move in good faith to safely reopen the border vaccinated Canadians. Without a binational plan in progress to reopen the border, the U.S. must move unilaterally to allow northern border communities, families, and economies to fully recover from the pandemic.”