ICYMI: Sen. Schiff Marks One Year in U.S. Senate, Highlights Legislative and Oversight Accomplishments to Deliver for Californians

Washington, D.C. - In case you missed it, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) marked his one-year anniversary this week since being sworn in as U.S. Senator. Throughout the week, Schiff highlighted his legislative and oversight work and delivered his maiden speech where he laid out his record of delivering for Californians by fighting to lower costs, improving disaster resiliency and rebuilding in the wake of the Southern California wildfires, and defending democracy and the rule of law.

Read a summary of the Senator's first year in office, here.

View his video highlighting his record of wins for California over the past year, here.

See coverage highlighting one-year anniversary below:

Los Angeles Times: In first year in Senate, Schiff pushes legislation, party message and challenges to Trump

By Kevin Rector

Five months after joining the U.S. Senate, Adam Schiff delivered a floor speech on what he called "the top 10 deals for Donald Trump and the worst deals for the American people."

Schiff spoke of Trump and his family getting rich off cryptocurrency and cutting new development deals across the Middle East, and of the president accepting a free jet from the Qatari government. Meanwhile, he said, average Americans were losing their healthcare, getting priced out of the housing market and having to "choose between rent or groceries."

"Trump gets rich. You get screwed," the Democrat said.

The speech was classic Schiff - an attempt by the former prosecutor to wrangle a complex set of graft allegations against Trump and his orbit into a single, cohesive corruption case against the president, all while serving up his own party's preferred messaging on rising costs and the lack of affordability.

It was also a prime example of the tack Schiff has taken since being sworn in one year ago to finish the final term of the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a titan of California politics who held the seat for more than 30 years before dying in office in 2023.

Schiff - now serving his own six-year term - has remained the unblinking antagonist to Trump that many Californians elected him to be after watching him dog the president from the U.S. House during Trump's first term in the White House. He's also continued to serve as one of the Democratic Party's most talented if slightly cerebral messengers, hammering Trump over his alleged abuses of power and the lagging economy, which has become one of the president's biggest liabilities.

[…] He has introduced bills to strengthen homes against wildfires and other natural disasters, give tax relief to Los Angeles fire victims, strengthen California's fire-crippled insurance market, study AI's impact on the American workforce, reinstate a national assault weapons ban and expand federal tax credits for affordable housing.

He has also introduced bills to end Trump's tariffs, rein in the powers of the executive branch, halt the president and other elected officials from getting rich off cryptocurrencies, and end the White House-directed bombing campaign on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean.

[…] [Schiff] said he also believes Democrats need to "point out what they're for" to voters more often, and is proud to have put his name on bills that are important to him and he believes will bring down costs for Californians.

As an example, he said his recent Housing BOOM (Building Occupancy Opportunity for Millions) Act is about building "millions of new homes across America, like we did after World War II, that are affordable for working families," and is worth pushing even if Republicans resist it.

"As we saw with the healthcare debate, when Republicans aren't acting to bring costs down, when they're doing things that make costs go up instead, we can force them to respond by putting forward our own proposals to move the country forward," he said. "If Republicans continue to be tone deaf to the needs of the American people, with President Trump calling the affordability issue a hoax, then they're gonna get the same kind of shellacking that they did in the election last month."

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), a staunch ally, called Schiff a "legislative genius" who is "giving people hope" with his bills, which could pass if Democrats win back the House next year.

"He has a vision for our country. He has knowledge of issues par excellence from all of the years that he's served. He's a strategic thinker," she said. "I wouldn't question how he decides to take up a bill just because what's-his-name's in the White House."

[…] Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), who chairs the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, which Schiff sits on, said California represents a big part of the nation's agriculture industry and having Schiff on the committee "is a good thing not just for California, but for our overall efforts to support farmers and producers nationwide."

"I have known Sen. Schiff since we served in the House together, and we are both committed to advocating farmers' and rural America's needs in a bipartisan way," Boozman said. "We look forward to more opportunities to advance these goals together."

Looking ahead

What comes next for Schiff will depend in part on whether Democrats win back a majority in Congress. But people on both sides of the political aisle said they expect big things from him regardless.

Garcia said Schiff will be "at the center of holding the Trump administration accountable" no matter what happens. "Obviously, in the majority, we're going to have the ability to subpoena, and to hold hearings, and to hold the administration accountable in a way that we don't have now, but even in the minority, I think you see Adam's strong voice pretty constant."

[…] Schiff said he knew heading to the Senate as Trump returned to the White House that he would be dividing his time "between delivering for California and fighting the worst of the Trump policies." But his efforts to fix the economy and his efforts to resist Trump are not at odds, he said, but deeply intertwined.

"When people feel like the quality of life their parents had was better, and the future for their kids looks like it's even more in doubt, all too many are ready to entertain any demagogue who comes along promising they alone can fix it. They start to question whether democracy really works," he said. "So I don't think we're going to put our democracy on a solid footing until we have our economy on a solid footing."

CNN: The Story is With Elex Michaelson:

On marking his one-year anniversary since swearing in and lessons learned since becoming U.S. Senator:

[…] Well, there's a lot I've learned about the institution of the Senate and about the state of California. One of the first decisions I made was to seek a seat on the Agriculture Committee. I'm the first California Senator on that Committee in over 30 years. We're the number one agriculture producing state of the union. That position, that seat at the table has given me an opportunity to get to know farmers in the north state, in the Central Valley, in the Central Coast and the Imperial Valley, to get a better standing of the challenges facing farmers and farm workers, with tariffs, with immigration raids, with water issues and regulation. So that has been very eye opening and very enjoyable.

[…] But in terms of the institution itself, I remember, after just a couple months of voting on nomination after nomination - and it wasn't just the Cabinet secretaries, it was a whole range of different positions - asking my staff, "How long does this go on, the voting on the nominations?" And one of my new staff, but a long time Senate staff, said, "Six years." And I thought this was just something that happens in the early days of the administration, but no, you vote on all these nominations, and then within a couple of years, those people, a lot of them, leave, and you're voting on their replacements, and it never ends. So that has been a surprise how much time of the Senate is simply occupied by confirmations.

[…] But actually, one thing Elex, I do like about the Senate, it is much more collegial. There is more opportunity to get things done, and that is a welcome change from the House.

The Sacramento Bee: Sen. Adam Schiff: I'm not fond of Trump but am 'willing to work with anyone'

By David Lightman

Sen. Adam Schiff gave his first major speech in the Senate on Wednesday and recalled how he has had to endure bitter criticism from President Donald Trump and his allies, but remains hopeful about the country's future.

"Sometimes I have to break through the caricatures of right-wing media, and that can be a challenge," the California Democrat said.

[…] Schiff's 22-minute speech was a mixture of fond and worrisome remembrances of his first year as a U.S. senator and a message of hope.

[…] "I am a proud Democrat. I'm also willing to work with anyone to advance (bipartisan) efforts," Schiff said, "including that guy at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue who doesn't care for me very much.

"And who I'm not particularly fond of either," Schiff said. "Because life is too short, the problems are too great not to seize every opportunity to make progress."

Housing and hope

He mentioned the need for more affordable housing, lamenting that the nation's optimism has faded as people find affordability a recurring, frustrating problem.

"Is it any wonder that so many Americans believe the system no longer works for them?" he asked. "That hard work is no longer a guarantee of a good life, that sense for the first time in our history and for millions of Americans, that their parents' life was better, that their children's future is in doubt."

Such fears, Schiff said, are "a powerful and destabilizing force, because when our economy stops working, our democracy stops working."

He ended on a high note, at times getting so emotional he had to pause.

He vowed to fight for a country "where government is accountable and responsible to people, and yes, where right and truth and decency matter.

"It's the country my parents believed in, one that brought our family to California. And it's the America I still believe in."

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