Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images This story is available exclusively to Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Chuck Schumer is now the most powerful of the country's 100 senators. The Senate majority leader needs to notch wins on President Biden's agenda to keep that title beyond 2022. To do that, the New York Democrat is leaning on an arcane budget technique that requires just 51 votes. Chuck Schumer's flip phone is one of the hardest working artifacts in Washington. That's clear to anyone who has watched the Senate majority leader navigate the labyrinth of tunnels below the US Capitol, his throwback technology glued to his ear as he carefully manages the 49 Democratic-aligned colleagues who constitute his fragile power base.