NOVELTY - Polymer (I) comprising acidic monomers and ionic monomers connected to form a polymeric backbone, is new, where the acidic monomers comprise at least one Bronsted-Lowry acid in acidic form, and at least one Bronsted-Lowry acid in conjugate base form having at least one associated cationic moiety, at least one of the acidic monomers comprises a linker connecting the Bronsted-Lowry acid in conjugate base form to the polymeric backbone, and ionic monomers comprise at least one nitrogen-containing cationic group or phosphorus-containing cationic group.    USE - (I) is useful for degrading biomass into sugars such as glucose, galactose, fructose, xylose or arabinose (all claimed). The polymer is useful as ionic salt catalysts for: non-enzymatic saccharification processes; hydrolyzing cellulosic materials to produce monosaccharides and/or disaccharides; saccharification of lignocellulosic materials, such as biomass waste products of agriculture, forestry and waste treatment; and hydrolyzing cellulose or hemicellulose to obtain ethanol (bioethanol).    ADVANTAGE - (I) produces valuable products such as bioethanol in high yield form the water products, hence economical and ecofriendly. The polymeric catalysts: have a greater specificity for cleavage of a glycosidic bond than dehydration of a monosaccharide; can be regenerated during the reaction process; increase the rate and/or yield of saccharification compared to other known methods.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - Polymer (I) comprising acidic monomers and ionic monomers connected to form a polymeric backbone, is new, where the acidic monomers comprise at least one Bronsted-Lowry acid in acidic form, and at least one Bronsted-Lowry acid in conjugate base form having at least one associated cationic moiety, at least one of the acidic monomers comprises a linker connecting the Bronsted-Lowry acid in conjugate base form to the polymeric backbone, ionic monomers comprise at least one nitrogen-containing cationic group or phosphorus-containing cationic group, and at least one of the ionic monomer comprises a linker connecting the nitrogen-containing cationic group or the phosphorus-containing cationic group to the polymeric backbone. INDEPENDENT CLAIMS are included for:    (1) a composition comprising biomass and (I);    (2) a chemically-hydrolyzed biomass composition comprising (I), one or more sugars and residual biomass; and    (3) degrading biomass into one or more sugars comprising combining the biomass with (I) for a period of time sufficient to produce a degraded mixture, where the degraded mixture comprises a liquid phase and a solid phase, the liquid phase comprises sugars, and the solid phase comprises residual biomass, isolating at least one portion of the liquid phase from the solid phase, and recovering the sugars from the isolated portion of the liquid phase.