News Coverage
NBC News: Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Duckworth demand answers about Musk's Pentagon meeting
Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., are demanding information from the Defense Department about Elon Musk's meeting this morning at the Pentagon. "Did the Pentagon today provide Mr. Musk with a top-secret briefing today on U.S. war plans for China?" Warren and Duckworth asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a letter obtained exclusively by NBC News. They sought additional details about the briefing, including whether the Pentagon changed its original plans for the … Continue Reading
March 21, 2025
Bloomberg: Syria Sanctions Relief Sought by Bipartisan Pair of Lawmakers
A bipartisan pair of lawmakers is seeking sanctions relief for Syria as the country rebuilds after the fall of President Bashar al Assad. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, and Representative Joe Wilson, a South Carolina Republican, wrote a letter to to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent asking them to review the US's Syria sanctions policy with an eye toward removing some measures to help the country's development and counter the … Continue Reading
March 20, 2025
NBC News: Sen. Warren calls Trump's expected Education Department executive order a 'code red'
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., slammed Trump's attempt to dismantle the Education Department, saying in a statement that it's "a code red for every public school student, parent, and teacher in this country." "Trump is telling public school kids in America that their futures don't matter. Billionaires like Trump and Musk won't feel the difference when after school programs are slashed, class sizes go up, and help for families to pay for school gets cut," she said in a statement first to NBC … Continue Reading
March 20, 2025
Reuters: US Senate Democrats call on Trump Medicare nominee Dr. Oz to pay $400,000 in avoided taxes
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity physician nominated by President Donald Trump to oversee the government's Medicare and Medicaid health plans, should commit to paying over $400,000 in taxes he avoided, two Democratic U.S. Senators said on Thursday. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee that will decide whether to advance Oz's nomination to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and committee member Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, in … Continue Reading
March 20, 2025
Boston.com: Warren blasts NIH leaders amid funding disruptions
Sen. Elizabeth Warren demanded answers from National Institutes of Health (NIH) leaders Wednesday, accusing them of not knowing basic information about the agency and saying that the Trump administration sidestepped a basic court order. Warren excoriated NIH Acting Director Matthew Memoli and President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the agency, Jay Bhattacharya, in a new letter. She decried the "paralytic state" of the NIH amid Trump's funding cuts. Massachusetts, a national leader in … Continue Reading
March 20, 2025
ABC News: Warren warns of 'dire consequences' of Education Department firings for student loans
Sen. Elizabeth Warren is urging Education Secretary Linda McMahon to reinstate former Department of Education employees who were critical to the nation’s federal student aid process or else borrowers will suffer “dire consequences,” according to a letter Warren sent to McMahon on Wednesday. “The Department of Education (ED) appears to be abandoning the millions of parents, students, and borrowers who rely on a functioning federal student aid system to lower education costs,” Warren and a … Continue Reading
March 17, 2025
The Guardian: Democrats demand investigation into Musk over possible criminal corruption
Leading Democrats on Monday demanded an investigation of possible criminal corruption involving Elon Musk, the tech billionaire and world’s richest man tasked by Donald Trump with slashing the federal government. The investigation should involve “the Federal Aviation Administration’s decision to cancel a $2.4bn contract with Verizon to upgrade air traffic control communications, and to pay … Musk’s Starlink to help manage US airspace”, senators Chris Van Hollen, Richard Blumenthal and … Continue Reading
March 13, 2025
Bloomberg: Warren Calls for Ethics Probe Into Tesla White House Event
A group of Democratic senators led by Elizabeth Warren is calling for an ethics investigation into a White House event promoting Tesla Inc. The demand comes after President Donald Trump on Tuesday held an impromptu press conference to support his billionaire adviser and Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk. During the event, five Teslas were displayed outside of the White House. Trump praised the cars as "beautiful" and selected a red Model S to purchase. Musk, who is designated a special … Continue Reading
March 12, 2025
CNBC: Senators to Trump Social Security nominee: ‘You will be responsible’ if benefits are interrupted
Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Ron Wyden of Oregon are warning Frank Bisignano, the nominee to lead the Social Security Administration, that he will be responsible if staff cuts interfere with the agency's ability to process and disburse benefit checks. President Donald Trump has nominated Bisignano, chief executive of payments and financial technology company Fiserv, to serve as commissioner of the agency, which is responsible for sending monthly benefit payments … Continue Reading
March 12, 2025
STAT: Warren asks HHS watchdog to investigate GSK over its asthma inhaler maneuvers
After a year of controversy and complaints, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is asking a federal watchdog to investigate GSK for replacing a popular asthma inhaler with a so-called authorized generic at a much higher price in order to avoid paying Medicaid rebates. In a letter sent Tuesday to the Office of Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Warren accused the company of "outrageous profiteering" because the maneuver cost Medicaid nearly $1 billion in … Continue Reading
March 12, 2025
Reuters: Democratic lawmakers slam Pentagon for scrapping climate studies
Democratic lawmakers slammed President Donald Trump's administration for canceling U.S. military studies on the impact of climate change, saying the move jeopardizes national security by ignoring climate-related risks at home and abroad. Scientists say climate change is increasing the intensity and frequency of hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding and wildfires. The lawmakers, in a previously unreported letter to U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, say that translates into damage to military … Continue Reading
March 12, 2025
Reuters: US Senator Warren demands Medicare nominee Dr. Oz sever industry ties
President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the agency overseeing Medicare should divest financial ties to healthcare and pharmaceutical companies that could benefit from his policy decisions, Democratic U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren said on Wednesday. Television personality and surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz is scheduled to appear on Friday before the Senate Finance Committee, on which Warren sits. The panel will hold a confirmation hearing for his nomination to be administrator of the Centers for … Continue Reading
March 11, 2025
Axios: Why housing affordability keeps getting worse
Not only have home prices soared over the past decade, but it's the "affordable" homes that have seen the biggest price increases. Why it matters: Rising prices, exacerbated by a shortage of affordable homes, put homeownership out of reach for many, driving them to a rental market that's also seen remarkable cost increases. Zoom out: It's a doom loop. A shortage of affordable homes means that buyers compete fiercely for the cheapest ones, pushing up prices. Prices for the bottom third of … Continue Reading
March 11, 2025
Business Insider: Democrats want to work with Trump's education secretary on one big thing for student-loan borrowers
President Donald Trump's new education secretary might find room for agreement with Democrats on a key issue: making sure student-loan servicers do their jobs. On Monday night, Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren led a group of Democratic lawmakers, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Rep. James Clyburn, in sending a letter to Education Secretary Linda McMahon regarding oversight over the companies that manage millions of student-loan borrowers' federal loans. "Despite our … Continue Reading
March 10, 2025
Breaking Defense: Deputy defense secretary nominee has ‘clear conflict of interest’ with Ligado lawsuit: Sen. Warren
Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren is raising concerns with deputy defense secretary nominee Stephen Feinberg’s ties to Ligado Networks, arguing that Feinberg’s family or the private equity firm he founded could financially benefit from the ongoing lawsuit between the communications company and the US government. Feinberg’s Cerberus Capital Management owns about 14 percent of the communications company’s debt and 24 percent of its preferred stock, according to court documents cited by Warren in … Continue Reading
March 10, 2025
Axios: Scoop: Trump hiring freeze hit anti-terrorism jobs
Recruitment for anti-terrorism posts at the Treasury Department was halted last month, despite a carveout in President Trump's hiring freeze for national security jobs. Why it matters: Treasury's Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI) office tracks terrorist and criminal financing and is responsible for enforcing a wide range of government sanctions. Democrats pushed Treasury last month to detail the extent of the freeze, as Axios scooped. Treasury rescinded all job offers at the TFI … Continue Reading
March 10, 2025
American Banker: Warren scolds Fed for 'lack of accountability' on SVB execs
It's been two years since Silicon Valley Bank failed and at least one lawmaker is still waiting for answers — and legal action. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., sent a letter to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Monday afternoon chastising the Fed Board of Governors for not holding Silicon Valley Bank's leaders individually accountable for its demise. "These executives drove the bank into the ground, requiring extraordinary government intervention and costly support to stave off … Continue Reading
March 10, 2025
Bloomberg : Senators Say Kennedy Must Disclose Details on Drugmaker Meetings
Three senators are calling on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to disclose what he and President Donald Trump discussed with drugmakers during closed-door conversations. Senators Elizabeth Warren, Ron Wyden and Bernie Sanders sent a letter dated March 10 to Kennedy, who is a longtime critic of the pharmaceutical industry. They accused him of attending "unofficial, million-dollar dinners" with industry executives at Mar-a-Lago. "You owe the American public an … Continue Reading
March 07, 2025
Axios: Elizabeth Warren asks Trump's crypto czar for public disclosures
On the morning of the White House's first Digital Assets Summit Friday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D.-Mass.) sent a critical letter to David Sacks, the administration's crypto and AI czar, which she has shared with Axios exclusively. The big picture: The deeper the federal government gets into supporting the blockchain industry, the more it's going to drive up values for existing holders, which raises conflict of interest questions for officials writing those policies, the senator … Continue Reading
March 06, 2025
The Guardian: Elizabeth Warren, Dems call for inquiry in to Musk agency’s firings of probationary workers
Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and 10 Democratic Senators have called on the government accountability office (GAO) to investigate the effects of the recent firing of federal probationary employees on the health and safety of the American public. The letter noted at least 25,000 probationary employees at the federal government appear to have been indiscriminately fired under the claims of poor performance, regardless of their performance. The firings put American people “at risk”, … Continue Reading