News Coverage
Washington Post: Sen. Warren’s plan to tax the ultrawealthy is a smart idea whose time has come
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has just introduced a tax idea this country desperately needs: a tax on high-end wealth. It's an idea that's well-crafted for our time, one that promises to add fairness to an unfair tax code, raise significant, much-needed revenue and push back on the historically high level of wealth concentration in the United States. Here's the plan, which, for the record, is extremely simple to explain, an advantage when it comes to tax policy: Wealth over $50 million … Continue Reading
January 16, 2019
Vox: Elizabeth Warren is confronting big banks over how they intend to “help” workers during the shutdown
Banks say they’re helping federal workers missing pay during the partial government shutdown, but exactly what they’re doing, in many cases, is unclear. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is pushing for more details.The Massachusetts Democrat and 2020 presidential contender sent letters to Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, US Bancorp, and Wells Fargo on Tuesday, asking them for details on the actual services and solutions they are offering to federal workers who are furloughed or aren’t … Continue Reading
January 16, 2019
American Banker: Warren asks big banks for details on their shutdown response
WASHINGTON — Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., pressed the five largest U.S. retail banks Wednesday on details about what the firms are doing to reduce the effects of the partial government shutdown on furloughed government employees.Warren, a member of the Senate Banking Committee and potential 2020 presidential hopeful, said in a letter to Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, U.S. Bancorp and Wells Fargo that the challenge for furloughed federal employees is now reaching … Continue Reading
December 20, 2018
Vox: Elizabeth Warren’s ambitious new bill to lower generic drug prices, explained
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) would like the federal government to start manufacturing prescription drugs when the market fails and prices for certain medications become unaffordable. It's an interesting idea, experts who lean right and left agree. But more than that, it is a reminder that there are all kinds of creative ways we might go about bringing down drug prices. We know Americans are really worried about drug costs - six in 10 people take a prescription … Continue Reading
December 12, 2018
Curbed: Elizabeth Warren doubles down on affordable housing legislation
Today, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) doubled down on her strategy to fix America's housing crisis. Along with Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA) and Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI), she introduced the American Housing and Economic Mobility Act to the House, a companion to a Senate bill Warren introduced in September. "America is facing a housing crisis-a crisis that has been decades in the making," Sen. Warren said at a press conference at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center. "This is a crisis that hits … Continue Reading
December 06, 2018
McClatchy: Senators want broader probe of FEMA contracts in Puerto Rico
Four prominent Democratic senators on Thursday asked the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security to broaden an ongoing investigation into contracting and hurricane relief problems in Puerto Rico. More than a year after Hurricane Maria's devastating rampage across Puerto Rico, the island is struggling to rebuild. The letter from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and three other senators, directs the inspector general to look closely at the $1.2 billion Tu Hogar Renace … Continue Reading
November 30, 2018
The Nation: Elizabeth Warren Just Took a Crucial Stand for Democracy and Enlightened Internationalism
Warren is proposing to break the grip of billionaire campaign donors and corporate interests on US foreign policy. Americans who seek an enlightened alternative to the crudely nationalist and frequently antidemocratic ideology of Trumpism, and to a broader misdirection of US foreign policy that began long before the current president took office, got it this week from Elizabeth Warren. "Our country is in a moment of crisis decades in the making, a moment in which America's middle class has … Continue Reading
November 29, 2018
Vox: Elizabeth Warren wants to outflank Trump on trade
"His actual policies aren't stopping [GM] or others like them from continuing to put corporate profits ahead of American workers." Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) isn't ready to cede trade policy themes to President Donald Trump. In a speech set to be delivered Thursday afternoon at American University, in Washington, DC, Warren unloads a biting critique of a generation's worth of neoliberal trade policy consensus in Washington and - strikingly - insists that despite Trump's embrace of … Continue Reading
November 26, 2018
WBUR: Congress Members Call For Columbia Gas Executives To Resign Over Merrimack Valley Disaster
Congress members called for executives at the utility company to blame for September's natural gas explosions and fires in Massachusetts to step down Monday as they held a special hearing into the disaster. The six House and Senate members from Massachusetts and New Hampshire who held the hearing at a packed middle school gymnasium in Lawrence took aim at the corporate culture at Columbia Gas of Massachusetts and its parent company, Indiana-based NiSource. They painted a picture of a … Continue Reading
November 20, 2018
Bloomberg: Senator Warren Calls on Companies to Contribute to the Toys 'R' Us Worker Fund
Senator Elizabeth Warren calls for six companies to contribute to new hardship fund for Toys "R" Us workers. Warren says it's "inexcusable" for investors in defunct toyseller to withhold contributions. Urges other firms that were involved with company to contribute to new $20m fund created by KKR and Bain Capital; says former workers owed a total of $75m in severance. Read more on Bloomberg's website … Continue Reading
November 20, 2018
American Banker: Warren lays into Navient CEO over Education Dept. Audit
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has accused Navient's chief executive of false statements related to allegations of improper practices facing the student loan servicer. In a letter to Navient CEO Jack Remondi, Warren claims that he denied the merits of a lawsuit by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau alleging that Navient had steered struggling borrowers into expensive loan forbearance programs. But at the time, Warren said, Navient was being audited by the Department of Education. The … Continue Reading
November 15, 2018
Reuters: Senator Warren presses regulators on leveraged lending
US Senator Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to regulators Wednesday expressing concerns about underwriting standards in the leveraged loan market, which she says could pose serious risks to the economy.In the letter, Warren questioned regulators on what their agencies’ plans are to address what she describes as “growing risks” in the leveraged lending market as well as proposed changes to rules governing the Collateralized Loan Obligation (CLO) market, the largest buyers of leveraged loans. She … Continue Reading
November 15, 2018
CNBC: Elizabeth Warren says the Fed is making the same mistakes as before the crisis: 'Deeply worrisome'
Ahead of the financial crisis, a buildup of leverage on bank balance sheets that went largely undetected by regulators helped cause the worst downturn since the Great Depression. Sen. Elizabeth Warrenis afraid the same thing is happening again a decade later.The Massachusetts Democrat said Thursday that she thinks the Federal Reserve and its fellow watchdogs of the financial system are overlooking a dangerous buildup of loans going to companies that are already deeply in debt. The so-called … Continue Reading
November 15, 2018
NBC: Elizabeth Warren's ethics bill is moving to the House. Does the new Democratic Congress want it?
WASHINGTON — A sweeping ethics bill by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is making the jump to the newly Democratic House.Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., plans to introduce companion legislation in the coming days that she hopes will become a rallying point for progressives.The Anti-Corruption and Public Integrity Act is headlined by a lifetime ban on lobbying by former lawmakers, presidents and top executive branch appointees, but includes a wide array of additional provisions.Read the full … Continue Reading
October 31, 2018
CNN: Elizabeth Warren: Trump administration letting foreign firms skip tariffs
Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren is questioning the Trump administration's enforcement of steel tariffs, saying that a majority of early waivers granted went to foreign-owned companies.Companies with operations in the United States, but headquartered in Japan and China, were more likely to have their requests granted than American companies seeking relief, according to a review done by Warren's staff of more than 900 decisions made during the first 30 days that responses were … Continue Reading
October 31, 2018
Wall Street Journal: Lawmaker Faults Tariff Waivers’ Fairness
WASHINGTON—Shortly after the U.S. first imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum this year, in part to crack down on oversupply from China and its closest trading partners, the Department of Commerce granted exclusions to a handful of Chinese-owned and Japanese-owned companies with U.S. subsidiaries, enabling them to continue duty-free imports of Chinese and Japanese steel. These exclusions are the focus of a letter from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat who has been … Continue Reading
October 26, 2018
Slate: Elizabeth Warren’s New Housing Proposal Is Actually a Brilliant Plan to Close the Racial Wealth Gap
Last month, Sen. Elizabeth Warren released a $450 billion housing plan called the American Housing and Economic Mobility Act. The proposal is a comprehensive and bold step toward providing affordable housing for the most vulnerable Americans. The bill is the first since the Fair Housing Act with the explicit intent of redressing the iterative effects of our nation’s sordid history of housing discrimination. Critically, it has the potential to make a substantive dent in closing our enormous and … Continue Reading
October 22, 2018
MassLive: Elizabeth Warren touts bill to create 3 million new affordable housing units across US
SPRINGFIELD -- With housing authorities struggling to meet demand due to growing waitlists, a low number of available apartments and aging infrastructure, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, called Monday for the federal government to build 3 million new housing units across the country. Warren, who is up for re-election in November, made her pitch while discussing her proposed "American Housing and Economic Mobility Act" with Western Massachusetts housing officials, elected leaders … Continue Reading
October 18, 2018
CNBC: Elizabeth Warren calls on Fed to maintain growth cap on Wells Fargo until it fires CEO Tim Sloan
Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Thursday sent a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell calling on the Fed to maintain its growth cap on Wells Fargo until the bank replaces CEO Tim Sloan.Warren, a consumer advocate who sits on the Senate Banking Committee, has long been Wells Fargo's chief critic in Congress, repeatedly calling for top officials at the lender to be removed.Read the full story on the Wall Street Journal website … Continue Reading
October 17, 2018
CNN Business: Elizabeth Warren wants Toys 'R' Us owners to take care of its 30,000 laid off workers
Senator Elizabeth Warren is urging the companies responsible for the demise of Toys "R" Us to take care of its former employees.Warren, who has said she's considering a run for president in 2020, wrote to five investment firms that had advocated for a liquidation of Toys "R" Us assets and asked them to consider supporting a severance fund.Two of the company's owners, Bain Capital and KKR, have discussed setting up such a fund, according to sources familiar with the discussions. The company's … Continue Reading