Op-eds
Sen. Elizabeth Warren: Here's the Plan to Fight Back
To everyone who feels like their heart has been ripped out of their chest, I feel the same. To everyone who is afraid of what happens next, I share your fears. But what we do next is important, and I need you in this fight with me. As we confront a second Donald Trump presidency, we have two tasks ahead. First, try to learn from what happened. And then, make a plan. Many political experts and D.C. insiders are already blaming President Joe Biden’s economic agenda for Vice President Kamala … Continue Reading
September 05, 2024
Harris and the Democrats are creating solutions to the housing crisis
There was a time when a young couple starting out could put a small down payment on a house and start building wealth in their early 20s. Mortgages were manageable enough that when I was a kid and my daddy lost his job, my mom could take a minimum wage job at Sears and cover our monthly payment, with money left over for utilities and groceries. Forty years ago, the typical home in Boston cost four and a half times the salary of a Boston Public Schools teacher. Today, that home costs about … Continue Reading
August 04, 2024
Elizabeth Warren on How Ticketmaster Harms Artists, Venues, and You
Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, are having a moment — a bad moment. Years of bullying both artists and venues, while price-gouging customers, has caught up with this corporate giant. The Justice Department has filed a long-overdue antitrust lawsuit for its predatory practices — and cheers can be heard from all parts of the live performance world. First, a note about how we got here. Ticketmaster is merely a middleman — the ticket seller — but it is stunningly powerful … Continue Reading
March 07, 2024
Block Capital One’s Merger With Discover
Capital One recently proposed merging with Discover. If the deal passes government scrutiny, the company would become the largest credit-card issuer in the country, making it yet another too-big-to-fail bank. This deal is about more than the danger posed by another big bank. Allowing a giant bank to run its own network to process billions of credit-card transactions would create a new Wall Street monster with greater power over American families and small businesses. Bank regulators should … Continue Reading
January 22, 2024
Sen. Elizabeth Warren: Roe v. Wade Wasn’t Overturned by Accident. Now We Need to Fight Back
Today should have been the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Instead, too many people can’t get the medical care they need where they need it when they need it. Students who are desperate for help get the runaround. Poor women face impossible hurdles. Children who have survived rape and become pregnant are frightened and confused. Fertility clinics are abandoning services. And families that had hoped for a baby face excruciating heartache when the pregnancy goes wrong and doctors are barred … Continue Reading
December 14, 2023
Elizabeth Warren: America—It's Time to Tell the Government We're Sick of Big Pharma's Racket
This year, nearly 300,000 Americans were diagnosed with prostate cancer. That's 300,000 daddies, brothers, and best friends who got hit with sledgehammer news that they have cancer. Then came the second sledgehammer—the cost of treatment. A drug called Xtandi could save their lives, but the price runs up to $190,000 a year. It's a familiar story: a diagnosis could force a family into bankruptcy to save the life of someone they love, while a giant drug company rakes in huge profits from every … Continue Reading
August 21, 2021
Washington Post: How to fix our rigged tax system
Now that the Senate has passed a budget resolution, we’re one step closer to realizing President Biden’s transformational agenda: a once-in-a-generation investment in child care and Medicare, combating climate change and other efforts that would actually make our government work for families. The other half of the package — how to pay for these investments — is equally important.The already huge gap between the 0.1 percent and everyone else is just getting wider. Billionaire wealth surged by … Continue Reading
May 04, 2021
Boston Globe: Elizabeth Warren on why we need universal child care now
In early April 2020, just as wave after wave of coronavirus cases were hitting the United States and hospitals in hot spots were worried about being overrun with sick and dying people, I set up a conference call with a big group of Massachusetts nurses. They were working long hours, there were no known COVID-19 treatments, and they were watching their patients die alone. I’d also heard terrible stories about the shortage of face masks and other protective gear. Let’s be clear: If nurses can’t … Continue Reading
March 25, 2021
CNN: Caregivers are essential workers. It's time we recognize them as such
We all want the same things in life: health, security and promising futures for our families. The Covid-19 pandemic has made it clear how caregivers -- including child care, home care and nursing home workers -- are essential to achieving this vision. But families struggle to afford care, while care jobs remain undervalued, understaffed, underprotected and underpaid. It's time for Congress and President Joe Biden to make real change. Caregivers have taken on some of the worst burdens of the … Continue Reading
January 25, 2021
USA Today: No president should have unilateral power to use nuclear weapons: Sen. Warren and Sec. Perry
Two weeks after he incited an insurrection against the Congress and the Constitution he swore an oath to defend, former President Donald Trump retained full authority to use the most deadly weapons ever created. As disturbing as it may be, this authority is a central feature of our nation’s nuclear decision-making structure — and it is long past time for reform. There is no question that we must place firm limits on presidential nuclear powers, first by enacting a formal policy not to use … Continue Reading
January 22, 2021
CNBC: Forgiving Student Debt Will Help Senior Citizens, Too
The people elected two leaders — President Biden and Vice President Harris — who committed to boosting our economy by cancelling billions of dollars in student loan debt. That commitment affects more older Americans than you might think. Right now, over 43 million people in the United States are buried under $1.5 trillion dollars in federal student loan debt, including 6.3 million borrowers ages 50-64 and nearly a million borrowers over the age of 65 who may still be paying for a loved one’s … Continue Reading
January 14, 2021
Data for Progress: Here’s how Biden can Leverage U.S. Purchasing Power to Take on Climate Change
The climate crisis threatens our nation’s health, economy, and security. Its effects are not far off into the future or purely theoretical. The crisis is here, happening in front of our eyes and hurting low-income communities and communities of color the most. It is happening because of choices too often dictated by the fossil fuel industry and their allies. But just as our society’s choices have led to the crisis, our choices moving forward can provide solutions.The incoming Biden … Continue Reading
January 05, 2021
CNN: End the silence about what Covid-19 is doing to America's prisons
The Covid-19 pandemic is wreaking havoc in our nation's prisons and jails. We know it's bad, but because comprehensive data isn't being collected, we don't know exactly how bad it is.One of us has been calling for more data collection since June and two of us started an organization, The COVID Prison Project, to gather and publicize this information where it is available. The project's data, which was used in a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report, shows infection … Continue Reading
December 11, 2020
The Washington Post: Elizabeth Warren: What a Biden-Harris administration should prioritize on its first day
As Democrats celebrate the election of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala D. Harris, we need to have an important conversation about building a 50-state party that can win up and down the ticket. But with a hobbled economy, an international health crisis, a vanishing middle class and widespread racial inequities, we also need to answer another important question — how to deliver on our campaign promises and improve the lives of the American people.The Biden-Harris ticket … Continue Reading
December 04, 2020
Blavity: Why We, Elizabeth Warren And Chuck Schumer, Believe The Biden-Harris Administration Should Cancel Up To $50K In Student Debt On Day One
For the first time in history, the American people have elected a President and Vice President States who committed to cancelling billions in student loan debt.Americans outside of Washington get it.They see their friends, family, and neighbors crushed by growing debt burdens, unable to afford their first home or start a small business. They know a senior whose Social Security check has been garnished by the federal government just to pay student loan interest. They know a mother struggling to … Continue Reading
October 25, 2020
CNN: Supreme Court power grab threatens Native health care during the pandemic
(CNN) As millions of Americans cast their ballots in the most important presidential election in recent history, and as Native communities grapple with the disproportionate toll of a once-in-a-century pandemic, Senate Republicans are focused on one thing: installing a right-wing judge on our nation's highest court.Make no mistake: The Trump administration and Senate Republicans are trying to force a justice onto the court to finish the job they could not finish in Congress. They want to … Continue Reading
October 23, 2020
WBUR: Overturning The Affordable Care Act Would Be Catastrophic — Especially For People With Disabilities
For the 61 million Americans who live with a disability, there’s an important date on the calendar this fall: November 10, the day the Supreme Court will hear a case about whether to overturn the Affordable Care Act. President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans have picked a Supreme Court nominee whose position is clear: she doesn’t like the ACA, or the previous court rulings that upheld it. There is so much at stake.Before the ACA, the disability community faced critical barriers to … Continue Reading
October 19, 2020
Shondaland: How Trump’s Supreme Court Nominee Could Threaten Your Healthcare
Over ten years ago, President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) into law. Since then, we’ve made progress. Millions of Americans now have high-quality, affordable health insurance. We no longer have to worry about being denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions. Millions of young adults can stay on their parents’ plans until 26. States were given the option to expand Medicaid eligibility — providing coverage to more than 12 million low-income … Continue Reading
October 14, 2020
Boston Globe: The Affordable Care Act and coverage for Massachusetts residents is at risk
Dave was laid off from his hotel job in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, and he lost his health insurance too. A week later, he was rushed to the emergency room with a lung problem. With support from an enrollment assister, he was able to enroll in MassHealth coverage that was made possible because of the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. He is just one of the hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts residents given a lifeline by the ACA.Yet, the multi-year effort to repeal … Continue Reading
October 12, 2020
Rolling Stone: Elizabeth Warren on How to Honor RBG’s Legacy — and the Dangers of Confirming Amy Coney Barrett
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a trailblazer. She was an icon. The legend known as the “Notorious RBG.” And to me, she was a role model and a friend. Her sharp legal mind, her compassion, and her fighting spirit pried open doors for millions of women, including myself. I remember when I was a young mother and I was at Rutgers, trying something as seemingly outlandish as going to law school. It was a really lonely undertaking. But Ruth was an example of a woman who made it, and even better, a … Continue Reading
