Op-eds
Huffington Post Blog: Wall Street Should Disclose Its Think Tank Contributions
In December, I wrote to the heads of six of the country's biggest financial institutions with a simple request: that they voluntarily disclose the financial contributions their companies make to think tanks. This disclosure would help make sure shareholders, policymakers, and the public are aware of efforts by large Wall Street banks to indirectly influence lawmakers and regulators by supporting think tanks' research. Unfortunately, none of the six institutions -- JPMorgan Chase, Bank of … Continue Reading
March 28, 2014
Boston Globe Op-Ed: Help for homeowners
Homeowners across Massachusetts received some good news last week: President Barack Obama signed into law the bipartisan Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act, which will help protect millions of families here in the Commonwealth and across the country from huge increases in flood insurance rates. A few years ago, Congress changed the national flood program to move toward a more market-based system that more accurately reflects the true costs and risks of flood damage. This was a … Continue Reading
March 25, 2014
Credit.com Op-Ed: 17 Million Reasons to Raise the Minimum Wage
I have 17 million reasons for wanting to increase the minimum wage. Yes, 17 million-the number of children whose lives would be a little more secure if their moms and dads earned at least $10.10 an hour. When I was in junior high, my daddy had a heart attack. He was home for a while, the medical bills piled up, and we lost our family station wagon. So my mother did what she had to do: She went to work answering the phones at Sears. The job paid only minimum wage, but it was enough to make sure … Continue Reading
February 26, 2014
Bay State Banner Op-Ed: Creating a level playing field
This is a special moment in history. In August, we commemorated the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. shared his dream of equality and called for action. Later this year, we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, one of the enduring legacies of the March on Washington. The Civil Rights Act was a landmark moment in the ongoing fight for equality, enshrining in law the principle that ensure no one … Continue Reading
February 05, 2014
Huffington Post Blog: Senate Women Say: Raise The Minimum Wage!
Co-authored by:Senator Mazie HironoSenator Tammy Baldwin Last week, the Democratic women senators stood together at an amazing event where we delivered a very important message: No American woman should ever work a full-time job and still raise her children in poverty. Yet at a time when 400 American families have more wealth than 150 million, an American single mom earning minimum wage at a full-time job takes home just $15,000 a year to support her family -- below the poverty line. It's … Continue Reading
February 01, 2014
Huffington Post Blog: Coming to a Post Office Near You: Loans You Can Trust?
The poor pay more. According to a report put out this week by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Postal Service, about 68 million Americans -- more than a quarter of all households -- have no checking or savings account and are underserved by the banking system. Collectively, these households spent about $89 billion in 2012 on interest and fees for non-bank financial services like payday loans and check cashing, which works out to an average of $2,412 per household. That … Continue Reading
February 01, 2014
Patriot Ledger Op-Ed: Flood insurance shouldn't soak homeowners
Families purchase flood insurance so they don't lose their homes in a bad storm. But now, because of changes to FEMA's flood maps and unexpected insurance rate hikes, many families fear that the price of flood insurance could be just as devastating as any storm. Congress changed the national flood program to move toward a more market-based system that more accurately reflects the true costs and risks of flood damage. This was a well-intentioned law, but unfortunately homeowners were … Continue Reading
December 16, 2013
Salem News Op-Ed: Social Security is under attack
A generation ago, middle-class families were able to put away enough money during their working years to make it through their later years with dignity. On average, they saved about 11 percent of their take-home pay while working. Many paid off their homes, got rid of all their debts and retired with strong pensions from their employers. And where pensions, savings and investments fell short, they could rely on Social Security to make up the difference. That was the story a generation ago, … Continue Reading
December 14, 2013
Lowell Sun Op-Ed: Protect, expand Social Security
For a generation now, working families have been squeezed by stagnant wages and rising costs for housing, health care, and college. Even as families have cut back on expenses for things like food, clothing, furniture, and appliances, it hasn't always been enough; many have been forced to take on more and more debt just to pay for necessities. One major consequence of these increasing pressures on working people is that the dream of a secure retirement is slowly slipping away. Families haven't … Continue Reading
November 02, 2013
Patriot Ledger Op-Ed: Sending money transfers abroad just got easier
For anyone in the Commonwealth with family and friends in other countries, sending money abroad often is done by money transfers. According to Boston's Independent Newspaper Group, Massachusetts families sent more than $2 billion using international remittances in 2012. Many of these transfers are sent to friends and relatives who rely on this financial help to make ends meet and support their loved ones. Although money transfers are used by millions of people across the country, until this … Continue Reading
October 12, 2013
Daily Hampshire Gazette Op-Ed: Reasonable compromise thwarted by GOP shutdown of government
WASHINGTON, D.C. - In western Massachusetts and across the Commonwealth, families are feeling the effects of the unnecessary and avoidable government shutdown. The shutdown has sent thousands of federal employees in Massachusetts home without paychecks and has disrupted access to critical services, piling onto the damage already caused by the idiotic sequester. When I visited Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield in August, I heard about how federal across-the-board spending cuts are … Continue Reading
October 11, 2013
Cape Cod Times Op-Ed: Shutdown is Bad for Massachusetts
The federal government has been shut down for more than a week now, and we've been seeing the consequences here in Massachusetts. This shutdown is an unnecessary, self-inflicted wound that's hurting families, and it comes while we are still dealing with the effects of the senseless sequester - drastic, across-the-board spending cuts that have crippled Meals On Wheels, Head Start and investments in medical research. The government shutdown is throwing a major wrench into a fragile economic … Continue Reading
September 18, 2013
Boston Globe Op-Ed: Scaling back ‘too big’
FIVE YEARS have passed since the financial crisis, but we all remember its darkest days. Credit dried up. The stock market cratered. There were legitimate fears that the dominos of our financial system would never stop falling. The crash happened quickly and dramatically, and it caught our nation and apparently even our regulators by surprise. But the causes of the crisis were years in the making, and the warning signs were everywhere. On many of these fronts, we've made real progress. The … Continue Reading
September 08, 2013
Springfield Republican Op-Ed: Sequester drags American economy down
Earlier this year, automatic, across-the board spending cuts went into effect across the country. As our economy slowly recovers from high unemployment and the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, middle class families are struggling to keep their heads above water. For these families, the effect of these cuts is like being asked to swim with rocks tied around their ankles. People are working as hard as they can, but they just keep getting dragged down. These cuts, known as … Continue Reading
September 01, 2013
MetroWest Daily News Op-Ed: Stop the heartless, senseless sequester
Across-the-board federal spending cuts are dragging down our economy in MetroWest and across Massachusetts. The sequester threatens countless vital investments in our future - from critical medical research to Head Start for our kids. We've worked hard to recover from the Great Recession, but the sequester is making it harder than it should be for families to get back on their feet. Here in Framingham, we are seeing firsthand how damaging and senseless the sequester is to Massachusetts. The … Continue Reading
August 30, 2013
Taunton Daily Gazette Op-Ed: General Dynamic’s WIN-T program a good example of a good investment
Massachusetts helps keep our country safe. The incredible national defense work happening every day strengthens our national security - and we need to support that work. Since taking office, I've made it a priority to visit our state's military bases to hear about how these critical efforts impact our service members and our national defense. The work that goes on at bases and by defense contractors throughout the Commonwealth is a great example of how investments in research and development … Continue Reading
August 11, 2013
Four Questions for Fed Chair Candidates
The decisions made by the next chair of the Federal Reserve will have a powerful impact on the economic well-being of every person in America. While the largest financial institutions and corporations in this country have been bailed out and are now back to making enormous profits and rewarding their executives with outsized compensation packages, recovery hasn't gone so well for the rest of America. Middle class families have continued to lose ground economically, the number of Americans … Continue Reading
August 05, 2013
Standard-Times Op-Ed: Tide begins turning fishermen's way
For the past two years, I have made many visits to Massachusetts fishing communities in New Bedford, Gloucester and the South Shore to hear about the challenges facing the industry. I've listened to boat owners and fishermen who face devastating catch allocation cuts, and I've spoken with net makers and icemen whose businesses depend on a strong fishing fleet to make ends meet. The message I've heard has been clear: The federal government needs to act quickly to provide disaster assistance for … Continue Reading
July 10, 2013
Politico Op-Ed: Profits on student loans ruin long-term prospects
On July 1, the rate on subsidized student loans doubled to 6.8 percent, but there is still time to undo this added financial burden on America's working families. Today, the U.S. Senate will vote on the Keep Student Loans Affordable Act of 2013, a plan we co-sponsored with Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) that offers a two-pronged approach to protecting students and reforming the system. First, we must deal with the immediate problem by implementing a one-year patch to keep student loan rates at … Continue Reading
June 10, 2013
It’s time to adopt Paycheck Fairness Act
Published by the Springfield Republican/MassLive.com Last weekend, I was looking for a picture I wanted to show my daughter, and pulled out a box of old photographs from a shelf in the basement. The pictures of my mother and my aunts were wonderful-old hairstyles, dresses with big petticoats and hats-and-gloves for going out. As we sifted through the pictures, I thought about how life had changed for women over the last fifty years. Women doctors and scientists, women union leaders and small … Continue Reading
