Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Tina Smith, D-Minn., have informed the secretary of Health and Human Services they have discovered “significant gaps in COVID-19 testing capacity.”In a letter this week to HHS chief Alex Azar, Warren and Smith said they made the discovery after contacting five of the worlds largest Covid testing labs: Quest, BioReference, ARUP Labs, LabCorp., and Mayo Clinic.They said the labs informed them that they experienced a “large spike in COVID-19 diagnostic testing needs” during the summer surge. The letter said the labs are also developing additional testing capacities but are still short on supplies and are experiencing “confusion about payment and reimbursement for COVID-19 diagnostic testing as a result of Congressional and Administration inaction.”...Read the full article on CNBC.com here.… Continue Reading
Sen. Elizabeth Warren and several Democratic colleagues want immigration detention facilities to track and publicly report data about COVID-19 cases.Warren, along with New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro, filed the bill, called the COVID-19 in Immigration Detention Data Transparency Act, Wednesday in both chambers of Congress.The bill would require Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and the Office of Refugee Resettlement — and any facilities that contract with those agencies — to collect and submit COVID-19 data to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on a weekly basis. That data would then be published publicly....Read the full article from WBUR here.… Continue Reading
Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey believe that any new COVID-19 relief package needs to include a new round of stimulus checks — and they’re imploring fellow Senate Democrats to hold firm on the position in the midst of the dual public health and economic crises.The two Massachusetts senators signed onto a letter Tuesday urging colleagues to “join us in demanding that any new COVID-relief proposal includes a $1,200 direct payment to adults and $500 to their children,” similar to the first round of checks that were included in the CARES Act last spring....Read the full article on Boston.com here.… Continue Reading
Op-Ed in CNBCLearn How the President Can Cancel Up To $50k HereWashington, DC - Today, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) published an op-ed in CNBC on how cancelling up to $50,000 in federal student loan debt will help America’s older persons which include 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 education or for their own. Read the full op-ed here. Key sections … Continue Reading
During today's Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) hearing, United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) questioned General Lloyd Austin, III, the nominee to be Secretary of Defense, on his commitment to recuse himself from all matters concerning Raytheon for four years.In response to Senator Warren, General Austin committed to extend his recusal from Raytheon Technologies for four years and to not seek a position on the board of a defense contractor or become a lobbyist after his governm… Continue Reading
United States Senators Elizabeth Warren
(D-Mass.), and Tina Smith (D-Minn.), members of the Senate Health, Education,
Labor, and Pensions Committee (HELP), issued the following statement regarding
the child care provisions included in President-elect Biden's American
Rescue Plan:"Right now, child care providers are struggling to keep their doors
open while a pandemic and economic crisis devastate a system that was already
deeply broken. That is why we are glad that President-elect Biden ha… Continue Reading
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.… Continue Reading
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.… Continue Reading
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 accomplished something historic — unseating an incumbent president for the first time in a generation and likely flipping states that haven’t voted for Democrats in decades. They did it with the support of the candidates from our contested presidential primary, all of whom urged our supporters to back Joe. They did it thanks to years of grass-roots organizing in the Latino and Native communities in Arizona. They did it thanks to the extraordinary work of Black women in states such as Georgia. The… Continue Reading