News Coverage
Punchbowl News AM: Tax
May 28, 2026
Elizabeth Warren Has Some Questions for the Private Prison Executive Running ICE
Donald Trump’s pick to lead the agency spent more than a decade at GEO Group. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has a few questions for the head of ICE. On Wednesday, the Massachusetts Democrat sent a letter to David Venturella, the new acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, asking him to disclose any financial entanglements with the private prison giant GEO Group, where Venturella previously worked. … Read the full … Continue Reading
May 28, 2026
GAO investigating student loan transfers to Treasury Dept., Warren says
The Democratic senator said it's a "major step forward" in protecting students. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has triggered an investigation into the Trump administration's transfer of student loan services to the Department of the Treasury, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) letter sent to the senator. … Read the full story … Continue Reading
May 28, 2026
Senate Dems urge investigators to check Pentagon's math on Iran war
Outside estimates project the cost is up to tens of billions of dollars more than the Pentagon says. Senate Democrats are pressing federal budget investigators to examine the gap between the Pentagon's stated cost for the Iran war - $29 billion - and outside estimates that peg the cost up to tens of billions of dollars higher. … Read the full story … Continue Reading
May 28, 2026
Warren: State Department didn’t seek TRANSCOM aid in evacuating Americans from Middle East
The State Department did not task the U.S. Transportation Command, or TRANSCOM, with evacuating Americans who aren’t affiliated with the federal government from the Middle East after the start of the Iran war, according to responses provided by the military branch to Sen. Elizabeth Warren and shared first with CNBC. In a May letter to Warren, which followed a request from the Massachusetts Democrat for more information on the evacuation operation in early March, TRANSCOM reported moving more … Continue Reading
May 27, 2026
Why We Need to Tax AI
Americans are hanging on by their fingernails in an economy that funnels wealth to the ultra-rich and leaves crumbs for working people. AI threatens to supercharge this divide: tech executives have warned that AI could lead to “a level of wealth concentration that will break society” and create a “permanent underclass.” I refuse to accept that future. Building an economy that works for all of us will require multiple policy responses. But it starts by acknowledging: it’s time to tax AI and … Continue Reading
May 21, 2026
WARREN PRESSES FOR GAO PROBE
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is asking the Government Accountability Office to investigate how staffing cuts at the Education Department will impact its ability to investigate fraud, Rebecca writes in. Beginning in January 2025, the Federal Student Aid office lost about 46 percent of its employees, according to a GAO report released in March. Warren raised concerns in a letter Wednesday to the government watchdog about how well equipped that leaves the office to monitor colleges through … Continue Reading
May 19, 2026
Warren, Sheehy pitch 'right to repair' to Armed Services leaders
Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Tim Sheehy, R- Mont., urged leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees to act quickly on legislation that would allow the military to repair its own equipment, the latest move in a bid to revive and legislate on the issue this year. In a letter to the bipartisan leaders of both panels and shared with CQ Roll Call, Warren and Sheehy, who are also Armed Services Committee members, quoted the Government Accountability Office, combatant … Continue Reading
May 18, 2026
Punchbowl News AM: Tax.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Angus King (I-Maine) requested that the Government Accountability Office conduct a review of options for free tax filing since the Trump Administration axed the Direct File program. The senators, in a letter sent Sunday night, asked GAO to address concerns about the costs, user experience and accessibility of the existing Free File system, due to what they called “a history of misconduct” by the program’s private-sector partners. … Continue Reading
May 14, 2026
Pentagon response to Stars and Stripes oversight renews fears over outlet’s independence
A letter from the Department of Defense outlining their policies for Stars and Stripes is renewing concerns from Senate Democrats over whether the outlet will remain independent under the Trump administration. An April letter from DOD obtained by The Hill was penned the same day the Pentagon fired the outlet’s ombudsman, the person meant to monitor the outlet’s editorial independence and report concerns to Congress. … Read the full … Continue Reading
May 14, 2026
Senators introduce ban on lawmakers becoming lobbyists
Congress members would be permanently banned from becoming lobbyists after they leave office under a new bipartisan bill, first reported by CNBC. The legislation would not only ban senators and U.S. House members from being registered lobbyists, but would also prevent then from being compensated for trying to influence lawmakers and staff on behalf of companies or groups — closing a loophole that would allow former lawmakers to lobby without being a registered lobbyist. … Read the full … Continue Reading
May 13, 2026
Lawmakers want to break up some pharmacy companies. Here's why
A bipartisan group of lawmakers is renewing a push to target drug pricing middlemen by forcing some large pharmacy companies to break up parts of their business. It's legislation that'll look familiar to people in Tennessee - a similar bill passed the state legislature and awaits Gov. Bill Lee's signature. CVS Health has threatened to close all 134 of its pharmacy locations in Tennessee because the legislation takes aim at the pharmacy giant's business model. … Read the full … Continue Reading
May 06, 2026
Morning Defense: Inside Job
Sen. Elizabeth Warren is again pressing DOD officials on conflicts of interest in defense contracting efforts, this time with an eye toward the president’s family. The SASC member on Tuesday submitted a list of 37 questions for the record related to defense contracting following the committee’s hearing with Hegseth last week, with many focused on military contracts with Vulcan Elements, a startup where Donald Trump Jr. is a partner. … Read the full story … Continue Reading
May 05, 2026
Senate Democrats call out the Trump administration for hypocrisy on IVF
More than a dozen Democratic senators are demanding the chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission abandon plans to roll back protections for workers seeking fertility treatments, according to a letter shared first with MS NOW. In the letter sent to EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas on Monday night, the senators — including Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill. — say Lucas’ plan could undermine “critical protections for workers … Continue Reading
May 04, 2026
Lawmakers Demand Answers About Growing Number of Unfixed Mistakes on Credit Reports
Four U.S. senators sent letters grilling the nation’s major credit bureaus on Thursday after a ProPublica investigation showed two of the bureaus were fixing fewer consumers’ credit reports. The letters came in response to a ProPublica investigation from March, which found that two of the three major credit bureaus — TransUnion and Experian — had substantially scaled back how often they provided relief to complaints filed through the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The decline in relief … Continue Reading
April 29, 2026
Warren Pushes RFK Jr. to Reveal Details on Negotiated Drug Deals
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is pushing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to provide Congress with copies of negotiated deals the Trump administration made with drug manufacturers and to make information on generic versions of drugs available on TrumpRx. Warren questioned the Health and Human Services secretary in a Senate Finance Committee hearing last week on prices offered by TrumpRx, where patients are supposed to find discounts on prescription drugs. The Massachusetts senator noted there are … Continue Reading
April 28, 2026
Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are calling on CFPB’s student loan ombudsman to protect student loan borrowers.
FIRST IN MORNING ED - WHAT'S GOING ON, OMBUDSMAN: Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) are pressing Geoffrey Gradler, who became the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Student Loan Ombudsman in January, to commit to protecting student loan borrowers - and said his background seems to suggest he may do the opposite. "At a time when the Trump administration is already stripping borrowers, students, and families of their access to federal support and affordable … Continue Reading
April 27, 2026
Senate Democrats say Pentagon wasn't ready for Iranian retaliation on US troops
A group of Senate Democrats are pressing the Pentagon over what they describe as failures to protect U.S. troops against retaliatory strikes from Iran. In a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Mark Kelly of Arizona and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York -- all members of the Senate Armed Services Committee -- argue the Pentagon did not take "basic precautions" ahead of expected Iranian retaliation after the U.S. and Israel launched a war against the … Continue Reading
April 23, 2026
Democrats say cuts to social security have caused ‘customer service chaos’ for American seniors
Cuts to the Social Security Administration have caused “customer service chaos” for millions of older Americans and those with disabilities who rely on the agency’s services, according to a new report from a group of Democratic senators. An investigation found that phone wait times were more than 10 times higher than what the agency claimed on its website, if the calls were even answered at all. … Read the full … Continue Reading
April 22, 2026
Warren Slams Move to End IRS Partnership Oversight Regulations
Proposed IRS rules scrapping reporting requirements for complex partnerships will neutralize one of the few remaining tools the agency has to identify abusive partnership transactions, Senate Democrats are warning in a new missive to IRS and Treasury Department officials. The letter, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), pushed back on regulations proposed in March that rescind final rules requiring the reporting of partnerships’ basis-adjustment transactions to the IRS. … Read the full … Continue Reading