News Coverage
Trump faces renewed push to cancel student debt for eligible borrowers and stop the transfer of accounts to the Treasury
Millions of student-loan borrowers are in default. Lawmakers want the Trump administration to keep more from falling deeper into trouble. On Monday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Jeff Merkley, and Reps. Ayanna Pressley and André Carson, led over 60 of their Democratic colleagues in pushing Education Sec. Linda McMahon to provide student-debt relief to eligible borrowers. … Read the full story … Continue Reading
June 08, 2026
Democrats Press Trump to Hike Port Fees on Chinese Ships
National security depends on President Donald Trump imposing port fees on Chinese vessels to help support the domestic shipbuilding industry, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) said in a June 7 letter to US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. Trump in October paused such fees following retaliatory actions by Beijing and lobbying by import-dependent retailers. Warren and Kelly want Trump to reverse course as they continue efforts to pass the bipartisan SHIPS for America … Continue Reading
June 05, 2026
Trump officials planned to mark 2.7 million living people as dead, whistleblower claims
A former Social Security executive said the plan, which was not carried out, would have used a death database to pressure immigrants to leave the country. The Trump administration had plans to classify 2.7 million living people — including some U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents — as dead as part of its immigration enforcement efforts, according to a former senior Social Security executive. … Read the full story … Continue Reading
June 04, 2026
Elizabeth Warren And Other Democrats Press Treasury Secretary For Foreign Ownership Review Of Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery Merger
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and three other Democratic lawmakers again are pressing Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to conduct a foreign ownership review of Paramount‘s proposed merger with Warner Bros. Discovery. Such a review - via the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which Bessent chairs - would add an additional regulatory hurdle for the transaction. … Read the full story … Continue Reading
June 03, 2026
AI lobbying intensifies around unlikely deal
Barely a day after President Donald Trump signed an order on advanced artificial intelligence technology, the industry pivoted to harder lobbying of Congress to address the patchwork of state and local laws it’s contending with. But AI giants are likely too late, as prospects for passage of any bill this year grow narrower by the day. … Read the full story … Continue Reading
June 03, 2026
Lawmakers Demand Answers After the White House Initiated a $620M Loan to a Firm Tied to Donald Trump Jr.
In a letter, a group of Democratic Congress members wrote that ProPublica’s reporting on the deal “reveals a staggering level of corruption and influence.” A group of lawmakers demanded answers from the White House this week following a ProPublica investigation revealing that a top aide to the president intervened to secure a $620 million Pentagon loan to a startup linked to the president’s eldest son. … Read the full story … Continue Reading
June 01, 2026
Punchbowl News AM: Tax
June 01, 2026
Punchbowl News AM: Tax
The GAO will conduct a review of options for free tax filing at the request of Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Angus King (I-Maine). … 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
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
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
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 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 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