News Coverage
Elizabeth Warren calls for investigation into Trump’s politicization of Covid-19
by Anna North
President Trump has made every aspect of his response to Covid-19 political, from his resistance to mask-wearing to his insistence on reopening schools to his sparring with Democratic governors over lifesaving tests and personal protective equipment.His administration has even been accused of scrapping a nationwide testing plan after a team convened by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner determined that the epidemic would hit blue states the hardest and Democratic governors could be blamed for … Continue Reading
August 25, 2020
EPA Faces New Scrutiny Over Decision To Stop Enforcing Pollution Laws Amid Pandemic
by Alexander C. Kaufman
The Environmental Protection Agency is facing new scrutiny of its decision to stop enforcing pollution rules amid the pandemic, escalating a fight over what critics see as one of the most egregious parts of the administration’s response to the coronavirus ahead of the November election.In a letter sent Monday to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, Massachusetts Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D) and Ed Markey (D) accused the agency of providing “all but meaningless” responses to earlier questions about … Continue Reading
August 25, 2020
Elizabeth Warren, others seek details of Warp Speed co-chief Moncef Slaoui’s contract
by Christopher Rowland
Democrats on Capitol Hill have asked an Alexandria consulting company for details about an unusual contract that has allowed the chief scientific adviser to President Trump’s Operation Warp Speed to maintain personal investments and avoid making ethics disclosures of his holdings in pharmaceutical companies.In a letter Monday to Advanced Decision Vectors, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and two other lawmakers are asking the firm to explain its role in providing drug company executive Moncef … Continue Reading
August 25, 2020
Warren And Markey Demand Transparency Over FDA Decision To Authorize Plasma Treatment
by Sanjana Karanth
Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey are demanding the U.S. Food and Drug Administration provide all communications between the agency and the White House to determine whether the recent emergency use authorization of convalescent plasma treatment for coronavirus patients was politically motivated.In a letter to the agency obtained by HuffPost on Tuesday, the Massachusetts Democrats called the FDA’s authorization decision “troubling,” given limited evidence of the treatment’s effectiveness on … Continue Reading
August 24, 2020
Elizabeth Warren Demands Post Office Board Members Release Financial Disclosures
by AJ Vicens
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, already under fire for his operational changes, will testify before the House Oversight Committee today, two days after an appearance before a Senate panel where he said he had no intention of restoring mail sorting machines that had been removed and admitted that the changes he’s made have delayed the mail which has, as one Senator put it, “hurt people.”Testifying alongside DeJoy will be Robert Duncan, the chairman of the US Postal Service Board of Governors, … Continue Reading
August 21, 2020
Warren calls for Postal Service board members to fire DeJoy or resign
by Tax Axelrod
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said board members for the U.S. Postal Service should fire Postmaster General Louis DeJoy or resign themselves amid controversy over planned changes he’s announced.“The @USPS Board of Governors has a responsibility to serve the public interest. That means delivering the mail on time - not acting as accomplices for the Postmaster General’s partisan sabotage. If the Board won’t fire Louis DeJoy and reverse the damage, they should resign too,” Warren tweeted … Continue Reading
August 20, 2020
Sen. Elizabeth Warren calls Kodak loan decision a ‘fiasco,’ urges new investigation
by Thomas Franck
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Thursday blasted the Trump administration’s decision to offer, and then back away from, a multimillion-dollar loan to Eastman Kodak as a “fiasco.”In a letter viewed by CNBC, the Massachusetts Democrat urged the federal oversight board tasked with monitoring how Covid-19 relief funding is spent to examine the decision-making behind what was expected to be a $765 million loan to the Rochester, N.Y.-based Kodak....Read the full article on the CNBC … Continue Reading
August 20, 2020
Senate Democrats investigating whether USPS changes held up prescription drug deliveries
by Tony Romm
Two top Senate Democrats are opening their own investigation of the U.S. Postal Service, aiming to explore whether changes to mail processing and delivery have prevented seniors, veterans and other patients from receiving their prescription drugs on time.The new inquiry is the work of Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Robert P. Casey Jr. (D-Pa.), who issued a battery of letters to CVS, Walgreens and other top providers on Thursday to determine whether their customers had experienced delays … Continue Reading
August 17, 2020
Senate Democrats call on USPS governing board to undo mail changes — and remove DeJoy if necessary
by Tony Romm
Top Senate Democrats have set their sights on the little-known board that oversees the U.S. Postal Service, urging it to undo the postmaster general’s controversial policies out of concern they have “endangered” Americans.The call for action came Monday from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) and five other Democratic senators. They urged the Postal Service’s Board of Governors to rein in Postmaster General Louis DeJoy by canceling his recent … Continue Reading
August 17, 2020
Warren calls on McConnell to bring Senate back to address Postal Service
by Jordain Carney
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said Monday that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) should bring the Senate back into session amid criticism surrounding changes at the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) as the GOP leader faces growing calls to reconvene the chamber. “Good for [Speaker] Nancy Pelosi for bringing the House back. I believe Mitch McConnell needs to bring the Senate back as well," Warren told NBC's "Today." "People depend on the post office. We're depending on it for our … Continue Reading
August 14, 2020
Exclusive: Postal service inspector general reviewing DeJoy's policy changes and potential ethics conflicts
by Marshall Cohen and Kristen Holmes
Washington (CNN)The internal watchdog at the United States Postal Service is reviewing controversial policy changes recently imposed under Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, and is also examining DeJoy's compliance with federal ethics rules, according to a spokeswoman for the USPS inspector general and an aide to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who requested the review.Lawmakers from both parties and postal union leaders have sounded alarms over disruptive changes instituted by DeJoy this summer, … Continue Reading
August 13, 2020
Sen. Elizabeth Warren demands ‘corruption’ probe after report of Amazon options purchase by Postal Service chief Louis DeJoy
by Dan Mangan
Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Thursday demanded that the U.S. Postal Service’s internal ethics watchdog investigate what she suggested was “corruption” in the purchase of Amazon stock options by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy after his appointment to that job.The Massachusetts Democrat Warren, in a tweet, wrote that DeJoy’s “investments in @USPS competitors were already deeply problematic.”...Read the full article on the CNBC … Continue Reading
August 13, 2020
Facebook tells Elizabeth Warren it has two different standards for climate fact-checking
by Justine Calma
Facebook says its third-party fact-checking partners “do review and rate climate misinformation, and there has never been a prohibition against them doing so,” in a response to criticism from Democratic senators. Facebook will continue its policy of exempting “clear opinion content” from fact-checking, the letter says. The senators are unsatisfied.In the response, which was shared exclusively with The Verge, the tech behemoth says it does not consider all climate change content “opinion.” But … Continue Reading
August 10, 2020
Democrats focus new legislation on the pandemic’s effect on maternal mortality
by Shefali Luthra
The emerging evidence suggests pregnant people are at enhanced risk of complications from COVID-19. Now, a group of Democrats are trying to plug holes in how the government tracks the virus’ impact on pregnancy, put new resources into maternal health and ensure that pregnant individuals are ultimately eligible for any new treatments and vaccines, according to a bill shared first with The 19th.The bill, unveiled Monday and spearheaded by Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Lauren Underwood, comes as … Continue Reading
August 07, 2020
First on CNN: Warren and other top Democrats ask USPS watchdog to investigate practices
by Jessica Dean, Jeremy Herb and Ellie Kaufman
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other top Democrats on Friday sent a letter to the United States Postal Service inspector general asking her to investigate recent operational changes within the agency.The Democrats write that they are concerned about "modifications" to USPS "staffing and policies" recently put in place by new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. Appointed by President Donald Trump, DeJoy is a Trump fundraiser and ally.The group, which includes Sens. Gary Peters of Michigan, … Continue Reading
August 06, 2020
As coronavirus spreads through nation's jails and prisons, lawmakers demand more transparency on toll
by Tonya Simpson and Luke Barr
Citing the growing toll from a hidden side of the coronavirus pandemic, top Democratic lawmakers are looking to require state and federal prisons to open their books on the number of cases behind bars.Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren, Patty Murray, and Cory Booker led a group introducing legislation Thursday that would require the array of agencies that administer the nation’s jails and prisons to collect and report publicly detailed information about the spread of COVID-19 in their … Continue Reading
August 06, 2020
Elizabeth Warren Says Child Care Is Key to Bringing the Economy Back
by Lisa Lerer
America is in the middle of a child care meltdown.Millions of children are out of school and unlikely to return anytime soon. Day care centers are being pushed the brink of collapse. And parents are trying — and often failing — to balance care with working.None of this surprises Elizabeth Warren. The Massachusetts senator — still under consideration to be Joe Biden’s running mate — made child care a centerpiece of her presidential campaign, proposing one of the most ambitious plans in the … Continue Reading
August 05, 2020
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wants to know whether a data-mining company sold protester data to the police.
by Rachel Lerman
The company, Mobilewalla, released a report in June that showed the demographics of protesters based on their location data, as BuzzFeed News first reported. “We have serious concerns that your company’s data could be used for surveillance of Americans engaging in Constitutionally-protected speech.” Warren and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-Calif.), and House Committee on Oversight and Reform Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) wrote to the company's CEO yesterday. They suggested … Continue Reading
August 05, 2020
Bill from Warren, Gillibrand and Waters would make Fed fight economic racial inequalities
by Sylvan Lane
A bill introduced by three Democratic lawmakers Wednesday would require the Federal Reserve to actively work to narrow racial gaps in wealth, income and employment in the U.S.Called the “Federal Reserve Racial and Economic Equity Act,” the bill, spearheaded by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), would make reducing racial economic inequality a core part of the central bank’s broader mission of maximizing employment and keeping … Continue Reading
August 04, 2020
Elizabeth Warren Seeks SEC Insider Trading Probe After Kodak Shares Surge
by Matt Robinson
Senator Elizabeth Warren wants U.S. regulators to examine possible insider trading and disclosure violations involving Eastman Kodak Co. after the former film company’s shares soared when it announced a surprise foray into generic drugs with help from a $765 million government loan.In a letter dated Tuesday, Warren asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to examine trading prior to Kodak’s July 28 announcement. On July 27, volume in the company’s shares surged and the stock rose about … Continue Reading
