News Coverage
Boston Globe: Bills seek more stable hours for low-paid workers
Boston, MA - Compared to many fast-food workers, Erica Bentencourt has a fairly set schedule. She is supposed to work in the kitchen at the Holbrook Burger King Tuesday through Saturday, opening at 5 a.m. and leaving at 2 p.m. But when coworkers call in sick, she is often asked to stay late or come in on her day off. When business is slow, she is sent home early. Working extra hours means she has to scramble to find child care for her 9-year-old son. But working fewer hours is worse. "When … Continue Reading
July 20, 2015
Springfield Republican: Sen. Elizabeth Warren holds roundtable on bill that would add scheduling protections, 'on call' pay
Boston, MA - Supporters of a U.S. Senate bill aimed at providing and protecting flexible schedules for low-income workers say the legislation is also good for businesses. Robert Everts, co-president of Equal Exchange coffee co-op, said allowing flexible schedules builds worker loyalty. "We acknowledge the basic reality that workers have lives outside of work," he said while standing outside an Equal Exchange café, located across the street from TD Garden. ... For her part, Warren said … Continue Reading
June 29, 2015
Springfield Republican: US Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Rep. Richard Neal Tour FloDesign Sonics in Wilbraham, Learn about Filterless Purification
WILBRAHAM - U.S. Sen . Elizabeth Warren watched Monday as employees and student interns at FloDesign Sonics used inaudible sound waves to separate contaminates from water: a "filterless" filter that doesn't damage blood cells. "The applications are going to be everywhere," Warren said, during a tour of FloDesign's headquarters in Wilbraham, lead by chairman Stanley Kowalski III and by founder and senior fellow of fluid dynamics Walter Presz. "I am ready for this," Warren said. Read the full … Continue Reading
June 29, 2015
Springfield Republican: Senator Elizabeth Warren Tells Worcester Entrepreneurs they Represent the Future of America
WORCESTER - Senator Elizabeth Warren told an audience of Worcester entrepreneurs on Monday that they are the future of the United States and more must be done to promote small business start-ups when policies are being pass down from Washington, D.C. Warren stopped in Worcester as part of a stop in two communities to discuss the local economy. In Worcester, Warren visited the robotics technology incubator Technocopia and its Prescott Street neighbor, the co-working space Running … Continue Reading
June 29, 2015
Worcester Telegram & Gazette: Sen. Warren Tours Startup Company Incubators in Worcester
WORCESTER - Sen. Elizabeth Warren was less a visiting dignitary at Technocopia's maker space floor Monday afternoon than a kid on a field trip. "Amazing," she said, taking a look at a 3D printer. A robotic hand she slipped on was "really cool." "This is the heart of our economy," Ms. Warren said after her tour, which also included a stop next door at Running Start's incubator space inside the same building on Prescott Street. "It's this kind of creativity, and it's happening right here in … Continue Reading
June 18, 2015
Springfield Republican: 4-year battle over: Westover vets exposed to Agent Orange eligible for benefits
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has pledged to immediately begin providing benefits to Westover veterans and others who were exposed to Agent Orange while flying on and fixing planes previously used in the Vietnam War. ... Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who joined with a half-dozen fellow senators to urge the department to expedite their decision to provide benefits to the C-123 veterans, released a statement thanking the department for the decision. "It has long been clear that thousands of … Continue Reading
June 04, 2015
New Bedford Standard-Times Editorial: Warren continues the fight for economic justice
Sen. Elizabeth Warren rightly deserves a reputation for looking out for the middle class. ... Her familiarity with the root of our economic problems made her into a strong advocate for consumer protections, which helped earn our endorsement in her run for the U.S. Senate nearly three years ago. A recent press release from her office calling the chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission to account for her broken promises reminds us what a friend the consumer has in Sen. … Continue Reading
May 15, 2015
Bloomberg: Warren Claim Trade Bill Could Undermine Dodd-Frank Is Right
In her quarrel with President Barack Obama over trade legislation, Elizabeth Warren has got the law on her side. The Massachusetts senator has warned fellow Democrats that a fast-track trade bill now in Congress could undo U.S. laws such as the Dodd-Frank banking regulations later. A number of constitutional scholars and other legal experts say she's right. The reason: An arcane trade-bill provision that would make it easier for a future president and Congress to undercut existing statutes, … Continue Reading
May 12, 2015
NPR: Sen. Warren on the 'tilted process' of Asia trade bill
In an interview on NPR's Morning Edition today, United States Senator Elizabeth Warren explained her concerns about the trade deal debate in Congress. "I have three objections," Senator Warren said in the interview. "The first is that the president is asking us to vote to grease the skids on a trade deal that has largely been negotiated, but that is still held in secret. The second is that we know that corporations under this deal are going to get to sue countries for regulations they don't … Continue Reading
May 11, 2015
Washington Post: Elizabeth Warren fires back at Obama: Here's what they're really fighting about
In an interview with Yahoo News that ran over the weekend, President Obama intensified his push-back against Elizabeth Warren and other critics of the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, flatly declaring that Warren is "absolutely wrong." That came after a speech Obama delivered at Nike headquarters, in which he continued making an expansive case for the deal as a plus for American workers - and not the massive giveaway to huge international corporations that critics fear. This week, … Continue Reading
May 02, 2015
The Lowell Sun: Warren chats up MCC students on costs, impact
LOWELL -- Sen. Elizabeth Warren praised the backgrounds and accomplishments of Middlesex Community College students she met with on Friday, while criticizing government and Republican policies she said were preventing more students from taking advantage of similar opportunities. The Democrat sat down for a roundtable discussion about community college and student debt with a diverse group of MCC students. And while she expounded at several points on problems she sees in the public-education … Continue Reading
April 27, 2015
WWLP NBC 22 Springfield: Vietnam vets affected by deadly herbicide
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - Many Vietnam veterans still suffer from the effects of a herbicide used during the Vietnam War. The herbicide Agent Orange was a powerful mixture of chemicals used by the U.S. military in Vietnam. It was used to eliminate vegetation that could hide enemy troops, but it was later found that Agent Orange caused many U.S. soldiers to contract cancer, and has been linked to birth defects. The U.S. Military used more than 19-million gallons of the herbicide Agent Orange … Continue Reading
April 24, 2015
NECN: 100 Years Later: Recognizing Armenian Genocide
Thousands of Armenians, their friends and family marched from the Massachusetts state house to the Rose Kennedy Greenway to call attention to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide. Organizers say the event was designed to honor the memories of the 1.5 million Armenians who were killed and the countless others who were driven out of their ancestral homeland by the Ottoman Turks in 1915. ... "The Armenian people just want the truth acknowledged," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren. "And if … Continue Reading
April 20, 2015
Daily Hampshire Gazette Editorial: US should allow refinancing of college loans
Millions of Americans who borrow money to pay for college are locked into relatively high interest rates that compound the growing problem of student debt. Legislation that Sen. Elizabeth Warren keeps introducing - and Republicans keep turning back - would provide relief. It isn't a bailout or giveaway. Warren's bill would let borrowers of older college loans refinance to obtain a lower interest rate, just as homeowners do with mortgages. With interest rates still at historic lows, this would … Continue Reading
April 15, 2015
Boston Globe: Warren Pitches Ideas for Stronger Wall Street Curbs
APR 15, 2015 Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren wants to limit to just one the number of deals financial institutions accused of wrongdoing can cut with the government, a change that she believes would force corporations to follow the rules or face criminal charges. It's among several new ideas that Warren unveiled in a speech at the National Press Club on Wednesday. The senator offered new initiatives that would require banks to par far higher "mandatory minimum" fines when they avoid … Continue Reading
April 02, 2015
CBS Boston: Elizabeth Warren Hosts Student Debt Forum at UMass Boston
APR 2, 2015 BOSTON (CBS) - Senator Elizabeth Warren says she first raised a bill to reduce the interest rate on student loans about a year ago. Since then, she says students have gone into debt to the tune of $100 billion, paying rates like 6 or 10 percent and sometimes more. ... Representative Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland) and Warren will be having several events as part of their "Middle Class Prosperity Project" featuring prominent economists, according to a Huffington Post report. The … Continue Reading
March 30, 2015
Framingham Patch: Sen. Warren Introduces Bipartisan Bill Honoring POW/MIA Service Members
MAR 30, 2015 United States Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Senator Marco Rubio (R - Fla.) introduced legislation in the Senate and House to honor American service members who are Prisoners of War (POW) or Missing in Action (MIA). The National POW/MIA Remembrance Act will honor these approximately 91,662 service members by establishing a permanent commemorative chair on the grounds of the United States Capitol. Read the full article … Continue Reading
March 27, 2015
Gloucester Times: Senate Budget Amendment Would Fund At-Sea Monitoring
MAR 27, 2015 WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Senate late Thursday night passed a budget amendment calling for the federal government to fully cover the cost of dockside and at-sea monitoring of fishing vessels in fisheries where a federal disaster has been declared. The amendment, proposed by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and supported by Sen. Edward J. Markey, potentially could lift a huge, looming burden off the backs of fishermen in the Northeast Multispecies Groundfish fishery if it … Continue Reading
March 24, 2015
Framingham Patch: Hundreds of Small Businesses Attend Sen. Warren's 2nd Annual Massachusetts Business Matchmaker
MAR 24, 2015 United States Senator Elizabeth Warren hosted her 2nd Annual Massachusetts Business Matchmaker event on Monday, March 23, welcoming more than 350 participants representing federal agencies, prime contractors, and small businesses from throughout the Commonwealth. This year's event was held in Framingham at the Sheraton, and was a program of the U.S. Small Business Administration's (SBA) American Supplier Initiative in partnership with the U.S. General Services Administration … Continue Reading
March 20, 2015
MetroWest Daily News: Warren Hosting Business Matchmaker Event Monday in Framingham
MAR 20, 2015 FRAMINGHAM - Democratic U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren will host her second annual Massachusetts Business Matchmaker event Monday in Framingham. The event will help Bay State small businesses identify partnership opportunities with government agencies and government prime contractors, according to a press release. "We have a lot of terrific small businesses here in Massachusetts, and I want to be sure that each one of them knows about opportunities to promote and grow their business," … Continue Reading