Op-eds

August 21, 2021

Washington Post: How to fix our rigged tax system

by Elizabeth Warren

Now that the Senate has passed a budget resolution, we’re one step closer to realizing President Biden’s transformational agenda: a once-in-a-generation investment in child care and Medicare, combating climate change and other efforts that would actually make our government work for families. The other half of the package — how to pay for these investments — is equally important.The already huge gap between the 0.1 percent and everyone else is just getting wider. Billionaire wealth surged by … Continue Reading


May 04, 2021

Boston Globe: Elizabeth Warren on why we need universal child care now

by Senator Elizabeth Warren

In early April 2020, just as wave after wave of coronavirus cases were hitting the United States and hospitals in hot spots were worried about being overrun with sick and dying people, I set up a conference call with a big group of Massachusetts nurses. They were working long hours, there were no known COVID-19 treatments, and they were watching their patients die alone. I’d also heard terrible stories about the shortage of face masks and other protective gear. Let’s be clear: If nurses can’t … Continue Reading


March 25, 2021

CNN: Caregivers are essential workers. It's time we recognize them as such

by Elizabeth Warren and Mary Kay Henry

We all want the same things in life: health, security and promising futures for our families. The Covid-19 pandemic has made it clear how caregivers -- including child care, home care and nursing home workers -- are essential to achieving this vision. But families struggle to afford care, while care jobs remain undervalued, understaffed, underprotected and underpaid. It's time for Congress and President Joe Biden to make real change. Caregivers have taken on some of the worst burdens of the … Continue Reading


January 25, 2021

USA Today: No president should have unilateral power to use nuclear weapons: Sen. Warren and Sec. Perry

by Elizabeth Warren and William J. Perry

Two weeks after he incited an insurrection against the Congress and the Constitution he swore an oath to defend, former President Donald Trump retained full authority to use the most deadly weapons ever created. As disturbing as it may be, this authority is a central feature of our nation’s nuclear decision-making structure — and it is long past time for reform. There is no question that we must place firm limits on presidential nuclear powers, first by enacting a formal policy not to use … Continue Reading


January 22, 2021

CNBC: Forgiving Student Debt Will Help Senior Citizens, Too

by Senator Elizabeth Warren, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer

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. Right now, over 43 million people in the United States are buried under $1.5 trillion dollars in federal student loan debt, including 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 … Continue Reading


January 14, 2021

Data for Progress: Here’s how Biden can Leverage U.S. Purchasing Power to Take on Climate Change

by Senator Elizabeth Warren

The climate crisis threatens our nation’s health, economy, and security. Its effects are not far off into the future or purely theoretical. The crisis is here, happening in front of our eyes and hurting low-income communities and communities of color the most. It is happening because of choices too often dictated by the fossil fuel industry and their allies. But just as our society’s choices have led to the crisis, our choices moving forward can provide solutions.The incoming Biden … Continue Reading


January 05, 2021

CNN: End the silence about what Covid-19 is doing to America's prisons

by Elizabeth Warren, Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein, and Kathryn Nowotny

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.One of us has been calling for more data collection since June and two of us started an organization, The COVID Prison Project, to gather and publicize this information where it is available. The project's data, which was used in a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report, shows infection … Continue Reading


December 11, 2020

The Washington Post: Elizabeth Warren: What a Biden-Harris administration should prioritize on its first day

by Elizabeth Warren

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 … Continue Reading


December 04, 2020

Blavity: Why We, Elizabeth Warren And Chuck Schumer, Believe The Biden-Harris Administration Should Cancel Up To $50K In Student Debt On Day One

by Elizabeth Warren and Chuck Schumer

For the first time in history, the American people have elected a President and Vice President States who committed to cancelling billions in student loan debt.Americans outside of Washington get it.They see their friends, family, and neighbors crushed by growing debt burdens, unable to afford their first home or start a small business. They know a senior whose Social Security check has been garnished by the federal government just to pay student loan interest. They know a mother struggling to … Continue Reading


October 25, 2020

CNN: Supreme Court power grab threatens Native health care during the pandemic

by Elizabeth Warren and Tom Udall

(CNN) As millions of Americans cast their ballots in the most important presidential election in recent history, and as Native communities grapple with the disproportionate toll of a once-in-a-century pandemic, Senate Republicans are focused on one thing: installing a right-wing judge on our nation's highest court.Make no mistake: The Trump administration and Senate Republicans are trying to force a justice onto the court to finish the job they could not finish in Congress. They want to … Continue Reading


October 23, 2020

WBUR: Overturning The Affordable Care Act Would Be Catastrophic — Especially For People With Disabilities

by Elizabeth Warren and Matthew Cortland

For the 61 million Americans who live with a disability, there’s an important date on the calendar this fall: November 10, the day the Supreme Court will hear a case about whether to overturn the Affordable Care Act. President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans have picked a Supreme Court nominee whose position is clear: she doesn’t like the ACA, or the previous court rulings that upheld it. There is so much at stake.Before the ACA, the disability community faced critical barriers to … Continue Reading


October 19, 2020

Shondaland: How Trump’s Supreme Court Nominee Could Threaten Your Healthcare

by Elizabeth Warren

Over ten years ago, President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) into law. Since then, we’ve made progress. Millions of Americans now have high-quality, affordable health insurance. We no longer have to worry about being denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions. Millions of young adults can stay on their parents’ plans until 26. States were given the option to expand Medicaid eligibility — providing coverage to more than 12 million low-income … Continue Reading


October 14, 2020

Boston Globe: The Affordable Care Act and coverage for Massachusetts residents is at risk

by Elizabeth Warren, Amy Rosenthal, and Kate Walsh

Dave was laid off from his hotel job in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, and he lost his health insurance too. A week later, he was rushed to the emergency room with a lung problem. With support from an enrollment assister, he was able to enroll in MassHealth coverage that was made possible because of the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. He is just one of the hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts residents given a lifeline by the ACA.Yet, the multi-year effort to repeal … Continue Reading


October 12, 2020

Rolling Stone: Elizabeth Warren on How to Honor RBG’s Legacy — and the Dangers of Confirming Amy Coney Barrett

by Elizabeth Warren

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a trailblazer. She was an icon. The legend known as the “Notorious RBG.” And to me, she was a role model and a friend. Her sharp legal mind, her compassion, and her fighting spirit pried open doors for millions of women, including myself. I remember when I was a young mother and I was at Rutgers, trying something as seemingly outlandish as going to law school. It was a really lonely undertaking. But Ruth was an example of a woman who made it, and even better, a … Continue Reading


October 08, 2020

The Cut: We Know Exactly How Amy Coney Barrett Feels About Abortion

by Elizabeth Warren

"The decision whether or not to bear a child is “central to a woman’s life, to her dignity. It is a decision she must make for herself. When Government controls that decision for her, she is being treated as less than a fully adult human responsible for her own choices.” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that 30 years ago, at her Supreme Court confirmation hearing. She understood that reproductive freedom is foundational to equality, and critical to women’s health and economic security. Without … Continue Reading


October 06, 2020

Dorchester Reporter: Opioid epidemic did not pause for Covid; we must act to save lives

by Senator Elizabeth Warren

Long before the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in the United States, the country was already battling another large-scale public health crisis: the opioid epidemic. Like the COVID-19 pandemic, the opioid epidemic has disproportionately hit Black, Brown, American Indian, and Alaska Native communities.The coronavirus pandemic has actually made the opioid crisis worse and accelerated its devastation. Congress has a responsibility to take immediate action to tackle these twin crises. It can … Continue Reading


September 29, 2020

Fast Company: Elizabeth Warren: Business Roundtable declaration ‘was just an empty publicity stunt’

by Senator Elizabeth Warren

Last August, the Business Roundtable made a big, splashy announcement: Nearly 200 of its member CEOs, led by JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon, would reverse their harmful, decades-long position that “corporations exist principally to serve shareholders.” The new “Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation” said they would now serve all stakeholders, including workers, consumers, and the communities in which they operate. But one year later, their actions show this was just an empty publicity … Continue Reading


September 18, 2020

Boston Globe: Ranked-choice voting is a better way to vote

by Elizabeth Warren and Jamie Raskin

Across the country, nearly 1,000 people are dying each day from COVID-19, an infectious disease that should have been under control by now. The economy is being squeezed to its breaking point. The fight for racial justice has reached an inflection point and demands bold action. And from postal sabotage to old-fashioned voter purges, voting — the very foundation of our democracy and an essential instrument for change — is under siege.To defend our democracy, we need to fortify it. One way is by … Continue Reading


August 17, 2020

CNBC: Elizabeth Warren and lawyer who sued Uber say gig economy companies deny workers their rights

by Senator Elizabeth Warren and Shannon Liss-Riordan

The coronavirus pandemic has delivered a one-two punch to American workers - a public health emergency paired with a brutal economic crisis. Our country has lost millions of jobs and has already experienced some of the highest unemployment numbers since the Great Depression. Essential workers are risking their safety on the job, often without adequate protections. Senate Republicans have made shielding employers from liability, while dismantling federal labor protections, their top priority … Continue Reading


August 06, 2020

The Washington Post: Families see a looming catastrophe. Private equity firms see dollar signs.

by Senator Elizabeth Warren and Carroll Fife

The nation is facing an accelerating housing crisis. Too many people had no stable housing before the pandemic hit, and covid-19 has made the problem even worse. Renters who were already facing an affordable housing shortage (with many spending more than half of their income on rent) now have no federal rental assistance or federal protection from eviction. Homeowners have less than a month left of foreclosure protection. And more than 30 million people receiving unemployment insurance just … Continue Reading

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