Op-eds
TIME: Trump’s New Proposal Is Another Attempt by the Government to Control Women’s Bodies
The Trump Administration is trying to turn back the clock on women's healthcare and reproductive rights....Last week, the president proposed reviving a Reagan-era rule that targets the Title X family planning program. The rule is a multi-pronged attack on women. First, it threatens Title X patients' access to medically accurate information by restricting what providers can tell patients about abortion services - even when patients directly ask for that information. Second, it loosens … Continue Reading
May 02, 2018
CNN Op-Ed: How Congress can combat sexual harassment
Sexual harassment isn't new. Every day, women across the country are catcalled on the street, groped by strangers and bullied online. Thanks to the brave women (and men) who have spoken out about this abuse, our country is taking a long overdue look at how to stop harassment once and for all.Preventing harassment requires a cultural shift in how we think about women, power and the right of all people to live their lives with dignity -- and Congress has a role to play. That's why we introduced … Continue Reading
April 18, 2018
Standard-Times: Support mental health funding
We all know someone who has dealt with a mental health condition - a friend, a family member, a partner, a co-worker, a neighbor. Nearly one in five adults experience mental illness each year, and about 10 million Americans experience a serious mental illness that substantially impacts their major life activities.Despite the widespread need, the availability of mental health services is sharply limited. Over the past five years, the Mental Health Block Grant, the federal government's … Continue Reading
April 11, 2018
Bloomberg Op-Ed: Don't Make a Bad Bill on Bank Deregulation Worse
The bank-deregulation bill that recently passed the U.S. Senate threatens the financial system and undermines consumer protections -- and it could get even worse as it moves through the House of Representatives. The Senate bill claims to solve a problem -- one that actually doesn’t exist. Bank lobbyists declare that broad deregulation is needed to spur growth and lending, but banks of all sizes are already making record profits and consumer and small business lending is … Continue Reading
March 29, 2018
USA Today Op-Ed: Treat the opioid crisis like the HIV/AIDS epidemic
It's time for Congress to show the same political courage on the opioid crisis that our colleagues showed 30 years ago for the HIV/AIDS epidemic.As states and communities on the front lines struggle to respond to the opioid crisis, Washington has only nibbled around the edges. Politicians and policymakers make vague promises, treating the crisis as if it is a novel, intractable problem. It is neither....Three decades ago, another epidemic that was highly stigmatized, … Continue Reading
March 28, 2018
Wall Street Journal Op-Ed: Republicans Remain Silent as Mulvaney's CFPB Ducks Oversight
The acting director has undermined the bureau's work defending the public.From the moment Congress created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Republican critics ranted about the CFPB's supposed lack of accountability. Now that one of those critics, Mick Mulvaney, has assumed control of the bureau, the attackers have fallen silent-even as Mr. Mulvaney disregards legal mandates and dodges congressional oversight. This turnabout shows Republicans never really cared about … Continue Reading
March 25, 2018
Boston Globe Op-Ed: A foreign policy in Asia that works at home
This week, I will travel to the Asia Pacific region to meet with our allies Japan and South Korea, and to talk with Chinese government officials in Beijing. Our engagement in Asia is essential to U.S. security and economic interests, but today the region faces significant threats.On the Korean Peninsula, a nuclear-armed North Korea threatens the security of the United States, our allies, the region, and the world. I agree with our senior military officials that there is no military-only … Continue Reading
February 26, 2018
Boston Globe: America needs union jobs
When he was gunned down by an assassin's bullet in 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was in Memphis. His last political act was to support sanitation workers as they fought for economic security and dignity on the job. Dr. King understood that the struggle for equality and justice is not limited to civil rights. It also includes economic justice. So, as he led the great struggle for civil rights, he also fought for labor rights. King was in Memphis to support a union because he knew that … Continue Reading
January 25, 2018
USA Today Op-Ed: Elizabeth Warren: Trump team isn't negotiating a good NAFTA deal for workers
The evidence is in: Donald Trump is the King of Offshoring. Since Trump promised to stop American job outsourcing, company after company has announced its intent to send more jobs overseas. Over 600 Indianapolis Carrier jobs went to Mexico, along with 300 jobs across town at Rexnord, and another 600 at Nabisco. GE. Microsoft. Lowe's. The outsourcing list goes on, and Trump has only made things worse. His administration continues to hand out millions in federal contracting dollars to companies … Continue Reading
January 24, 2018
American Banker Op-Ed: Misguided data freeze keeps CFPB from doing its job
During the fallout from the financial crisis, I worked with Congress to design the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to stand up for consumers and hold accountable the giant corporations that had crashed the economy. Congress gave the agency a lot of tools to level the playing field - it can write rules to implement laws and sue financial institutions that break them. CFPB examiners inspect financial institutions to make sure their practices are fair and don't cheat customers. And CFPB … Continue Reading
January 21, 2018
TIME Op-Ed: America Can Never Go Back to the Era of Back-Alley Abortions
When I was a girl growing up in Oklahoma, women got abortions. But because those procedures were illegal, many of them ended up with back alley butchers. And we all heard the stories: women who bled to death or died from an infection. One of my older brothers and I can argue left-right politics all day and all night, but when it comes to reproductive rights, we see it the same way: A woman should make this very personal decision - and the government should stay out of it. We're in step with … Continue Reading
December 18, 2017
STAT Op-Ed: Congress needs to fund community health centers right away
I love community health centers. They do wonderful work and enjoy widespread support. But I'm worried because Republican leaders in Congress have held these centers hostage by halting federal funding while they focus on passing tax cuts for the wealthy. It's past time to step up the fight for community health centers in my state of Massachusetts and across the country. Community health centers are a big part of what's working well in health care today - more coverage at lower cost. They are … Continue Reading
December 17, 2017
South Coast Today Op-Ed: The internet is for all of us ... not just the rich and powerful
The internet is an important part of our lives. In Massachusetts and across the country, students of all ages go online to complete their homework. Entrepreneurs and small businesses sell goods and do business online. Families come together to watch their favorite movies or shows. But right now our access to a fair and open internet is under attack. On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to roll back key federal protections known as net neutrality rules - rules that … Continue Reading
December 17, 2017
New York Times Op-Ed: Warren and Sanders: Who Is Congress Really Serving?
WASHINGTON - Over the past year, Republicans have made their priorities clear. Their effort to repeal Obamacare would have left tens of millions of people without health insurance. Now Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, wants to ram through an enormous tax giveaway to the wealthy before seating Doug Jones, Alabama's newly elected Democratic senator. The Republican agenda on health care and taxes may be popular with wealthy campaign donors, but it is widely disliked by the American … Continue Reading
December 05, 2017
Washington Post Op-Ed: UPS and Pfizer’s dirty little secret
The blandly named American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is one of the most powerful groups you may have never heard of. ALEC describes itself as the "largest nonpartisan, voluntary membership organization of state legislators dedicated to the principles of limited government, free markets and federalism." In reality, it is an almost entirely corporate-funded front group looking to roll back environmental, consumer and workplace protections in state legislatures across the country. When … Continue Reading
November 30, 2017
USA Today Op-Ed: Don't let Trump & Wall Street gut consumer protection bureau
Before the 2008 financial crisis, people were tricked, squeezed, misled and outright cheated by a lot of lenders. Wall Street banks handed out mortgages they knew their customers couldn't repay. Credit card companies hid dangerous traps deep in the fine print of their contracts. Student loan servicers caught students and graduates in tangles of debt with high interest rates. And after sucking billions in profits out of the pockets of hardworking people, the financial giants crashed the … Continue Reading
November 17, 2017
American Prospect Op-Ed: Don't Let Wall Street Run Amok
Ten years ago, just before the onset of the financial crisis, I wrote an article for an academic journal proposing a new agency that would regulate financial products and protect American consumers. I set my expectations low: This idea would go nowhere. But after the financial system imploded, there was sudden interest in my idea from that dusty academic journal. I started to talk to groups about building a consumer agency, and one after another came on board: unions, AARP, Consumers Union. … Continue Reading
November 08, 2017
Boston Herald Op-Ed: A seat of honor for POW/MIAs
Every year on Nov. 11, America honors the men and women who have served our country in uniform. There are parades and special ceremonies, roundtable breakfasts and religious services. As the sister of three veterans, it has always been a time to reflect on the sacrifices of those who have served, and the families that love them. I remember how my mother watched for the mail. She looked forward to hearing from my brother David, when he was posted at Fort Sam Houston training as an emergency … Continue Reading
November 03, 2017
Washington Post Op-Ed: The Republican tax plan puts rich donors ahead of working families
The Republican leadership has outsourced its economic agenda to a handful of billionaires and corporate donors. From attempting to kick millions off of health insurance to rolling back rules protecting worker health and safety, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) have relentlessly pursued their donors' interests at the expense of working families. The Republican tax plan unveiled Thursday is the latest example. American families are already … Continue Reading
November 01, 2017
Politico Op-Ed: The Supreme Court Has An Ethics Problem
A few days before the Supreme Court returned from its summer break, Justice Neil Gorsuch, the court's newest member, attended a luncheon at the Trump International Hotel, where he was to give the keynote address. The location of the speech attracted the attention of dozens of protesters and a number of ethics watchdogs, who noted the apparent conflict of interest posed by Justice Gorsuch-a Trump nominee-keynoting an event at a hotel whose revenue goes in part to President Trump. That … Continue Reading
