Press Releases
Legislators Call on HHS to End Discriminatory Blood Donation Policy, Implement Risk-Based Policies
Washington D.C. - Today, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), and Representatives Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), led a letter with 75 of their congressional colleagues calling on Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell to replace the outdated and discriminatory lifetime ban on blood donations from men who have sex with men (MSM) with a policy based on individual risk factors. The legislators expressed deep … Continue Reading
December 12, 2014
Senators File Bipartisan Amendment to Strip Wall Street Bailout Provision from Government Funding Bill
WASHINGTON, DC - United States Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and David Vitter (R-La.) today filed a short, one-page, bipartisan amendment to remove a provision from the government funding bill that would allow for future bailouts of financial institutions that engage in risky derivatives trading. "Ever since the new financial regulations went into place, Wall Street has been working behind the scenes to open another loophole so they could gamble with taxpayer money and get bailed out … Continue Reading
December 12, 2014
Remarks by Senator Warren on Citigroup and its Bailout Provision
Washington, DC - United States Senator Elizabeth Warren delivered remarks on the floor of the Senate this evening on the grasp Citigroup has on government. Below is the text of the Senator's speech, as prepared for delivery: Mr. President, I'm back on the floor to talk about a dangerous provision that was slipped into a must-pass spending bill at the last minute to benefit Wall Street. This provision would repeal a rule called, and I'm quoting the title of the rule, "PROHIBITION AGAINST … Continue Reading
December 11, 2014
Senators Applaud FHFA’s Move to Fill Affordable Rental Housing Funds
WASHINGTON, DC - After the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) took a major step toward making affordable renting housing more available to American families, U.S. Senators Jack Reed (D-RI), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) today applauded FHFA's decision to end the temporary suspension of contributions to the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF) and the Capital Magnet Fund (CMF). The CMF was also designed to increase investment in related economic … Continue Reading
December 11, 2014
Senator Warren Urges Republicans to Oppose Bailout Provision in Government Funding Bill
Video of the Senator's remarks available here WASHINGTON, DC - In a speech on the Senate floor this afternoon, Senator Elizabeth Warren urged her Republican colleagues to oppose a provision added to the government funding bill that would increase the chance of future bailouts. Video of the Senator's remarks is available here, and the text of her speech as prepared for delivery follows: Mr. President, yesterday I came to the floor to call on House Democrats to withhold their support from the … Continue Reading
December 10, 2014
Senator Warren Calls On House To Strike Repeal Of Dodd-Frank Provision From Government Spending Bill
WASHINGTON, DC - United States Senator Elizabeth Warren spoke on the Senate floor this afternoon to urge the House of Representatives to remove from the government funding bill a reckless provision that would repeal important financial protections in Dodd-Frank. The text of Senator Warren's remarks as prepared for delivery follows: Mr. President, I come to the floor today to ask a fundamental question - who does Congress work for? Does it work for the millionaires, the billionaires, the giant … Continue Reading
December 10, 2014
Senators Urge Department Of Education To Discharge Loans For Students At Colleges That Break The Law
WASHINGTON, DC - United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and twelve Senate colleagues sent a letter on Tuesday calling on the Department of Education (ED) to implement clear policies for using its existing authority to discharge federal student loans for students who attend colleges that break the law. The letter was signed by Senators Warren, Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Al Franken … Continue Reading
December 09, 2014
Markey, Warren, Keating Push for Release of Fishery Disaster Money
WASHINGTON (December 9, 2014) - Massachusetts Senators Edward J. Markey and Elizabeth Warren, with Rep. Bill Keating, are pushing the head of the Department of Commerce to release a second round of disaster fishing aid to Bay State fishermen and businesses before the end of the year. Some fishermen and businesses did not qualify for the first round of funding that was released in August, and recent emergency measures put in place by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) … Continue Reading
November 18, 2014
Senators Warren, Warner Urge FHFA Action on Housing Finance Infrastructure and Access to Credit
Washington, DC - United States Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) today wrote a letter to Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Melvin Watt urging the agency to take steps "to build a housing finance infrastructure for the future, enhance the role of private capital in the agency mortgage-backed security (MBS) market, and responsibly increase access to mortgage credit." The senators highlighted six areas where further FHFA action can advance these goals: (1) … Continue Reading
November 18, 2014
Cummings and Warren Ramp Up Investigation of Consumer Data Breaches Throughout U.S. Financial Sector
Washington, D.C. (Nov. 18, 2014)-In light of reports that more than 500 million records have been compromised due to data security breaches in the U.S. financial sector over the past year, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings and Senator Elizabeth Warren sent letters today to 16 banks, investment firms, and other financial service providers requesting information about recent data breaches and seeking detailed briefings from corporate IT security officers. "The increasing number of cyber-attacks and data … Continue Reading
November 13, 2014
Sens. Warren and Markey Introduce Resolution Honoring Former Boston Mayor Thomas Menino
WASHINGTON, DC - United States Senators Elizabeth Warren and Edward J. Markey today introduced a Senate resolution honoring the life of former Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. A PDF copy of the resolution is available here, and the full text is below: Title: Honoring the life of Thomas M. Menino, Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts, from 1993 to 2014. Whereas Thomas Menino was born on December 27, 1942, in Readville, in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Boston where he lived his entire life; Whereas Thomas … Continue Reading
October 30, 2014
Statement from Sen. Warren on Mayor Thomas Menino
BOSTON, MA- U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren released the following statement today: "The City of Boston lost a great fighter today. Mayor Tom Menino used his big heart, his strong voice, and his fierce determination to shape every corner of the city. Bruce and I send our prayers to Mayor Menino's wife Angela, to his family, and to all Bostonians. Our mayor is gone, but he lives on in every neighborhood in … Continue Reading
October 20, 2014
Cummings and Warren Request Investigation into Non-Bank Mortgage Servicing Industry
Washington, DC - Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Senator Elizabeth Warren, member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, called on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate threats to consumers arising from the growth in non-bank mortgage servicing. In their letter to U.S. Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, Cummings and Warren noted that as the non-bank share of the mortgage … Continue Reading
October 16, 2014
Senator Warren Applauds Release of Federal Heating Aid
WASHINGTON, DC - United States Senator Elizabeth Warren applauded the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service's (HHS) initial release of $131,791,505 in Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funding to Massachusetts. Senator Warren sent a letter with her Senate colleagues earlier this month calling on HHS to release LIHEAP funding quickly and at as high a level as possible. "Because thousands of families across the Commonwealth depend on federal LIHEAP aid to heat their … Continue Reading
October 01, 2014
Massachusetts Delegation Applauds New Job-Driven Training Grants for Mass. Community Colleges
Washington, DC - Senators Edward J. Markey and Elizabeth Warren, and Representatives William Keating, Niki Tsongas, and Joe Kennedy III applauded the awarding of more than $22 million from the Department of Education and the Department of Labor to Cape Cod Community College and Massasoit Community College for job-driven training programs. The New Aviation Maintenance Accelerated Job Training Program at Cape Cod Community College will receive $2.5 million. Massasoit Community College, as … Continue Reading
September 26, 2014
Statement from Sen. Warren on New York Fed
WASHINGTON, DC - United States Senator Elizabeth Warren released the below statement on Friday following a report about the New York Fed published by ProPublica and This American Life: "When regulators care more about protecting big banks from accountability than they do about protecting the American people from risky and illegal behavior on Wall Street, it threatens our whole economy. We learned this the hard way in 2008. Congress must hold oversight hearings on the disturbing issues raised … Continue Reading
September 24, 2014
Mass. Delegation Applauds U.S. DOL Grant for Paid Family and Medical Leave Studies
WASHINGTON, DC - United States Senators Elizabeth Warren and Edward J. Markey, and Representatives Niki Tsongas, Bill Keating, Joe Kennedy III, and Katherine Clark applauded the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) award of $117,651 to the Massachusetts Department of Labor Standards to study the benefits of paid family and medical leave programs. Massachusetts was one of four states to receive funding. "It's tough enough to raise a family and hold down a job, but there's no denying that families … Continue Reading
September 23, 2014
Levin, Reed, Markey, Warren urge SEC to protect investors
WASHINGTON - Four Democratic senators today urged the Securities and Exchange Commission to promptly adopt proposed safeguards designed to protect investors from potential fraud and abuse in private securities offerings. In a letter to SEC Chair Mary Jo White [PDF], Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich.; Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I.; Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass.; and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., write that today is the one-year anniversary of implementation of the SEC's rule allowing "general solicitation" in … Continue Reading
September 17, 2014
Warren-Portman "Smart Savings Act" to Strengthen Retirement Savings Passes Senate
WASHINGTON, DC - On Tuesday evening, the Senate unanimously passed bipartisan legislation introduced by Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) to help substantially increase financial returns for federal employees' retirement plans without increasing federal spending. The legislation was co-sponsored by Senators Mark Begich (D-Alaska), Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.). The Smart Savings Act would change the automatic enrollment for federal employees enrolling … Continue Reading
September 09, 2014
Sen. Warren: "Our democracy is in real danger...This is the time to amend the Constitution"
Video of the Senator's Remarks Washington, DC - United States Senator Elizabeth Warren today delivered a speech on the floor of the Senate in support of a pending constitutional amendment, introduced by Senator Tom Udall (D-NM), that would give Congress and individual states the authority to regulate campaign finance and rein in money pouring into our political process. Senator Warren remarked on the enormous impact of super PAC money in the 2012 presidential election, "32 people spent … Continue Reading
