Press Releases
Warren and Cotton Raise Bipartisan Concerns About Financial Adviser Misconduct, Ask FINRA to Protect Investors
Text of the letter available here Washington, DC - In a bipartisan letter sent to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) today, United States Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) asked about steps the independent regulator is taking to address misconduct among financial advisers and to protect investors. The letter comes after a recent study found high rates of misconduct among advisers under FINRA's supervision, and revealed ineffective sanctions for this … Continue Reading
May 11, 2016
Warren: Navient Should Fix Abysmal Student Loan Servicing, Not Spend Millions on Lobbying for Sweetheart Deals
Washington, DC - United States Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote to the U.S. Department of Education's (ED's) Office of Federal Student Aid to raise concerns about the recent dramatic increase in lobbying expenditures by student loan servicer Navient. Navient's significant lobbying expenditures - which total almost $24 million since 2010 - come while the servicer has faced a number of federal and state investigations into problems with its servicing practices. Warren raised particular concerns … Continue Reading
May 03, 2016
Senators Urge Education Department to Fully Enforce Key Funding Accountability Provision in "Every Student Succeeds Act"
A PDF copy of the letter is available here Washington, DC - United States Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), along with seven other senators, urged the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to use the authority that it was given by Congress to fully enforce the "supplement, not supplant" provision in the recently-passed Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). This provision helps ensure the law meets it goal of protecting the civil rights and educational opportunity for all … Continue Reading
May 02, 2016
President Signs POW/MIA Remembrance Act into Law
WASHINGTON, D.C. - On Friday, President Barack Obama signed the National POW/MIA Remembrance Act of 2015 into law. Congressman Lynch introduced the legislation in the House of Representatives, and United States Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) introduced the bipartisan Senate companion bill. The legislation honors American service members who are Prisoners of War (POW) or Missing in Action (MIA) by placing a commemorative chair on the grounds of the U.S. … Continue Reading
May 02, 2016
Senator Warren Releases Report Highlighting Benefits of New Overtime Rule for Workers and Families
A PDF copy of the report is available here Washington, DC - Today, United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released a report highlighting public comments from workers and their families in all 50 states in support of the proposed new federal overtime rule. This rule would benefit more than 13.5 million workers by making them newly eligible for overtime pay or strengthening their protections against being misclassified by employers. In a letter sent to the Office of Management and … Continue Reading
April 21, 2016
Senator Warren's Statement on Kinder Morgan's Decision to Suspend Work on the Proposed Northeast Energy Direct Pipeline
Washington, DC - United States Senator Elizabeth Warren released the following statement on Kinder Morgan's announcement that it will suspend its plans for the Northeast Energy Direct pipeline: "Across Massachusetts, residents raised significant concerns about the impact of the proposed Northeast Energy Direct pipeline on homes, businesses, and our environment. This announcement confirms what our citizens have been saying since the beginning - this project simply isn't necessary to meet our … Continue Reading
April 21, 2016
Senator Warren Raises Concerns About SEC Decision to Approve Money Manager Application for Firm Owned by Steven Cohen
Washington, DC - United States Senator Elizabeth Warren today wrote to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Mary Jo White to raise serious concerns about the agency's decision to approve the application of Stamford Harbor Capital, L.P., a firm that is indirectly-owned by Steven A. Cohen, to register as a money manager for outside clients. Cohen is the former manager of SAC Capital Advisors, and in January was barred by the SEC from "supervising funds that manage outside money until … Continue Reading
April 19, 2016
On Massachusetts Tax Day, Support Grows for Warren's Bill to Simplify Tax Filing
Text of the letter available here Washington, DC - As the tax deadline for Massachusetts residents hits today, Senator Elizabeth Warren announced that her Tax Filing Simplification Act has received the support of 54 tax experts from across the country. This legislation, which was introduced by Senator Warren and eight other senators last week, would simplify the tax filing process and decrease the costs of filing for millions of Americans. The bill was released in conjunction with a Warren … Continue Reading
April 18, 2016
Senator Warren’s Statement on FHFA’s Principal Reduction Announcement
Washington, DC- United States Senator Elizabeth Warren issued the following statement today about the Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA's) recent announcement that principal reductions will be made available for certain homeowners: "While this program will help a small number of underwater homeowners, last week's announcement was a bitter pill to swallow for the millions of homeowners who could have benefitted from a much broader program years ago. As part of the 2008 bill authorizing … Continue Reading
April 15, 2016
Senate Passes POW/MIA Remembrance Act
WASHINGTON,DC - Yesterday, the United States Senate unanimously passed H.R. 1670, the National POW/MIA Remembrance Act of 2015, legislation introduced by Congressman Stephen F. Lynch (D-Boston). United States Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) introduced the bipartisan Senate companion bill. The legislation honors American service members who are Prisoners of War (POW) or Missing in Action (MIA) by placing a commemorative chair on the grounds of the U.S. … Continue Reading
April 13, 2016
Statement from Senator Warren on Rejection of Banks' "Living Wills" by Fed and FDIC
Washington, DC - United States Senator Elizabeth Warren released the following statement today: "Eight years ago, Too Big to Fail banks sparked a financial meltdown, then sucked up hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer bailouts. Today, after an extensive, multi-year review process, federal regulators concluded that five of the country's biggest banks are still - literally - Too Big to Fail. They officially determined that five US banks are large enough that any one of them could crash … Continue Reading
April 13, 2016
Senator Warren Introduces Bill to Simplify Tax Filing
Bill Text, Fact SheetTax Report Washington, DC - United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) today introduced the Tax Filing Simplification Act of 2016 to simplify and decrease the costs of the tax filing process for millions of American taxpayers. This year, taxpayers will spend an average of 13 hours preparing and filing their returns, and will pay $200 for tax preparation services - a cost equal to almost 10 percent of the average federal tax refund. The legislation introduced today … Continue Reading
April 12, 2016
Senators Call on New FDA Commissioner to Address Gaps in Policies to Reduce Antibiotic Use in Animals
Washington, DC - Today, United States Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) wrote to urge recently-confirmed Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Robert Califf to address clear gaps in the agency's policies on antibiotic use in food animal production. In their letter, the senators noted that many food animals are still fed low doses of … Continue Reading
April 12, 2016
Warren and Enzi Support Creation of Online Retirement Savings Transfer Process for Federal Workers
Text of the letter available here Washington, DC - United States Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) wrote today to the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board to encourage the creation of an online process that would allow federal workers to transfer or roll over funds from existing retirement accounts to their federal Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) accounts. TSP accounts have low fees and a variety of simple, effective investments options. However, to transfer savings … Continue Reading
April 11, 2016
Cummings and Warren Release GAO Report Highlighting Dramatic Growth of Nonbank Mortgage Servicers
Washington, DC - Today, United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Congressman Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, released a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that documents the dramatic growth of nonbank mortgage servicers and details the need for stronger regulatory oversight of the industry. GAO produced the report in response to a request from Cummings and Warren. The GAO report, Nonbank Mortgage … Continue Reading
April 08, 2016
Senator Warren Introduces Legislation to Address Concerns About Flight Noise in Local Communities
Washington, DC - Today, United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) introduced the FAA Community Accountability Act to give local communities a voice in the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) decision-making process for flight paths. The bill was also filed as an amendment to the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2016, which is currently being debated on the Senate floor. Additionally, Senator Warren filed an amendment to the FAA Reauthorization Act requiring the Government Accountability … Continue Reading
April 07, 2016
Warren and Brown Urge Treasury Department to Investigate Involvement of U.S. Entities in Activities Revealed by “Panama Papers”
Washington, DC - In a letter sent to Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew today, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Banking Committee Ranking Member Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) urged the U.S. Treasury Department to investigate whether any U.S. or U.S.-linked entities were involved with Mossack Fonseca & Co., the Panama-based law firm whose leaked internal records appear to reveal that it has helped thousands of clients create shell companies to hide assets, some allegedly to launder money or … Continue Reading
April 07, 2016
Ernst, Bennet, Ayotte, and Warren Introduce Tax Credit for Family Caregivers
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senators Joni Ernst (R-IA), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) today introduced the Credit for Caring Act, which would provide up to a $3,000 nonrefundable tax credit to working family caregivers for qualified expenses. According to AARP, there are an estimated 40 million family caregivers in the United States. Most of these caregivers spend approximately 18 hours per week providing critical support to a family member. The … Continue Reading
April 07, 2016
Federal Agencies Commit to Marijuana Scheduling Decision by Mid-2016
Read the agencies' response here Washington, DC - The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) responded on Monday to a letter from several U.S. Senators requesting information on these agencies' efforts to facilitate medical marijuana research. In the response, DEA, HHS and ONDCP announced plans to release a determination on rescheduling petitions in the first half of 2016 and laid out a … Continue Reading
April 06, 2016
Senators Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Advance Strategic Planning and Representation in Medical Research at NIH
Washington, DC - Yesterday, United States Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) introduced the Advancing NIH Strategic Planning and Representation in Medical Research Act. The legislation will advance a number of policies to improve planning, collaboration, and representation in research conducted and funded by the National Institutes of Health … Continue Reading
