An earlier version of this story said that none of Elizabeth Warren’s bills had become law during the current Congress. In fact, one of her bills, to make it easier […]
Shawn Zeller
Posted inPolitics
Clark seems like she’s in a good spot
US REP. KATHERINE CLARK appears well positioned politically if the Democrats retake the House of Representatives in November—and even if they don’t. If Democrats win, Clark can take some of […]
Posted inPolitics
Trump in charge of Warren’s baby
THE TUSSLE OVER Richard Cordray’s successor as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau underscored a new reality for Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. The agency she created, which was by […]
Posted inPolitics
All quiet for Baker on the DC frontÂ
FOR RICHARD NEAL, the 15-term congressman from Springfield, the reopening in June of the city’s Union Station was a deeply moving moment. Neal, in 1977, had launched his first campaign […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Clark takes on Purdue’s opioid marketingÂ
LATE LAST YEAR, an article in the Los Angeles Times caught the eye of US Rep. Katherine Clark of Melrose. The article alleged that Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma, the maker of […]
Posted inPolitics
Steve Lynch’s balancing act
NO ONE WOULD question the wisdom of a gambler who put money on US Rep. Stephen Lynch securing another easy win next year. Still, the odds are changing a bit, […]
Posted inPolitics
What can the Mass. delegation do?
MASSACHUSETTS VOTERS RAN against the grain on Election Day and returned to Washington the nine incumbents who represent the Bay State in the House. They join fellow Democrats Elizabeth Warren […]
Posted inPolitics
Can Elizabeth Warren legislate?
DURING HER FIRST four years representing Massachusetts in the Senate, Elizabeth Warren has become the chamber’s leading progressive voice. Hillary Clinton considered her for the vice presidential slot and, while […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
Slow, steady on military sex assaults
SHORTLY AFTER TAKING HER SEAT in the House in 2007, US Rep. Niki Tsongas of Lowell attended a luncheon for soldiers wounded in combat. Tsongas approached some women at the […]
Posted inPolitics
MA congressional delegation itching for change
GOING INTO THE 2016 ELECTION, Republicans hold 246 seats in the House of Representatives. Democrats have 188. For Massachusetts, with its nine-member, all-Democrat delegation, this is a very bad situation […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Waiting his turn
PAUL RYAN’S ASCENSION to the House speaker’s chair in October meant some reshuffling at the Ways and Means committee he was leaving behind, a panel with jurisdiction over taxes, trade, […]
Posted inEconomy
The politics of patents
THE WAY BOSTON UNIVERSITY President Bob Brown sees it, the Massachusetts economy is fueled by a pipeline of innovation running from the state’s great research universities to start-up companies. University […]
Posted inPolitics
A rookie on Pelosi’s team
WHEN SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES gathered in the House chamber in January to hear President Obama’s State of the Union address, Katherine Clark, the Melrose representative who is now serving her first […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Kennedy fights federal data breach law
AFTER HACKERS STOLEÂ data from Target, Home Depot, and other companies in recent years, President Obama called on Congress to enact legislation setting a national standard governing what companies must do […]
Posted inPolitics
Markey’s strategy in Washington
IT WAS A COLD February 5 when Ed Markey took the stage in the Radio and TV Gallery of the US Capitol. There were only a few reporters there to […]
Posted inPolitics
Advantage Democrats
THIRTY YEARS AGO this month marked the last time a Republican assumed the presidency with the approval of Massachusetts voters. Ronald Reagan won 49 states in the previous November’s election, […]
Posted inPolitics
Guest workers
most of the attention on the immigration bill that is now foundering in Congress is on the 11 million or so immigrants who live in this country without the government’s […]
Posted inPolitics
Do Not Call
the federal trade Commission’s Do Not Call Registry, once an effective deterrent to unwanted telemarketing calls, is now a toothless tiger. Telemarketing scam artists have found ways around the registry, […]
Posted inPolitics
The guiding hand
mindy myers has never called New England home, but she’s nevertheless left her political mark on the region. The 37-year-old Washington insider has run the successful election campaigns of three […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics
Leading the fight against e-cigarettes
When Susan Liss became the top lobbyist for Massachusetts in Washington in 2006, she had a million things to juggle, from the rollout of the state’s new health care law […]
Posted inPolitics
What Markey needs to do
It seems like yesterday—in fact it was in June—when longtime US Rep. Ed Markey of Malden won his race to succeed John Kerry in the Senate. Markey’s win only entitled […]
Posted inPolitics
The chained CPI
THIS FALL, PRESIDENT Obama and Congress will have another chance to strike a grand bargain on the deficit. If it happens, a new gauge of inflation that would both reduce […]
Posted inPolitics
Capitol turnover
MASSACHUSETTS REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATORS have for decades enjoyed key committee and leadership posts in Congress because of their seniority, and the state has reaped the benefits, both in funding from […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics
Tsongas coming into her own
THERE’S A LONG TRADITION in Washington of political wives following their husbands into office. Sometimes those spouses have an impact apart from anything their husband accomplished—think Hillary Clinton—but more often […]