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 to purchase hearing aids, was incorporated into legislation reauthorizing the Food and Drug Administration that was enacted in 2017, while Congress also enacted provisions similar […]
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 the credit and ride the coattails of her patron in the congressional leadership, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. If Democrats come up short and Pelosi […]
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 a quirk of her design the final holdout in a Washington regulatory apparatus that President Donald Trump has bent to his deregulatory will, is now […]
Posted inPolitics
All quiet for Baker on the DC front
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 for a seat on the Springfield City Council there and had at the same time promised to rehabilitate the decaying landmark. It took a while, […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Clark takes on Purdue’s opioid marketing
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 Oxycontin, was moving aggressively to sell its signature drug abroad now that sales in the United States are on the decline. The Times article said […]
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, in part because the demographics of his district are changing and the Democratic Party in Massachusetts is moving away from him to the left. Since […]
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 and Ed Markey in the Senate. So when their Republicans colleagues who control both the House and Senate move this year to push through a […]
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 Warren didn’t get it, she’s become a valued surrogate, with her Twitter war with Donald Trump and her ability to rally the supporters of Clinton’s […]
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 luncheon and mentioned a recent hearing she’d attended on sexual assault in the military. One of the women, a military nurse, told her that she […]
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 and one that’s unlikely to get better any time soon. Among the nine, the angst is palpable. The minority party in the House enjoys almost […]