Elizabeth
learned first-hand about the economic pressures facing working
families, growing up in a family she says was "on the ragged edge of the
middle class." She got married at 19, and after graduating from
college, started teaching in elementary school. Her first baby, a
daughter Amelia, was born when Elizabeth was 22. When Amelia was two,
Elizabeth started law school. Shortly after she graduated, her son Alex
was born. Elizabeth hung out a shingle and practiced law out of her
living room, but she soon returned to teaching.
Elizabeth is a graduate of the University of Houston and Rutgers School of Law. Elizabeth and her husband Bruce Mann have been married for 41 years and live in Cambridge, Massachusetts with their golden retriever, Bailey. They have three grandchildren.
--- (Official Portrait About Elizabeth)
Elizabeth Warren, a fearless consumer advocate who has made her life's work the fight for middle class families, was re-elected to the United States Senate for a second term on November 6, 2018, by the people of Massachusetts.
Elizabeth is one of the nation’s leading progressive voices, fighting for big structural change that would transform our economy and rebuild the middle class.
✓ She has put forward bold, ambitious plans to:
- End lobbying as we know it and make other sweeping changes to eliminate the influence of money in our federal government through the most comprehensive anti-corruption legislation since Watergate;
- Impose an ultra-millionaire tax on fortunes worth over $50 million to generate $2.75 trillion in revenue over ten years—enough to pay for universal child care, student debt relief, and a down payment on a Green New Deal;
- Address the nation’s housing crisis by building more than 3 million new homes, cutting rents nationwide by 10%, and taking the first steps towards healing the legacy of housing discrimination through historic new investments in federal housing programs;
- Extend criminal accountability to corporate executives who oversee and direct illegal scams;
- Give workers a greater say in the decision-making process at the nation’s biggest corporations by empowering them to elect 40% of the board at the company where they work;
- Require every public company to disclose climate-related risks;
- Provide Puerto Rico with a path to comprehensive debt relief and rebuild the island’s infrastructure;
- Allocate $100 billion to solve the opioid and substance use crisis; and
- Address skyrocketing prescription drug costs, including through the public manufacturing of generic drugs.
Elizabeth
consistently reaches across the aisle to deliver wins for
Massachusetts, making her one of the most effective members of the
Senate. She helped secure $750 million in debt relief for students who
were cheated by predatory, for-profit colleges, including 4,500
Massachusetts students and more than 28,000 students across the country.
Elizabeth has also helped pass legislation to double federal funding
for child care, make hearing aids available over the counter, reduce
out-of-pocket costs for high school students enrolled in career and
technical education programs, and put over $6 billion dollars in federal
funding towards the fight against the opioid epidemic.
Elizabeth has used her platform to hold some of the nation’s largest corporations and most powerful government agencies accountable for fraud, waste, and abuse. In the wake of the fake accounts scandal at Wells Fargo, her relentless public pressure led to the resignation of two Wells Fargo CEOs, John Stumpf and his successor, Tim Sloan. Elizabeth also launched an investigation to hold Equifax accountable for a data breach that exposed the personal financial information of over 140 million customers and wrote legislation to keep it from happening again. Through her oversight work, she has exposed fraud and abuse perpetrated by Trump Administration officials, including at the Department of Education, Environmental Protection Agency, and Department of Defense, and has successfully overturned rules that harm consumers and students.
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✓✓
✓ (Excerpt: Brookings’ 2021 annual report says it received money from Australia, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Norway, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, Finland, and France, as well as from the US government, in the preceding year.)
A top DC think tank took millions from foreign governments. Now lawmakers want answers.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, questions witnesses at a Senate Banking Committee on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022.Jacquelyn Martin/AP
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"Senators in both parties are taking aim at the Brookings Institution, demanding details on funding agreements that, according to the lawmakers, could have allowed foreign governments to secretly influence policy prescriptions produced by the renowned establishment think tank.
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The scrutiny follows the June resignation from Brookings of retired four-star general John Allen after news emerged that the Justice Department was investigating whether Allen violated foreign lobbying laws by advocating for Qatar while seeking payments from the Gulf state. The alleged lobbying occurred in 2017, while Allen, the former commander of US forces in Afghanistan, was a fellow at Brookings. Brookings listed Qatar as one of its top donors that year, with contributions of “$2,000,000 and above.” Brookings officials have said they did not know of Allen’s actions. Allen, who has not been charged with any crimes, denies that he acted as a Qatari agent. But the scandal has drawn attention to the think tank’s decades of ties to Qatar, as well as its funding from other countries.
In a letter Monday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren said she has “significant concerns about agreements that Brookings has in place with foreign governments” and questioned if those deals undermine the organization’s independence. She asked Brookings to give her details of those agreements.
“Foreign governments, billionaire corporations, and the super wealthy should not be able to hide behind think tanks to secretly peddle influence and shape policy, and the Brookings Institution needs to fully disclose all of its funding agreements or it risks undermining its reputation,” the Massachusetts Democrat said in a statement to Mother Jones.
Think tanks have long offered foreign states a sort of backdoor means to advocate for their interests in Washington. Critics contend that by funding think tank programs, governments can effectively hire these organizations as lobbyists. The lawmakers’ scrutiny of Brookings is part of an intermittent effort by Congress to crack down on this practice.
Brookings has responded to criticism by noting it has internal policies aimed at ensuring that donors do not compromise the independence of its scholars. “Brookings will respond to Senator Warren’s inquiry to assure her of our full commitment to upholding the independence and integrity of our work,” a spokesperson for the organization said Monday. “As a leading global think tank, we remain interested and available to work with Members and Senators on important public policy questions in this regard.”
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Warren and other senators have previously raised concerns about a 2007 agreement through which Qatar pledged $5 million to help Brookings set up an outpost in Doha. Politico reported in June on a memorandum of understanding between Brookings and Qatar that gave the Qataris substantial influence over that center. The agreement required the head of the center to “engage in regular consultation” with Qatar’s foreign ministry and gave the ministry power to approve the center’s budget and programing.
Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, last week introduced legislation that would require nonprofits working to influence US policy or public opinion to publicly report all funds received from foreign governments or organizations. It would also require them to make public “all written contracts, agreements, or memoranda of understanding…with any foreign principal.” The bill text cites Brookings’ 2007 agreement with Qatar to explain why such disclosures are needed. “Congress currently is unable to determine what other agreements that the Brookings Institution or other influential think tanks have with foreign governmental entities, a void which has already been exploited by at least Qatar,” the bill says.
Grassley, along with GOP senators Ted Cruz (Texas), Tom Cotton (Ark.), and John Cornyn (Texas), argued in an August 16 letter to the Justice Department that Brookings had violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, by failing to register as a lobbyist for Qatar following the 2007 agreement. Qatar exercised control over the center, which worked to influence US policy, the senators argued. “The Brookings Institution appears to be a foreign agent for the State of Qatar for purposes of FARA and should register as such with DOJ,” the letter said.
Brookings has said that it ended its connection to its Doha Center last year. A Grassley spokesperson, in an email, said Brookings should still register retroactively.
Warren wrote Brookings about Allen and Qatar in July, asking if the think tank had memorandums of understanding with countries other than Qatar. In an August 22 response, Amy Liu, Brookings’ interim president, said that Brookings does in fact have “funding agreements” with other foreign states. Liu said those agreements “require donors, including foreign governments, to acknowledge the Institution’s research independence.” But she did not say what the agreements require from Brookings, further delineate their terms, or name the countries involved.
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