Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse: Medicare, Medicaid Mark 50 Years of Success
Fifty years ago today, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Social Security Act Amendments of 1965, creating a new nationwide health-care program for American seniors: Medicare. Today, Medicare continues to cover doctor’s visits and hospital care for older Americans in their time of need, and has been adjusted over the years to increase access […]
Celebrating 40 Years of the Endangered Species Act
In Rhode Island, our way of life has always been tied to the sea. The ocean provides food for our table, attracts tourists to our shores and gives us an appreciation for the wonders of our planet. Narragansett Bay and Rhode Island Sound support jobs in trade, fishing, boat and ship building, and soon, we […]
Let’s Have the President’s Back on Climate Change
Every week that the Senate is in session — 37 times and counting — I speak out about the need for Congress to wake up and address climate change. I urge my colleagues to take action to protect our planet and future generations, and I try to show the abundant evidence that if we fail […]
This Is Real: Climate Change Not Only Hurts the Planet, It’s Already Hurting You
Today, as we celebrate Earth Day, we are faced with an important choice: will we let the big polluters continue to poison our air and water, and mislead the American public about the damage done by carbon pollution? Or will we rise to the challenge of our time and break through the barricade of special […]
Protecting against cyber-attacks
Last year, Congress failed to forge a workable framework for cybersecurity to protect the United States against a fast-growing national security and economic threat. Our cyber-networks remain dangerously vulnerable to outside attack and are the repeated targets of foreign governments intent on stealing the fruits of our intellectual and business efforts. Congress must address this […]
Health care savings without Medicare cuts
As President Barack Obama and congressional leaders continue discussions to avert the so-called fiscal cliff — the mix of tax increases and spending cuts set to take effect automatically in January — we hear a troubling but familiar refrain in Washington: To fix our deficit, we must cut Medicare benefits. That is flat-out wrong. The […]
Health Information Technology: Paving the Way to Improved Patient Care
In the 1950s, President Eisenhower started an interstate highway system to link our country, from Rhode Island to California. To this day, the interstate system remains the heart of our country’s road infrastructure, supporting travel, commerce and transportation. This public investment paid off in long-term social and economic benefits for all Americans. Health care offers […]
Secret spending threatens democracy
A conservative organization backed by Karl Rove, American Crossroads, is planning to spend over $300 million in this year’s elections — and he’s not planning on telling anyone where most of that money is coming from. In fact, there will be over a billion dollars spent this year by Super PACs (political action committees) and […]
State lawmakers must act to fight domestic violence
In 1994, Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act, landmark legislation that vastly improved the way our nation responded to incidences of domestic violence. As Rhode Island’s attorney general, I saw first-hand how VAWA bolstered our own state’s ability to protect and assist victims of domestic violence, and I am committed to protecting this important program. The […]
Make the rich pay their fair share
In this time of tight budgets and tough choices, and with income-tax-filing day this Tueday, too many Rhode Islanders are feeling squeezed. To make matters worse, they’re hearing about people making over $1 million a year who are actually paying a lower total federal tax rate than they are. That’s just wrong. Americans deserve a […]
