Leftist Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is about to be one of the Senate’s most powerful lawmakers, and she has a leftist economic agenda prepared for when her party takes control.
In a recent op-ed for Time Magazine, Warren outlined a multi-step economic plan for Democrats to cancel looming funding cuts, expand healthcare coverage, and fund universal child care as the party takes control of both chambers of Congress and as Warren appears set to lead the powerful Senate banking committee.
Warren wrote that she wants to protect government programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The Trump administration has initiated major cuts to the programs after a pandemic-era spending surge was never reversed when the pandemic ended. For example, federal spending for SNAP jumped from $76 billion in 2019 to $98.2 billion in 2020. Warren wants to keep the post-pandemic spending numbers in place.
She also wants to add more spending as she seeks to expand healthcare coverage fund universal child care. To pay for these new programs, she says Democrats should cancel the tax breaks passed under the “Big Beautiful Bill,” which she claimed were mainly for the ultra-rich despite the “Big Beautiful Bill” cutting taxes for millions of working-class Americans, such as waitresses and hospitality workers through no tax on tips.
“We can start with cancelling the tax breaks Trump and the Republicans handed out to corporations, ultra-millionaires, and billionaires,” Warren said.
Her approach is a 180 from the Trump administration’s efforts to tamp down inflation through cutting government programs. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has argued that reining in federal spending would help ease inflation and Americans’ cost-of-living pressures.
“So as you bring down deficit spending, inflation will come down,” Bessent said.
Finally, Warren said the Senate should end the filibuster to push through Democrats’ economic bills that cannot be passed through reconciliation.
Warren has advocated for leftist economic policies for years, including a wealth tax that is so radical even California voters rejected a similar proposal in the elections last week. In her annual wealth tax proposal, Warren targets wealth Americans’ fortunes exceeding $50 million, meaning that assets could count toward a person’s taxable wealth even if the assets had not been sold and gains from their investments had not been realized.
She also supports legislation that would cap interest rates for credit card companies. Several business leaders have warned that such legislation could prevent consumers with low credit scores from getting a credit card at all.
“An interest rate cap would restrict access to credit to those who need it the most,” Citigroup’s then-CFO Mark Mason said in January.
“If it were to happen, it would be very bad for consumers, very bad for the economy,” added JP Morgan Chase’s CFO Jeremy Barnum.
Warren currently sits on the Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and is slated to take over as the chair of the committee when the new Congress convenes in January. Warren wants Democrats need to take immediate action in Congress.
“Democrats won this election by claiming we are on the side of working people, and working people are counting on us to deliver,” she said.
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