Keller @ Large: Sen. Warren Doing What Voters Sent Her To Do
BOSTON (CBS) -- "A complete failure of leadership."
That's what Mass GOP Chairman Kirsten Hughes called Sen. Elizabeth Warren's vote yesterday against the 21st Century Cures Act, a major medical funding and regulatory reform bill that is headed for certain approval by the president after passing the Senate, 94 to 5.
Writes Hughes in a press release: "Warren is more concerned about scoring political points than investing in cancer research, or efforts to battle the opioid crisis."
Really?
I've been following the debate over this bill closely, and it seems to me that Warren's been doing exactly what Massachusetts voters sent her to the Senate to do.
She was an early supporter of the Cures Act when it first emerged several years ago, advocating for more funding for the big research centers here and for the fight against opioid abuse.
But Warren now argues that the Act has become larded with giveaways to the pharmaceutical industry and other special interests, while funding has been cut with onerous strings attached to what's left. In fact, protests by Warren and a handful of others, including Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, led to the removal of several industry giveaways from the bill in the last few days.
Clearly, the overwhelming majority of Warren's colleagues were willing to accept compromises that she chose to reject, knowing the bill would pass, but I fail to see how this is a "failure of leadership."
No one voted for Warren thinking she would be a sheep down there, and she's not.
Isn't that what most voters say they want these days – pols who do exactly what they say they're going to do?
Listen to Jon's commentary:
You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.
