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LAST TWO WEEKS IN REVIEW |
Good morning. I’m your Representative in Congress, and I write to keep you informed. I wish you a meaningful Memorial Day. |
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| FDA commissioner out; RFK Jr. next |
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Last week, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Marty Makary resigned under pressure. I’ve been pressing for his ouster for months; the agency responsible for regulating 20% of the U.S. economy was imploding under his tenure. His removal is important progress. But now that he’s gone, the hard work starts. The next commissioner & center directors must improve management & morale, toss out the illegal Commissioner’s National Voucher Program (CNPV) & rebuild the guardrails to political interference, and launch a clinical trials modernization agenda in concert with Congress.
And more of the Cabinet & sub-Cabinet needs to be fired. On CNN’s State of the Union last week, I continued my calls for oversight and investigation of Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr. over his covert anti-vax crusade. When I challenged him, my Republican colleague from Georgia – who is a health care professional – had to admit that under RFK Jr.’s leadership, measles is not under control in the United States.
You can read an excerpt of my exchange with Rep. Buddy Carter below:
Rep. Auchincloss: RFK Jr. is now launching an anti-vax crusade, quietly now that the White House has told him to muzzle it, but still effectively. And we have measles and whooping cough outbreaks throughout this country. Buddy, you and I are on the Health Subcommittee in Congress. We have to do oversight and investigations before more kids get these preventable infectious diseases.
Rep. Carter: I agree, we do need to do more investigations, and certainly we don't want any. I've got grandchildren. I've got children.
Rep. Auchincloss: You agree that—RFK Jr. should resign?
Rep. Carter: No, I do not agree. Absolutely not. RFK Jr. is doing his job, and I applaud him for doing his—
Rep. Auchincloss: Measles is spreading throughout the country.
Rep. Carter: No, no. Measles is not spreading through the country right now. We are getting—he's going to get it under control. This is something that we've got—
Rep. Auchincloss: We had it under control in the year 2000, and then this guy came back with his pro-measles campaign for public health. You're a pharmacist, Buddy. You know better than this. Let's bring him to Congress, put the facts on the table, and tell him to prevent more children from dying
Rep. Carter: He is doing his job. Listen, let’s let him do his job.
Rep. Auchincloss: That’s what the last 18 months have looked like. We have kids with whooping cough. |
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Foreign policy update: Iran, China, Ukraine & Israel
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Last week, I joined C-SPAN’s “Ceasefire” with Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw to debate the president’s failed war in Iran. Even one of the sharpest Republicans on national security couldn’t defend this war. You can read our exchange on Iran below, and watch the full debate here.
Rep. Auchincloss: How have we achieved the objective to not have [Iran] have a nuclear weapon?
Rep. Crenshaw: Well, they're buried under a lot of dirt and rubble, and if anyone gets near it, we can hit them. So–
Rep. Auchincloss: That was true during the 12-Day War, though, we already had that.
Rep. Crenshaw: The other strategic objective is asserting our escalation dominance, which we have never asserted before. In 47 years, we finally asserted it.
Rep. Auchincloss: They asserted it over us.
Rep. Crenshaw: I don't think so. I think—
Rep. Auchincloss: No, they did.
Rep. Crenshaw: I think destroying… their conventional military is a pretty good assertion of escalation dominance.
Rep. Auchincloss: First of all, probably two-thirds of their missile sites are still accessible by the Iranians. Second of all… they demonstrated dominance over us because we went and we established our air dominance and executed against it. And they said, all right, well, you played the card of air dominance, we'll play the card of sea denial in the Strait of Hormuz, and that was a trump card. That worked. They have dominance.
Rep. Crenshaw: Yeah. But for the reason I said earlier, our response to that is the blockade, which has proven effective, which I think will bring them to the table and stop this.
Rep. Auchincloss: We're blocking their blockade.
We also discussed the president’s recent trip to Beijing, where arguably for the first time since World War II, it was unclear who the most powerful person in the room was. You can read a portion of our conversation on China below:
Rep. Auchincloss: China's our pacing adversary for the 21st century. I think the president has taken his eye off the ball with it and has gotten bogged down in a third forever war in the Middle East instead of focusing on the Indo-Pacific. There's so much that we can discuss here. Given time, I'll just focus on one thing, which is TikTok. Might seem minor, like, wait a minute, China's doing so many things — TikTok? TikTok is what Xi Jinping calls the smokeless battlefield. It is—
Rep. Crenshaw: That's why we passed that, right?
Rep. Auchincloss: It's why we passed it. But it's why it's so regrettable that the deal that the president has pushed does not actually execute the bill that Congress passed. What it does is it moves some of the social graph data to be domiciled in the United States, but allows the Chinese Communist Party to retain control of the algorithm. That's the whole darn point. We don't want them being able to amplify anti-American values and norms and suppress pro-American values and norms. That's exactly what the CCP is doing. TikTok is the single greatest ideological weapon this world has ever seen, and the Chinese Communist Party is in control of it.
Supporting Ukrainians in America: Ukraine is winning the war against Russia, grinding down the Kremlin’s war economy. Our ally’s fight for self-determination is one front line of the global contest for freedom. In addition to economic & materiel support, Americans can help Ukrainians by providing legal certainty to those who have immigrated here. I have co-sponsored the Ukrainian Adjustment Act (H.R. 3104) to ensure a streamlined path to permanent residency for eligible Ukrainians paroled into our country since 2014.
Drawing attention to the sexual torture of October 7th: This week, the Civil Commission on October 7th Crimes by Hamas Against Women and Children released the most comprehensive report yet detailing the horrific sexual violence and gender-based crimes committed on October 7th and in captivity. Over the last two years, the Civil Commission analyzed over 1,800 hours of visual material and 10,000 photographs, along with more than 430 testimonies and interviews with survivors, eyewitnesses, released abductees and experts.
According to the report, “Hamas and its collaborators used sexual torture to maximize pain and suffering. Victims endured brutal acts, including burning, mutilation, rape, restraining, forced insertion of objects into the genitalia, shootings to the faces and genital area, killings and abuses in front of family members, and executions. Many victims were found handcuffed, bound, or otherwise physically restrained. Extreme forms of SGBV continued against hostages in captivity for prolonged periods, inflicted on both women and men.”
This unbounded depravity was both torture of the human person and an assault on human dignity, meant to spread terror and make Jews everywhere feel afraid. I remain steadfast in my commitment to defeating antisemitic terrorism both abroad and at home. From this abyss, we must draw inspiration from the grace and fortitude of the survivors and bereaved.
You can read more about the report here.
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Denouncing the Trump administration’s corruption
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Who wins when the president appoints his personal attorney as Attorney General? Friends, family, and felons. This week, it was revealed that the president is trying to use a $1.8 billion taxpayer-funded slush fund to enrich his courtiers and reward Jan 6 insurrectionists. This is brazen corruption. To restore trust, Democrats must lead on an Article II agenda to roll back the imperial presidency and reassert the rule of law.
I spoke with CNN this week about the cost of corruption:
Rep. Auchincloss: Corruption is the name of the game for the Trump administration. His crypto coin raised millions from Chinese billionaires. His son-in-law's private equity firm is raising millions from Middle Eastern billionaires. And now, the president is seeking to raise millions directly from the United States taxpayer.
And that matters to Americans, one, because blatant corruption undermines respect for the rule of law. It makes criminals like those January 6 rioters think they can get away with it and continue to do harm, as they are currently doing in American cities and streets.
And two, because the money matters. I mean, the Environmental Protection Agency just cut a couple billion dollars from clean water funds meant to take PFAS—forever chemicals—out of municipal water utilities. That’s $1.8 billion that could be funding clean water for schools and for cities, but right now it’s funding Donald Trump’s vengeance campaign.
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| Health policy: clinical trial reform, biotech investment & supporting independent pharmacists |
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Duke Margolis conference: At the Duke Margolis health policy conference, I released draft legislation to modernize clinical trials. This draft bill, which is bipartisan and bicameral, seeks to:
1) embed clinical-trial participation in routine U.S. health delivery
2) update standards & processes for preclinical & early-stage clinical trials
3) make the FDA more transparent, responsive and consistent
I'll be taking feedback from stakeholders through July 1st and then working with my co-sponsors to release legislation for a hearing & mark-up this term. Modernizing clinical trials speeds up cures, lowers costs, and helps the U.S. compete against China on biotech. The solution set is complicated – the bill is long – but the reward will be more & better medicines, faster & cheaper.
You can read the legislative summary here.
BIOTech roundtable: Asked mid-season about the Yankees, former Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein once said that he had looked at their roster at the start of the season, realized that they'd win 100 games, and now ignored their weekly standings in order to focus on his own roster's ability to compete.
I raised this anecdote at a recent roundtable of experts discussing China's rise in biotechnology. China is uplifting scientists, investing hundreds of billions in R&D, and accelerating clinical trials. It's going to win 100 games. The center of biomedical gravity is moving to China from America, just like it moved from Europe to America at the close of last century.
Unless America decides to win 110 games.
And it is a decision; we can do it if we want to:
- stop attacks on the NIH, point it towards riskier research, and double its funding
- recruit & promote scientific talent, native-born & immigrant
- drive towards autonomous R&D, particularly the feedback loop between ideas & medical chemistry
- improve throughput of early-stage American clinical trials with aligned reforms to FDA, NIH, CMS & IRBs
- install competent FDA leadership & make it more responsive & consistent
- ensure public & private payers reimburse new medicines at their true value to patients
Congress should focus on these fronts, and I have bipartisan legislation & initiatives to run faster in them. What is less helpful is trying to play 'keep away' from China through protectionist measures. Those attempts rely upon a false analogy between semiconductors, where the United States has chokepoint control of critical inputs like chips & lithography machines, to biotechnology, where no such leverage exists.
China is going to win 100 games. America can win 110. But only by improving our own team.
Speaking with independent pharmacists on Capitol Hill in March Reintroducing legislation that supports independent pharmacists: I recently re-introduced the Patients Before Monopolies (PBM) Act alongside Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R-TN), and Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Josh Hawley (R-MO). We are reining in drug pricing middlemen, known as pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), from enriching themselves and crushing competition at the expense of patients and independent pharmacies.
Like so many small business owners in America, independent pharmacists are working hard and playing by the rules but getting ripped off by monopolies. The pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) industry is rife with self-dealing and price gouging. Congress made modest but meaningful reforms earlier this year, and now the next step is banning PBMs from owning pharmacies. It's an unacceptable conflict of interest and yet another example of healthcare consolidation raising costs. 
Down Syndrome fly-in: Wonderful to see again several constituents from the Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress. We discussed increasing research funding for Alzheimer's Disease, which disproportionately affects the Down Syndrome community, as well as raising the SSI resource limit, so that individuals with disabilities are not taxed for working or getting married. I strongly support both measures. |
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| Q&A sessions for those serving in uniform |
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Service Academy Night: Joining the Marine Corps was the second-best decision I ever made. (Proposing to my wife is #1). Service Academy Night is an opportunity for high-schoolers in the MA-4 to hear from my staff and representatives of the Service Academies about the process to get nominated and appointed to West Point, Annapolis, Kings Point, Colorado Springs, or the Coast Guard Academy at New London.
I spoke briefly to encourage these talented students. Every year, I am so impressed by the academic, athletic, leadership, volunteer, and civic achievements of the students appointed.
Massachusetts National Guard: The Massachusetts National Guard has critical capabilities & missions in air defense, military police, drug interdiction at the border, civil defense here in the Bay State, and more. I met with the adjutant general to discuss his federal policy & funding priorities and preparations for the World Cup. I also reinforced my support for the law & principle of posse comitatus – that the military must not be used for domestic law enforcement. I will oppose on all fronts any effort or implication by the president to federalize the National Guard for actions in Massachusetts.
Massachusetts Coalition of Police: I met with the leadership of the Massachusetts Coalition of Police (MassCOP) to discuss law enforcement priorities. Most concerning to me is how challenging recruitment has become: applications have declined steeply, which is bad for morale and makes maintaining standards harder. Cops on the beat are the frontlines of public safety; it’s a career young people should respect and work hard to attain. |
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| Supporting success in local schools |
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Speaking with elementary school students during lunchtime in Norfolk earlier this year. Calling for universal school meals: Feeding our children is a prerequisite for education and a cornerstone of public health. That’s why I have cosponsored H.R. 8798, the Universal School Meals Program Act, which amends federal law to provide free school breakfasts and lunches to every child. This is a high-return investment in our nation’s future that will lower costs for families and helps every student succeed in the classroom.
Solar investments in Brookline: Brookline’s $3.2 million solar investment at Brookline High School, the Brookline Village Library, the Hayes School & a local fire station could save taxpayers up to $15.7 million over the next 25 years. We are in a race to harness federal tax credits before the Trump administration’s phase-out begins next summer. By beating these deadlines, Brookline is lowering the cost of living for future rate payers.
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| Guardrails in AI & prediction markets |
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Discussing AI guardrails with The Washington Post’s Megan McArdle in February Standards for AI model documentation: I have co-sponsored the READ AI Models Act (H.R. 6461) to direct the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) to develop technical guidance and best practices for AI documentation that increases transparency & auditability.
Preventing congressional participation in prediction markets: Americans deserve to know that their elected officials are making decisions based on what’s right for the country, not what’s profitable for their portfolios. To prevent the appearance or actuality of conflicts of interest, I have cosponsored H.Res. 1248 to prohibit Members and staff from participating in prediction markets. This is a necessary extension of my work to ban congressional stock trading and root out the self-dealing that violates public trust. |
Do you support a ban on members of Congress using prediction markets? |
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ADL Jewish American Heritage Night
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I addressed Anti-Defamation League (ADL) allies at an event honoring Jewish American Heritage Month. The ADL is the leading anti-hate organization in the world, founded in 1913 to protect the Jewish people and promote fair treatment for all. From Jewish Insider:
"[Auchincloss] said that it is 'unacceptably scary to be a Jew in the United States' and that the country is 'violating the core promise that George Washington made' to the Jewish community in Rhode Island in 1790 that the country would be one of religious freedom and pluralism.
Auchincloss highlighted his efforts in Congress to combat antisemitism on social media, describing platforms as having become 'failed societies online. It’s become so toxic, it’s become so rotten on these platforms that antisemitism is mushrooming as a symptom of something that is deeply rotten underneath.'"
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Barney Frank was a larger-than-life character. As a mentor and a friend, he made me a better lawmaker – and he made me laugh. My staff and I, representing the district he faithfully served for three decades, will always treasure his stories, his encouragement, and his advice.
He put his wit and wisdom to work over a remarkable political career. Barney pioneered policies to ensure equality for gay Americans at a time when it wasn’t popular or safe to be an Out lawmaker; he enacted landmark regulation to prevent financial meltdowns; and he championed affordable housing. His legislation and leadership made America more fair and more just.
The people of the Massachusetts Fourth, who elected him 16 times, have always held great affection and esteem for Barney. We will miss him. On behalf of all his former constituents, I extend to his family and friends condolences for his death and gratitude for his life of service. |
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Question: Since the Iran war has resulted in significant shortages in gas & oil and an increase in energy costs, would it not be prudent to promote alternative energy sources such as solar, wind, etc. now due to the growing need for energy in many sectors?
- Rich from Chestnut Hill Answer: Yes. For this reason, I am a strong supporter of offshore wind, industrial and residential geothermal, nuclear fusion & fission, battery placements & virtual power plants to reduce peak demand, and more transmission with Maine and Canada. I am working on legislation and initiatives on many of these fronts. Massachusetts is too isolated on the energy grid, and needs to control its own energy future.
You can submit a question for a future newsletter here. Please note that casework inquiries for federal agencies must be submitted to my website here. My casework team will respond to these in a timely manner. |
Onwards, |
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Jake |
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