Jack Reed is a champion for middle-class families and a strong believer that all Americans should have the opportunity to build a better life.
Jack was born and raised in Cranston and grew up on Pontiac Avenue. His father, Joe, was a World War II veteran and Cranston school janitor who worked his way up to become custodial supervisor of the city's school system. His mother, Mary, was a homemaker who was unable to go to college herself, but made sure her three children studied hard and had the opportunity to pursue a higher education. The Reed family benefited from the GI Bill – a program that helped countless veterans further their education and put a roof over their heads – and Jack’s parents instilled in him the importance of serving his country and giving back to his community.
Preserving Local Farms, Protecting Open Spaces, and Growing the Rhode Island Food Economy
Senator Reed works hard to support family farmers and keep Rhode Island’s sustainable agriculture and food sectors growing. He has led efforts to help preserve the state’s farmland and open spaces for future generations.
Today, there are 1,200 farms in Rhode Island, and according to the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Rhode Island’s agriculture and plant-based industries support over 23,000 jobs and contribute nearly $3.5 billion to the economy each year.
Recognizing that a robust agricultural sector is vital to public, environmental, and economic health, Senator Reed helped pass the Agriculture and Nutrition Act (also known as the 'Farm Bill') to support small farms, farmers’ markets, local food production, and conservation efforts across Rhode Island.
Restoring Fiscal Discipline and Promoting Responsible Budgets
As the United States emerges from a decade of two costly wars, unaffordable tax cuts in the early 2000s, and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, Senator Reed is working hard to put our nation back on a sound fiscal course.
Restoring fiscal discipline means making difficult decisions to align spending priorities with revenues, while also maintaining economic growth today and into the future. Senator Reed believes that the best path forward to achieve these goals is to follow the same type of plan developed in the 1990s, when the laws he supported created the first budget surplus in nearly 30 years.
Controlling America’s debt and restoring fiscal discipline is a shared sacrifice. Senator Reed supports a budget that fosters strong economic growth, and believes that a prospering, resilient middle class is the key to a greater future for all Americans. He understands that cutting programs like Medicare and preserving tax breaks for the wealthy is not a smart decision for long-term prosperity.
Senator Reed believes that a reformed tax code that helps balance the budget, strengthens the middle class, and provides smart incentives for job creation is the path forward. A responsible combination of spending reductions, reforming the tax code, and economic growth through a growing middle class will accomplish exactly that.
The March for True Equality and an End to Discrimination
Senator Reed is a longtime champion for social justice who is dedicated to protecting people’s rights, promoting fairness, and ensuring everyone has access to opportunity and equal treatment under the law.
Senator Reed continues to work to end the existence of racism in education, employment, housing, voting, and our society as a whole. He also remains steadfastly supportive of the equal treatment of LGBTQ+ Americans, including in housing, employment, and other areas where significant barriers persist. And he believes that it is long past time for women in America to be guaranteed equal pay for the same work as men.
No American should be discriminated against on account of race, gender, religion, identity, or sexual orientation. And the best way to move our country forward and ensure lasting change is through a comprehensive and inclusive process that upholds our nation’s highest values and principles, and addresses the root causes of poverty and inequality across society.
Dealing with Climate Change and Preserving Our Natural Resources
Senator Reed understands that a clean environment is important to our state’s economy and Rhode Islanders’ health and quality of life. His conservation efforts have helped clean up and preserve Rhode Island’s open spaces, beaches, and waters, so future generations may appreciate the beauty of the state while living healthy, productive lives.
He also recognizes that our environment is under constant stress from a changing climate. Warming temperatures and weather volatility pose a threat to our environment, economy, and national security, and Senator Reed believes that part of our mitigation strategy must include a national energy policy that limits carbon pollution, focuses on the development of clean, renewable energy sources that create jobs, and holds big polluters accountable. He also believes that communities must take action to better adapt to a changing climate. This includes the increase in resilience of our critical infrastructure and emergency preparedness.
Reed has fought efforts to gut the Clean Air Act, rejecting harmful policy riders and deep funding cuts that would weaken the EPA’s ability to address climate change and fight pollution that threatens public health. He has also fought to maintain robust funding for the EPA Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds. These key federal programs help states finance priority water and wastewater construction projects that support jobs, improve water quality, and safeguard public health and the environment.
Reed has also been at the forefront of a national movement to reconnect kids with nature and strengthen environmental education in America's classrooms. He is the author of the No Child Left Inside Act, which would support outdoor learning activities for Rhode Island’s students.
Championing Consumer Rights
Senator Reed is dedicated to protecting consumers and ensuring they have the information they need to make informed decisions.
Reed authored several key pieces of the historic Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to bring transparency and accountability to the financial industry. Most notably, Reed championed a provision to establish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which now works to prevent deceptive practices and to provide consumers with the information they need to make informed choices when shopping for mortgages, credit cards, and other financial products.
Reed has fought to ban unfair credit card practices that prey on American consumers. He also authored legislation to improve consumer disclosures on mortgages and provide stronger protections and better alternatives for families facing foreclosure.
In recognition of his dedication to protecting U.S. consumers, the pro-consumer advocacy Consumer Federation of America (CFA) honored Senator Reed with its Philip Hart Public Service Award for championing issues that better the lives of working Americans.
Helping Rhode Island Contribute to Our National Defense
As a graduate of West Point and a former infantry officer, Senator Reed appreciates the risks our Armed Forces face every day. Through his work on the Armed Services and Appropriations Committees, he works tirelessly to ensure that America’s fighting men and women have the equipment they need and the benefits they deserve.
Senator Reed firmly believes that the deployment of our men and women in uniform is a decision not to be taken lightly, and that military force represents only one tool in our nation’s international affairs arsenal. That is why he voted against the Iraq War. He also believes that the United States should be engaged in diplomacy to support our allies and build stronger relationships with emerging nations. He has focused on arms control and non-proliferation efforts to keep weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of terrorists, and continues to support expanding our international development programs, which greatly contribute to global security and stability.
Reed has also secured billions of dollars in federal funding to modernize our military and bolster Rhode Island’s defense industry to create more high-paying jobs and expand opportunities for local businesses. Rhode Island’s 16,000 defense workers make a valuable contribution to our national security and generate more than $1.75 billion in local economic activity each year. Reed has worked hard to maintain and expand the U.S. Navy’s presence in Rhode Island by bringing additional commands, institutions, and projects to Naval Station Newport and Quonset Point.
Investing in Our Children and Improving Rhode Island's Schools
Good schools are essential to our communities and our economy, and Senator Reed is working hard to help all our schools strive and succeed. This means strengthening education at all levels, through college and beyond.
Parents are children’s first teachers, and Senator Reed continues to work to strengthen family engagement in education. Senator Reed introduced the Family Engagement in Education Act to ensure that schools have the tools they need to effectively partner with parents. He also fights for child care, school construction, Head Start, and other initiatives so that all children have access to safe, affordable, and high quality care and education.
Senator Reed strongly believes that every student with the drive to attend college should have the opportunity to go. He has been on the front lines of the fight to ease student loan debt burdens and keep interest rates low. He is a champion for the Pell Grant and has authored legislation to incentivize states to provide more need-based grant aid for college.
Senator Reed believes the more we do to support effective teaching and effective school leadership, the better results we will get for students. He has written legislation to improve the preparation, professional development, and mentoring of educators to strengthen teaching and learning in our schools.
Fighting for Energy Independence and Increasing Affordable Renewable Energy
In an effort to build a cleaner energy future and ensure Rhode Islanders have access to affordable, reliable energy, Senator Reed has delivered billions of dollars to help low-income families keep the heat on in the winter and invest in weatherization, energy efficiency, and energy conservation.
Senator Reed has supported efforts to safely and responsibly reduce America’s dependence on oil, coal, and other fossil fuels. He helped jumpstart Rhode Island’s offshore wind industry, and staunchly defended Rhode Island’s coastline from offshore oil drilling.
Senator Reed also recognizes the importance of innovation in the shift away from fossil fuels. Reed has long been a proponent of clean energy incentives and strong investments in renewable energy technologies – including battery storage – to meet this challenge.
Investing in Rhode Island’s Future
Each year, states rely heavily on Congress for federal funding to finance everything from highway investment and housing assistance to health care and education grants. In Rhode Island, over 33 percent of the state budget comes from federal dollars. Senator Reed works every day to preserve this crucial funding.
As a member of the Appropriations Committee and Ranking Member of its Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development, Reed has secured critical funds to generate jobs and economic opportunities throughout Rhode Island.
Today, Senator Reed continues to work with his colleagues in the Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives to secure vital support for cities and towns, hospitals, colleges and universities, military facilities, and non-profits across the state.
These federal resources enable Rhode Island to create and sustain jobs, expand and improve our infrastructure, protect the environment, and help strengthen our national defense.
Supporting Rhode Island’s Fishermen and Revitalizing Our Working Waterfront
Rhode Island’s fishing industry is critical to our economy and our communities. Senator Reed has worked to support Rhode Island fishermen and lobstermen, many of whom face significant challenges and risks as they work hard to earn a living.
As a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science, which oversees federal spending on the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Reed has secured millions of dollars in federal funding to boost collaborative research between fishermen and researchers to address challenges facing Southern New England fisheries. He also introduced the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Fairness Act to give Rhode Island fishermen a seat at the table of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC), a government board that establishes fishery management rules for federal waters off the mid-Atlantic coast.
Reed has worked to conserve Rhode Island’s coastal waters so that our families, fishermen, and visitors can continue to enjoy the state’s natural resources. And recognizing the important role the marine economy plays in Rhode Island, Senator Reed continues to support efforts to help grow Rhode Island’s marine workforce and revitalize our boating and fishing industry.
Putting an End to America’s Gun Violence
As a former Army Ranger, Senator Reed has great respect for firearms, firearms education and training, and responsible gun ownership.
Yet, as America continues to experience horrific and senseless gun violence and mass-shootings, Senator Reed believes our nation must do much more to reduce gun violence. He supports improving background checks, cracking down on gun trafficking, and passing practical gun safety laws that would make our communities safer.
Senator Reed has authored legislation to close loopholes that allow potentially dangerous people, such as convicted felons and individuals with a history of severe mental instability, to purchase firearms. He also supports the Assault Weapons Ban, which would prohibit the sale of military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines.
Over the years, Reed has introduced or cosponsored legislation to close loopholes in our background check system and make it illegal for those on the FBI terror watch list to buy a gun, and successfully ended the ban on gun violence research at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Fighting for Affordable Care and a Healthier Rhode Island
Senator Reed believes that health care should be affordable and accessible to all. He has long supported efforts to improve the quality of our health care system and reduce costs for consumers, and he has continued this steadfast work throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Reed has also been nationally recognized for his work on children’s health, and he helped author key provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), in order to give individuals and families more choice and more control over their health care.
Reed is a leader when it comes to lowering prescription drug costs, and is committed to preserving and protecting Medicare and Medicaid, improving the quality of the care Rhode Islanders receive, and lowering costs without slashing benefits. He has sought to allow Medicare to negotiate for lower prices for American consumers, and worked throughout his career to infuse Rhode Island’s Medicaid program with additional federal funds.
Reed helped broker a bipartisan agreement that prevented over 600,000 children nationwide from potentially losing their health insurance and boosted Rhode Island’s funding for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) from $13.2 million to $69.5 million – the highest percentage increase of any state. This increase bolstered Reed’s longstanding efforts to ensure more federal dollars to support our state’s health care system.
Senator Reed has strenuously opposed any attempts to dismantle the ACA and undo protections for people with preexisting conditions. These repeated efforts do nothing to provide Rhode Islanders with expanded health care choices or lowered costs, and Reed has consistently defended the coverage and protections the ACA affords millions of Americans.
A Strong Housing Sector is Key to a Healthy Economy and Flourishing Communities
Senator Reed is working hard to help stabilize the real estate market, especially for renters and businesses, so Rhode Island’s economy can continue to recover.
Reed has long championed efforts to make rental housing options available to more Americans and wrote the law creating a trust fund to build, preserve, and rehabilitate affordable rental apartments. He also serves as Ranking Member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development, which authors the funding for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
In addition to the cost of rentals in Rhode Island, Reed has focused on preventing foreclosures, ending homelessness, supporting the redevelopment of blighted communities, cleaning up lead-based paint in homes, weatherizing and retrofitting homes to be more energy efficient, and ensuring healthier, more livable communities.
Supporting Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Senator Reed believes we must have smart, fair, workable immigration policies that welcome into the United States those who embrace America’s ideals and values. Yet our current immigration system hampers economic growth, weakens our ability to deter illegal traffic into the United States, and fails to meet that standard of fairness. As such, Senator Reed supports comprehensive immigration reform that fixes our broken federal immigration system and protects our national security.
Throughout his time in the Senate, Senator Reed has voted to move forward with comprehensive immigration reform, including the 2013 Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act. This bipartisan bill, which passed the Senate, would reduce our budget deficit and institute broad measures to secure our borders, deter employers from hiring those who come here illegally, and offer a tough but fair pathway to earned citizenship. Fixing our immigration system also means supporting policies that foster innovation and growth, including a process to retain highly-educated individuals once they graduate from American colleges and universities, rather than taking their skills overseas.
Accelerating Economic Growth & Helping Businesses Create Good-Paying, Sustainable Jobs
Rhode Island has been hit especially hard by the economic downturn, and Senator Reed is working hard to help save and create jobs to get our economy back on track. He has led efforts to restore emergency unemployment benefits for jobseekers, and to help make health care, college tuition, and energy more affordable for working families.
As a member of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Reed has directed critical federal funding back to the state to improve our infrastructure, put more people to work, and lay the foundation for future economic growth. He continues to push for job creation legislation and a reformed tax code that is fairer for low and middle income Americans.
Strengthening Communities and Improving Public Safety
Senator Reed believes we must urgently reform and improve our justice system to ensure fairness, enhance public safety, and strengthen our diverse communities.
To improve public safety, Senator Reed has worked with cities and towns across the state to ensure their police departments have the staffing, training, and technology they need. Senator Reed supports the community policing model that fosters collaborative partnerships and builds trust between law enforcement and those they serve and protect. He believes transparency, accountability, and strong, independent oversight of police departments is essential, and that lawmakers – not just law enforcement officers – need to do more to tackle the root causes of neighborhood crime and poverty. It is essential that we address neglected priorities like affordable housing, substance abuse, education, mental health services, workforce development, and youth programs.
Ensuring a more just future also means prioritizing rehabilitation over mass incarceration. Today, the U.S. incarcerates its citizens more than any other country. Senator Reed supports the efforts in Rhode Island’s drug and veterans’ treatment courts, which offer a model where offenders are held accountable through frequent court appearances and rigorous programs and interventions that help provide cost-effective alternatives for protecting public safety and reducing recidivism.
Enhancing Rhode Island’s Emergency and Disaster Preparedness
Rhode Island’s coastal location makes it susceptible to natural disasters like flooding, hurricanes, and snowstorms. And when disasters have struck, Senator Reed has been there to help Rhode Islanders recover.
When the historic flooding of 2010 hit Rhode Island, Reed helped ensure over $200 million in federal flood assistance to help families, businesses, and communities rebuild. After Hurricane Sandy hit, Reed helped secure more than $120 million in federal funding for estimated repairs and mitigation.
Senator Reed recognizes that our environment is under constant stress from a changing climate, including warming temperatures and weather volatility. He is committed to helping communities take action to better adapt to natural disasters affected by climate change. This includes the increase in resilience of our critical infrastructure and emergency preparedness.
Safeguarding Social Security and Medicare, and Fulfilling Our Commitments to Senior Citizens
With more than 16 percent of its population over 65, Rhode Island has one of the highest proportions of seniors in the country. Senator Reed believes that we must meet the unique needs of older Americans and protect the programs that they paid into, like Social Security and Medicare.
Senator Reed is committed to ensuring that Social Security remains strong and viable for millions of Americans. Today, nearly 220,000 Rhode Islanders receive Social Security benefits. Throughout his career, Reed has repeatedly voted to keep Social Security on sound financial footing and strongly opposes efforts to privatize the program or use it to pay for new tax breaks. He successfully fought efforts to use the Chained CPI to determine cost-of-living adjustments, which would have cut Social Security benefits.
Given its structure and design, Social Security cannot contribute to the federal deficit. Senator Reed has worked to protect the Social Security Trust Fund from being diverted to other programs or used for government spending. To help stabilize the Trust Fund for future generations, Reed supports including annual income above $117,000 in the wage base for Social Security contributions to help ensure that high-income earners contribute a fair share to the system. That kind of step points Social Security toward even stronger financial solvency.
Senator Reed strongly believes we must encourage more personal savings and investment for retirement. However, it should not be at the expense of Social Security, the one program that offers stable, guaranteed income security to the elderly, disabled, widows, and children of deceased or disabled workers.
He also vigorously opposes the Republican plan to dismantle Medicare and Medicaid. Ending Medicare as we know it would destroy people’s ability to pay their bills and save for retirement, college tuition, or anything but the medical insurance they will need as they get older. In fact, Reed supported the Affordable Care Act (ACA) because it makes key improvements to Medicare that strengthen its long-term solvency and increase benefits. The ACA also increases access to the Medicaid program, which provides critical long term and nursing home care to seniors.
Reed knows how important it is for retirees to be able to access care. He is committed to giving better certainty to Medicare patients and providers by ensuring that doctors are fairly reimbursed under Medicare. At the same time, he also knows how important it is to prevent poor care and fraud under Medicare, and has supported efforts to prevent them and make sure those who commit such crimes are held accountable.
Senator Reed also supports programs that allow older Americans to maintain their independence and contribute to their communities, like home-delivered meals initiatives, the Senior Community Service Employment program, and the Section 202 Housing for the Elderly program, which provides affordable housing options for certain low-income seniors.
Reducing the Tax Burden on Middle-Class Families and Small Businesses
Throughout his career, Senator Reed has voted to reduce the tax burden on hardworking Rhode Islanders and local businesses. He supports responsible tax reform that boosts take-home pay, spurs job growth, closes egregious loopholes, expands opportunity, and strengthens the long-term financial stability and security of our nation.
Reed opposed the trickle-down Trump Administration tax bill because it was unfair, irresponsible, and amounted to a historic transfer of wealth from students, seniors, and working families to multi-national corporations and the wealthy. That law weakened America’s financial stability and undermined the integrity of our tax structure, baking corporate tax avoidance into the system.
Senator Reed supports reforms to simplify our tax code and make it fair for families and employers alike. He has offered legislative fixes to end the loopholes that benefit special interests at the expense of working Americans, and he has supported legislation to ensure that corporations pay their fair share.
Giving more money to the wealthy and hoping it will trickle down to the rest of society is bad economics. It adds to America’s debt burden and makes rich people richer. Senator Reed knows that repairing the tax code to make it more supportive of middle-class Americans is key to a booming economy and a fairer America, and he supports efforts to do just that.
Keeping RI Moving – Investing in Roads, Ports, and Mass Transit
Our transportation infrastructure is the backbone of our economy, affecting the way we live, work, travel, and do business. In Rhode Island, Senator Reed has championed critical road, highway, bus, rail, and port projects to help improve its aging infrastructure.
Senator Reed serves as Ranking Member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development, which controls funding for transportation and infrastructure projects. He has delivered millions of dollars in federal funding to improve Rhode Island’s roads, repair its bridges, expand commuter rail service, modernize RIPTA buses, upgrade its ports and airports, and ensure access to high-speed rail.
Rhode Island’s roads and bridges need to be repaired to help our economy grow. That is why Senator Reed has fought to preserve Rhode Island’s share of federal funding, which currently totals an average of about $2.75 from the federal government for every $1 that Rhode Island pays into the transportation trust fund.
Honoring Our Commitment to Those Who Serve
As a former Army Ranger and company commander, Senator Reed knows what it means to serve, and he understands the dedication of so many men and women who make great sacrifices to defend our nation in uniform.
Reed believes it is imperative to fix the VA health care system so our veterans and their families have access to the quality services they have earned and deserve. That is why he supported the bipartisan Senate legislation to help rectify the systemic issues in the VA health care system and address the excessive wait times veterans have faced when trying to schedule an appointment with VA doctors. The legislation accomplishes this by giving patients the option to seek care at community health centers, military hospitals, or private doctors when wait times or distance to a VA facility are too great, authorizing emergency funds to hire new doctors and nurses, authorizing leases for 26 additional VA facilities, and giving the VA Secretary the authority to dismiss senior executives for poor job performance while safeguarding against political or scapegoat firings.
As a member of the Appropriations Committee, he helped pass the largest veterans budget in history in 2014, which significantly improved resources to process disability claims and treat Traumatic Brain Injury and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder for those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Reed also helped pass the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill, providing better tuition benefits to veterans and their families for college and job training after their service.
Senator Reed knows that we ask a great deal of those in uniform and their families and he is committed to making sure they are not left behind.
Senator Reed knows that terrorism is an ever-constant threat to our nation. To protect Americans from these dangers, he supported the implementation of the independent 9/11 Commission recommendations, and he convened the Senate’s first hearing on securing our nation's mass transit system after 9/11. Reed has also supported efforts to secure and strengthen terrorist targets like nuclear and chemical plants. And as a member of the Appropriations and Armed Services Committees, he remains committed to providing the resources necessary to safeguard our nation's borders, airports, and seaports.
Reed also believes that securing our homeland means more than just defending America against terrorist threats abroad. It means providing local law enforcement here at home with the tools they need to keep our streets safe, and maintaining a strong, well-equipped National Guard that can rapidly respond to emergencies in Rhode Island and across the country.
Senator Reed also recognizes that real security depends on making our communities safe places to live and work. In an effort to help police, firefighters, and medical personnel respond to natural disasters and emergencies, Senator Reed voted to invest in interoperable communications equipment so Rhode Island officials can better coordinate resources and help save lives. Reed has also helped pass legislation to put more police on the streets, offering greater protection and outreach to our communities.
Senator Reed understands that a clean environment is important to our state’s economy and Rhode Islanders’ health and quality of life. His conservation efforts have helped clean up and preserve Rhode Island’s open spaces, beaches, and waters, so future generations may appreciate the beauty of the state while living healthy, productive lives.
He also recognizes that our environment is under constant stress from a changing climate. Warming temperatures and weather volatility pose a threat to our environment, economy, and national security, and Senator Reed believes that part of our mitigation strategy must include a national energy policy that limits carbon pollution, focuses on the development of clean, renewable energy sources that create jobs, and holds big polluters accountable. He also believes that communities must take action to better adapt to a changing climate. This includes the increase in resilience of our critical infrastructure and emergency preparedness.
Reed has fought efforts to gut the Clean Air Act, rejecting harmful policy riders and deep funding cuts that would weaken the EPA’s ability to address climate change and fight pollution that threatens public health. He has also fought to maintain robust funding for the EPA Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds. These key federal programs help states finance priority water and wastewater construction projects that support jobs, improve water quality, and safeguard public health and the environment.
Reed has also been at the forefront of a national movement to reconnect kids with nature and strengthen environmental education in America's classrooms. He is the author of the No Child Left Inside Act, which would support outdoor learning activities for Rhode Island’s students.
In the last 20 years, two-thirds of all net new jobs in this country were generated by small businesses, and today over half of all U.S. workers either own or work for a small business. Senator Reed believes that our country’s strength is its ability to foster opportunities to innovate new business ideas – whether from the boardroom or the kitchen table – to grow into full-fledged enterprises that generate good-paying jobs and vitality in our communities.
Senator Reed understands the importance of small businesses. They support local employment, boost economic activity, and preserve neighborhoods and cultures across our state. To assist small businesses, Senator Reed supports the bipartisan Marketplace Fairness Act, which ensures that online and traditional brick-and-mortar stores have to follow the same rules when it comes to things like state sales taxes, because neighborhood stores won’t have a level playing field until this legislation is passed.
Senator Reed has also worked to reauthorize the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs through 2017. These important federal programs offer small businesses the potential to explore and expand their commercial footprint and encourage entrepreneurism, innovative research, and development throughout Rhode Island. He is also a strong backer of the Defense Procurement Technical Assistance program, which helps small Rhode Island defense firms compete and win contracts to supply our military.
Senator Reed fights hard to put consumers first. He has worked to increase investor protections, improve the transparency of complex financial markets and products, and toughen federal oversight of investment banks and securities firms.
When the economy collapsed in 2008, Reed wrote the law ensuring taxpayers would share in the rewards when the banks recovered. As a result of Reed’s efforts, taxpayers have earned more than $9.4 billion in additional dividends – money that would have otherwise been kept by the rescued banks.
Reed has focused particular attention on ensuring the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) authority to aggressively pursue fraud, improve its risk management capabilities, and protect investors by enhancing the agency’s technological resources to police Wall Street. He has authored laws to strengthen the SEC’s ability to bring enforcement actions, address issues revealed by the Madoff fraud, and modernize the SEC’s ability to obtain critical information.
In order to bring transparency and accountability to Wall Street, Senator Reed helped write several key pieces of the historic Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, including a provision establishing a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). He also created the independent Office of Financial Research, which researches and analyzes risk throughout the financial system. This should give financial regulators the data and analytical power they need to understand the factors that threaten our financial system, provide early warnings, and allow regulators to act on this information to protect our economy.
Senator Reed also joined forces on a bipartisan basis to establish within the CFPB an Office of Servicemember Affairs. This new office acts as a consumer watchdog for servicemembers, veterans, and their families by helping to monitor financial scams and predatory lending that target them.
Throughout his career, Senator Reed has been a champion for middle class Rhode Islanders.
Reed has fought to ensure that everyone has the right to a safe workplace, fair wages, decent benefits, and the ability to organize and have their voices heard.
Reed has repeatedly voted to boost the minimum wage and has sought to ensure that employees receive the overtime pay they deserve. To help workers who are dealing with a seriously ill family member or preparing for the birth or adoption of a new child, Senator Reed strongly supported passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
As a member of the Appropriations Committee, he has also secured critical federal funding to bolster Rhode Island’s economy, create more high-paying jobs, and expand opportunities for local businesses and their employees.
In an effort to help unemployed Rhode Islanders who are trying to find work, Reed continues to fight for job training investments and to provide unemployment insurance benefits so people can pay their bills while looking for a new job, which economists say is one of the most effective ways to aid the economy.