Sen. Elizabeth Warren placed the blame for the MBTA failures squarely on Gov. Charlie Baker's shoulders Friday.
"I've tried so hard to be a good partner, to help them get the money they need ... and help them get the support and help them get the structure," Warren said, saying the entire congressional delegation has tried to support the public transit system. "The T has had a monumental failure in leadership, and not just for the last month, not just for the last year, it is yearslong now that leadership at the T has failed."
Warren called for "some housekeeping at the top," acknowledging that Baker is not running for re-election, and called for new leadership at the T itself.
"The governor owns this, can we just stop there? Full stop. The governor has eight years on the T, he is the one who has selected people, and this rests with the governor," she said. "But we gotta have new people running the T."
The Orange Line is about to shut down for 30 days, moving 100,000 regular riders onto city streets with shuttle buses.
"Good leadership is, before you say, 'I'm taking that thing away,' you've got something else in place for people to rely on, and they just haven't done that," she said.
Warren also spent much of the conversation tackling questions about student loan relief, and also touched on the importance of the midterm elections for the future of American democracy.
The senator has been pushing for $50,000 in relief across the board; President Joe Biden appears likely to approve up to $10,000 in relief.
Warren said the definition of affordable education has significantly changed over the years; when she went to college, she paid $50 a semester, and the majority of the cost burden has now shifted to families instead of public institutions.
Warren painted the issue of student loan debt as foundational to the health of the American middle class and — more broadly — the economy.
"Education — instead of being a pathway up, opportunity opening out, for the Americans who aren't born into those families — it's loads and loads of debt. And what that debt is now doing, is it is keeping those people from moving out of their folks homes, it's keeping them from saving up to buy a home, it's keeping them from starting small businesses that would help all of us," Warren said. "It's even keeping them from starting their own families."
Warren on Friday again called for Biden to cancel up to $50,000 in student loan debt. She said she continues to push for that amount, which is higher than what the president reportedly wants.
"What kind of an America do we want to be? We want to say, 'Don't try to get more education, don't try for that job that requires certain credentials, unless you're 100 percent sure you can make it, because the cost of failure will be enormous,'" she said. "Is that the America where we build a strong future?"
She highlighted recent Democratic wins in Congress as they appear to shift the political sands ahead of midterm elections. The House is expected to pass a significant piece of legislation Friday that would deliver on climate change, prescription drug costs and taxes.
"We have now delivered and the power of that is we have shown it is possible to make change, she said. "The fossil fuel companies lose today when the House votes. Big Pharma loses today when the House votes. And those billion dollar corporations like Amazon that have been paying nothing in taxes, they lose today when the House votes," said Warren.
These wins, Warren said, give Democrats something to run on in November, and potentially hold the Senate — perhaps even giving them the ability to get rid of the filibuster to enshrine progressive priorities into law.
"If we can [get two more Democratic senators] we can get rid of the filibuster, we can make Roe the law of the land, we can also protect voting rights, we can do gun safety, we can do universal childcare," she said. "All the dominoes start to fall."
