Sen. Elizabeth Warren cites science funding, trails and public works as accomplishments in 2022

WASHINGTON U.S. Sen Elizabeth Warren points to the large $81 billion in National Science Foundation in the CHIPS and Science Act and the small, $3.6 million for the Rocky Hill Greenway MultiUse Trail in Northampton, when she looks back at 2022.

Warren also pointed to $67.5 million so the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority can add four new electric buses to its fleet of 12 and add 20 new and faster plug-in chargers at its operations and maintenance center, money announced by U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal back in November.

Their changes are going to help transit authorities improve air quality, cut carbon footprints and increase ridership. The Inflation Reduction Act, which we passed in August, includes a billion dollars for states municipalities and nonprofit school transportation associations to use for clean, heavy-duty vehicles like school and transit buses and garbage trucks, she said. This funding comes on top of the more than $10 billion for transitioning school and transit buses to lower zero-emission vehicles that were provided in the bipartisan infrastructure and investment JOBS Act.

Warren also touted $4.5 million through an Environmental Protection Agency grant for sewer work in Chicopee in a recent interview by phone with The Republican.

Its been a great two years, Warren said. Some of the achievements or things Ive worked on since before I got in the Senate, others were openings that came up more recently that I seized the moment.

She recalled he first campaign for Senate, against Republican Scott Brown, in 2012.

I was out in Springfield. And I was doing one of the big town hall events. And someone asked me about what were the things Id like to fight for. That would be structural changes. And I made the argument for doubling our investments in science. How those investments in science, our investments in our people, and investments in our future, and have real back and forth, I still remember the exchange.

The recent omnibus spending legislation included $10 billion in funding for the National Science Foundation.

On Aug. 25, President Joe Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act with an additional $81 billion for the National Science Foundation.

National Institutes of Health funding is nearly $17 billion higher now than when she took office 10 years ago.

She also pointed to student loan debt, a signature issue, and efforts to cap interest rates. She spoke of her support for Bidens student loan forgiveness program.

Its a part of a bigger effort that I will continue to work on for more investment, and post high-school education. That means from technical schools to your college, four-year college graduate education, so that more of our people are able to expand their opportunities without having to take on bone-crushing debt, she said.

Warren, 73, has already said she plans to run for reelection in 2024.