Rep. Jake Auchincloss

06/09/2026

The negotiations happening now could have happened w/o a war. Indeed, they’re probably harder now. All Trump’s bombs achieved was to make gas more expensive.

06/08/2026

The Pentagon pitched Barney Frank on funding for the B-2 stealth bomber, pointing out that it was undetectable by the enemy’s surveillance systems.

‘So why not just tell the Russians we have it and spend the money on something else?’ Congressman Frank responded.

This & many other anecdotes peppered a wonderful celebration of life for my predecessor representing the MA-4. Barney was beloved by my constituents, who elected him 16 times to work on issues ranging from marriage equality to financial regulation. He was voted by Republicans as both one of the fiercest partisans — a man who defended Democratic values — and one of the legislators they most sought to work with on bipartisan policy.

Chairman Frank, may your memory be a blessing.

Frank fought for civil rights, affordable housing and women’s rights, Rep. Jim McGovern said at the service. And he fought for gay rights, "not only because he was gay, but because he saw a community that was being persecuted and bullied by people in power, and he could not tolerate a bully.”

06/07/2026

Russell Vought’s proposal to make politics, not peer review, the standard for NIH science grants would be a cataclysm for the American science enterprise.

06/06/2026

The War Powers Resolution this week is a bipartisan rebuke of the president’s expensive & illegal war of choice.

06/05/2026

I addressed patient advocates on Capitol Hill, first at the Pathway to Cures & Treatments for Rare Diseases conference and then with Massachusetts volunteers from the Alzheimer's Association. While there's a tremendous amount to discuss in disease R&D, from FDA leadership to clinical trials modernization, I focused on the National Institutes of Health (NIH). After a year of attacks, Office of Management & Budget Director Russell Vought is launching his worst assault yet: changing the Uniform Grants Regulation to replace peer review with politics in the disbursement of science funding from the NIH.

Everyone who cares about science — for discovery, for jobs, for U.S. global leadership — should rally in opposition to this terrible proposal. I encouraged the leaders in attendance to join that opposition. Defenders of science have successfully fought off funding cuts to the NIH over the last year, and we can fight off this politics-over-peer review concept, too, but it's going to require a broad & sustained campaign.

06/05/2026

The Iran war was illegal on Day 1. It was illegal on Day 61. And it’s illegal today.

06/02/2026

Millville officials hosted me at town hall for a discussion on local infrastructure priorities. After supporting their efforts to address concerns about the elementary school's water supply, I wanted to hear what's next. Most urgently: a diesel generator. Also on deck: brownfield redevelopment on the Blackstone River and (potentially) a new well.

To celebrate the re-opened elementary school, my staff & I organized a scavenger hunt for third-and-fourth-graders at the vernal pool in the school's backyard. Students paired up to find different insects, plants, fungi, and birds on their bingo card. I explained to the students how the fun outdoors activity also relates to legislation I'm co-leading in Congress: America’s Living Library Act.

This bill envisions a project to collect, catalog, and sequence genomic information of animals, plants, fungi, and microbes on U.S. public lands (starting with National Parks). The effort would establish collections of the physical samples in addition to a public database for genomic data storage.

06/02/2026

Health premium inflation was my focus in a conversation with the Cranberry Country Chamber of Commerce in Lakeville. I spoke to the issue that I know is stressing both the public & private sectors as much as any other: perennial double-digit hikes in health insurance costs.

Health care is 20% of the U.S. economy: there's no silver bullet for a sector so big & complex. Every industry within the sector needs to be part of the solution. As a member of the Health subcommittee, I walked through some ways that I'm trying to reduce costs across the board:

- pharma: legislation to speed biosimilars to market so that expensive brand-biologics get more competition, faster.
- hospitals: reform to the 340B hospital pharmacy program that raises premiums for employees & measured adoption of site neutral reimbursement policies.
- insurance companies: ending noxious prior authorization & co-pay policies, as well as rejecting the over-billing of Medicare Advantage
- state & federal gov'ts: establishing terms & conditions for thoughtful adoption of AI into diagnostic, decision, documentation, and care-delivery activities within the clinic

And more. Unless Congress gets serious about bending the cost curve in health care, more towns, businesses, and families will see revenues & wages eroded.

06/01/2026

Wojcik's in Blackstone is a four-generation family farm. I visited with Chip, the owner, and his family to learn about how farming has evolved in Massachusetts since the fifties. It's hard to compete in wholesale distribution for small farms, and many of them – like Wojcik's – have found success hosting events, recreation, and self-picking & on-site sales. Can't wait to see the corn maze this fall.

06/01/2026

Ms. Devon Houghton, a fourth grade teacher at Wood Elementary in Plainville, received the National Teaching Award in January. A resident of Bellingham, Ms. Houghton is the daughter & niece of local teachers and has been teaching herself for 20 years.

I came to her classroom to present Ms. Houghton with a certificate and take questions from her students. They asked great ones! Then I asked the teacher a question — what has changed most since she began teaching?

Her answer: smartphones and social media undermining attention spans. I agree! I’m working hard on the policy that ensures our children are raised by adults, not algorithms.