The Common Ills

Tuesday, June 30, 2026

Trump PANICS as STATE FAIR gets EVEN WORSE!!!!

The Snapshot

Tuesday, June 30, 2026. Chump tries to low profile it as the war with Iran continues and his state fair turned out to be a disaster, the electorate appears to be rejecting Republicans, Pete Hegseth attempts to destroy the military, and much more.

Ben (MEIDASTOUCH NEWS) notes Donald Chump will not be available to the press again today.

Shirin Hakim, Hari Raj, Aaron Boxerman and Leo Sands (NEW YORK TIMES) note this morning:

Iranian and U.S. negotiators were gearing up for meetings on Tuesday in Qatar, a key mediator between the two countries, days after a surge of attacks cast a pall over efforts to reach a lasting peace deal.

A spokesman for Qatar’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that there were no plans for high-level meetings or direct talks between the United States and Iran, adding that the American delegation would meet with Qatari officials.

What might the current war on Iran be without Senator Lindsey Graham who has pimped it non-stop? Who knows but we might find out in Chump's next war. Fernando Alba (THE MIRROR) reports:

Lindsey Graham's seat in ruby red South Carolina could be at risk.

According to a new poll by Impact Research, the four-term U.S. senator, is near neck-and-neck with his Democratic opponent, Dr. Annie Andrews.

The 70-year-old is polling just three points ahead of Andrews, 48% to 45%, and scored just a 40% approval rating.

Andrews, 45, is framing her race to unseat the longtime senator as a changing of the guard. Graham was first elected to Congress in 1994 and later to the senate in 2002.

“Lindsey Graham has been in politics since I was in the eighth grade, and people are sick of these career politicians,” she told the Daily Beast, arguing his MAGA stance has alienated voters by prioritizing war and cuts to Medicaid.

“Casual observers are pretty disgusted by Lindsey Graham’s behavior. Imagine how South Carolinians feel. That’s exactly what this poll reflects.”

Old man Graham could get kicked out of the Senate. On GOP chances in the November midterms, Will Neal (DAILY BEAST) notes:

CNN’s resident numbers wizard has cast President Donald Trump’s thoroughly debunked claims of election rigging in 2020 as a losing strategy ahead of the November midterms.

“It is a losing message!” data guru Harry Enten, 38, told network viewers Monday, framing the divide it casts among the voting public as near-total. “The Republican Party is in one camp all the way over here on the right, and the rest of the American public is in the same camp.”

The claim still sells with the base, which is why, Enten went on, Republicans keep making it. About 60 percent of GOP voters called the 2020 contest stolen, a share that has since climbed to 63 percent, even though “there is no proof of that whatsoever!” He was blunter about the conviction itself, scoffing that Republicans “just believe this garbage.”

The trouble, as the polling analyst put it, is everyone else. Among Americans overall, 64 percent now call the 2020 result legitimate, up from 59 percent in 2021—a majority moving the opposite way from the voters the party is courting. That, Enten argued, is the trap: a message that wins a primary and loses a general election.

Other problems facing the Republicans in the lead up to the midterms? Thomas Kika notes:

Republicans are "bracing for a tough election season" heading into the 2026 midterms, according to a new report from The Hill, expressing concerns that President Donald Trump remains "out of sync" with the main issues concerning voters.

GOP lawmakers are eager to try and get legislation passed that could address affordability concerns that are weighing heavily on voters' minds, but Trump has continually made their prospects more difficult. In recent months, lawmakers have been frustrated by his remarks about not caring that Americans are struggling against rising costs, as well as his recent insistence that he will not sign a bipartisan affordable housing bill unless Congress passes new voter registration restrictions.

"Trump’s refusal to sign the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is the latest troubling sign for GOP senators, who have pressed Trump for weeks to pay more personal attention to voters’ concerns about rising costs," The Hill detailed in a Monday morning report. "Instead, Trump’s off-the-cuff statements professing 'love' for higher inflation numbers and declaring he’s not thinking about the financial situations of American families while negotiating an end to the conflict with Iran have GOP candidates bracing for a tough election season."

Moving over to Chump's failed fair.

Rhian Lubin (INDEPENDENT) reports:

The launch of President Donald Trump’s Freedom250 group last year has led to a fierce rivalry with America250, the nonpartisan Congressional commission that has been planning the nation’s 250th birthday celebrations for a decade, according to a report.

America250 is the organization created by Congress in 2016 to lead the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The idea behind the group was to put on events across the country that everyone could enjoy.

But since Trump launched Freedom250 in January 2025, the group behind the Great American State Fair, a violent UFC fight on the White House South Lawn and an exhibition curated by a right-wing educational organization PragerU, a “feud” has broken out between the two organizations, according to a report by TIME.

America250, made up of lawmakers, private citizens and cabinet officials, as a result, “does not want to be affiliated with the kind of celebrations that Freedom 250 has set up,” according to TIME, citing internal documents and conversations with people working closely on the events.

Freedom250’s 16-day Great American State Fair, which kicked off last week, failed to attract large crowds on the National Mall this weekend. Organizers promoted the fair as a patriotic showcase featuring all 50 states, family attractions, live entertainment, and exhibits celebrating the country's history and culture.

Despite photographs of sparse crowds, Trump claimed the event was “packed with happy people” and touted his team for a “fantastic job” in a Truth Social post Monday.

The groups are reportedly butting heads over similar programming, budget and vying over major marketing campaigns that have led to confusion among the public. Freedom250 reportedly sends a representative to America250’s meetings, but “there is no sense of collaboration between the two groups.”

It was a bust and a waste of tax payer money (it received tax payer money and donations). Olivia Ralph (DAILY BEAST) notes:

MAGA lawmakers accidentally posted the receipts for President Donald Trump’s underwhelming Great American State Fair.

A string of Republican selfies, reels, and promotional posts from the National Mall show exactly what the White House-backed bash has been accused of becoming: a sparse, strangely empty celebration of America’s 250th birthday.

Rep. Blake Moore of Utah posted an Instagram reel from the fairgrounds, urging visitors to check out his state’s booth. But the sales pitch came with the unfortunate visual aid of Moore standing in an almost empty park, with an empty Ferris wheel turning behind him.

“Down here at the Great American State Fair—it’s gonna be open for two weeks. So if you’re here traveling in Washington, D.C. at all over the 4th, make sure to come check out the Utah booth,” Moore said.

He then seemed to all but beg people to let his office help them get there.

“Contact our office if there’s any help that you need to organize things or tours or get more information,” he added.

“Please, please reach out. We’d love to help out in that way.”

Rep. French Hill of Arkansas posted his own reel from the top of the Ferris wheel, where the view behind him showed the vast, empty National Mall grass stretching toward the Capitol.

“I hope if you have any plans to visit Washington for the 4th of July that you let us know,” Hill said from the ride.

Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas also shared a montage of himself and his wife walking around the fair, riding the Ferris wheel, inspecting an agriculture display, and visiting the Kansas state booth.

But the cheery video appeared to show mostly empty grounds as they moved through the event.

Chump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth are 'celebrating' the country's 250th anniversary by attempting to destroy the Pentagon. Alex Henderson reports:

Prominent military experts, from retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling to retired U.S. Navy Adm. William H. McRaven, are sounding the alarm about the Trump administration forcing Gen. Chris Donahue to step down from his role as commander of U.S. Army Europe. The departures of Donahue and other military leaders, according to Hertling and McRaven, are making the military dangerously unstable. Similarly, legal scholars Michael N. Schmitt and Ryan Goodman are warning that President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are robbing the military of a wealth of expertise.

Writing for Just Security, Schmitt (a law professor at New York University) emphasizes that nothing good can come of the Trump/Hegseth purges at the Pentagon — especially in light of the caliber of military leaders being forced out.

"Since January 2025," the legal scholar explains, "the Defense Department has removed, replaced, or forced the early retirement of a remarkable concentration of operationally experienced senior officers. Among them are the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the chief of naval operations, the chief of staff of the Army, and the commander of U.S. Cyber Command, who concurrently serves as director of the National Security Agency. Most recently, Gen. Christopher Donahue, one of the most decorated and combat-experienced officers of his generation, has been forced out as commander of U.S. Army Europe and Africa and, in his NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) role, as commander of Allied Land Command. Public explanations have been sparse and, to the extent they have been offered, largely general."

Schmitt continues, "The question regarding these departures is not whether the president and secretary of defense have broad lawful authority to reshape the senior officer corps. They unequivocally do. Nor is it a question of whether personnel decisions of this kind are ever warranted. Sometimes, they certainly are. Instead, at its core, a central question is their impact on the combat effectiveness, indeed the lethality, of our armed forces."

Schmitt, in his article, lists 25 U.S. military leaders who have been forced out during Trump's second presidency and notes that collectively, they had a combined 901 and one-half years of experience.

Schmitt argues that the military purges that occurred in the Soviet under Josef Stalin during the 1930s offer a sobering history less for the U.S., as Stalin's Red Army purges made the Soviet Union more "vulnerable" to Adolf Hitler's aggression.

Sabrina Haake observes:

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth just hijacked more promotions of high-ranking service members, this time blocking career professionals with exemplary records who were on track to become one-star generals and admirals. Not only is Hegseth’s behavior unusual, there is no clear legal authority for what he is doing.

Congress entrusted military promotions largely to the respective promotion boards and Secretaries of the Military Departments, not the Secretary of Defense. Although 10 U.S.C. § 629 empowers the President with removal authority, a longstanding executive order limits the Secretary of Defense’s removal authority to grades below colonel or captain, not the general or admiral promotions Hegseth has blocked. The Pentagon’s own regulations restrict grounds for removing an officer from a promotions list to specific circumstances like moral, mental, or professional deficiencies, none of which were present in Hegseth’s removals.

It’s obvious that a disproportionate number of Hegseth’s blocked, delayed, or demoted officers are women and people of color. However, while mainstream headlines suggest Hegseth is motivated by race and gender animus, an even worse—and more dangerous— likelihood is that he is weeding out those he deems “ideologically incompatible” with how he and Trump plan to use the military.

Hegseth likes to emphasize that “every officer serves at the pleasure of the president,” arguing that Trump’s policy goals require removing commanders “tied to the culture” of previous administrations. He argues that past promotions were based on race and gender instead of qualifications, but military records dispute those claims, and there is no evidence that any promotions he blocked were attributable to anything other than merit.

Hegseth, a former Fox News bobble head, is notoriously unqualified to serve as Secretary of Defense, which seems to have been Trump’s point in naming him. He was a mid-level National Guard officer, had no senior leadership role in the military, and had no experience anywhere that qualified him to oversee three million personnel and an annual budget of $800 billion.

More dangerous than his lack of qualifications is his bloodlust. As a media commentator, he lobbied aggressively for presidential pardons for service members convicted or accused of notorious war crimes, including Army Lt. Clint Lorance, convicted of murdering two Afghan civilians, and Maj. Matt Golsteyn, who admitted during an interview for the CIA that he and another soldier took an alleged Taliban bomb-maker off base in 2010, shot him, and buried his remains. Trump granted full pardons to both.

Which is perfectly in keeping with the War Crime that Hegseth and Chump committed. Jon Duffy (LOS ANGELES TIMES) notes, "It has been more than 100 days since the United States struck an elementary school in Minab, Iran, and killed at least 175 people, most of them children." They are not governing, they are murdering. Hegseth was confirmed via JD Vance offering the tie breaking vote. He was not a good nominee and shame on those who supported him by voting for him. John Bowden (INDEPENDENT) reports:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is facing heat from a key House Republican as he continues reshaping the Pentagon to fit Donald Trump’s agenda.

Rep. Don Bacon, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, told CNN on Sunday that the firings at the Pentagon and the reported campaign of Hegseth slow-walking or denying promotions to senior officers, disproportionately women and people of color, was harming America’s fighting forces.

[. . .]

In his CNN interview, Bacon added that he’d known some of the dismissed commanders personally, and vouched for their credentials and professionalism.

“He’s fired about 20 admirals and generals. I’ve worked with some of them personally...these are great people. We had the head of U.S. Cyber Command fired for no reason,” said Bacon.

In June, it was reported by CNN that a sense of paranoia and fear was gripping the top ranks at the Pentagon, a direct result of the firings and interference in promotions. The atmosphere was so intense that troops were being forced to submit to polygraph tests and nondisclosure agreements to be read in on sensitive topics, potentially adversely affecting readiness.

Senior officials told the outlet that decisions were now being made with the constant undertone of fear about job security.

On FACE THE NATION (CBS) Sunday morning, Senator Tim Kaine spoke with moderator Margaret Brennan about Hegseth:

MARGARET BRENNAN: We turn now to Virginia Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, who joins us from Brussels.

Good morning to you, Senator.

SENATOR TIM KAINE (D-Virginia): Great to be with you, Margaret. Thanks.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Because you are in Europe, I want to ask you about exactly what is going on with the U.S. Army Europe General Chris Donahue. We know he was ordered by Secretary Hegseth to turn in his retirement papers. He's going to relinquish command July 2, relinquish NATO command July 9.

Do you have any indication why this very well-respected general is getting pushed out the door?

SENATOR TIM KAINE: Margaret, I am in Europe with a bipartisan delegation of senators visiting NATO allies and our troops, talking primarily about NATO summit next week and support for Ukraine.

I will say, on General Donahue, a lot of questions and very few answers. He was very well regarded in the Armed Services Committee, where I sit. Both sides of the aisle thought really highly of him. And so the news that he was being ushered out caught us all by surprise, and we don't yet have good answers from the Pentagon.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, it's part of a bigger question as to the changes Secretary Hegseth is making at the Pentagon.

Retired Admiral Bill McRaven, people know him from commanding the raid to take out Osama bin Laden. He wrote a piece in "The Atlantic" raising concerns about the exit and the firing of at least 12 other high-ranking military officials.

He explained officers need to be brutally candid in order to give good advice. He said: "These recent firings raise a real risk senior officers will be overly cautious about providing their best advice, and therefore the chance for military miscalculation will grow dramatically."

How concerned are you? Can Congress intervene and do anything here?

SENATOR TIM KAINE: Well, I don't think that concern is misplaced. We're worried about the same thing.

Are you – are you pushing out the truth-tellers to surround yourself by yes-men? And, in particular, it looks like the secretary is coming down hardest, coming down hardest on the Army. He served in the Army. He felt like he wasn't treated well by the Army. That's a grudge he's carried that he's described publicly.

And so, when you see Army officers forced out, you got to wonder, is this a personal thing, or is it really what's best for the nation? So we are working on the defense bill right now. We've – we voted it out of the Senate Armed Services Committee. There's nothing in the bill at this point that would address this situation.

But, when we bring it up on the floor, I think by then, we'll have some of our questions answered. And if we need to go farther to put some guardrails in place, you'll probably find bipartisan support to do that.

MARGARET BRENNAN: What are you hearing from your NATO partners there about the American plans to reduce the presence in Europe?

SENATOR TIM KAINE: So the – it would be difficult to reduce the presence in Europe, based upon some NDAA provisions that we have put in place that kind of set a floor in terms of U.S. troop strength.

And here's the good news, Margaret. Both because of President Trump, but also, frankly, because the actions of Vladimir Putin, European nations are really stepping up their investment in their collective defense. They see the need to do it, and they understand that the United States is right there with them.

There's some political churn. No doubt about it. European nations are not only concerned about rhetoric coming out of the White House. They see a chaotic tariff policy as hurting their economies. But they also see the U.S. continuing to make sizable investments in European defense, troop presence.

Turning to Chump's buddy Jeffrey Epstein, Travis Gettys (RAW STORY) reports:

A woman who alleges Donald Trump sexually assaulted her more than 30 years ago says she believes the network of people connected to Jeffrey Epstein is on the verge of being fully exposed as more survivors will come forward this year to detail their experiences.

Beatrice Keul, a former Miss Switzerland and Miss Europe contestant, made the prediction in a recent interview, telling PunchUp that "the dam is about to burst." Keul, now 55, has previously alleged that Trump assaulted her in 1993 at the Plaza Hotel during his "American Dream Pageant" in New York when she was 23, and that Epstein separately approached her the same day, introducing himself as "Don's best friend."

Keul's renewed prediction comes alongside new claims about ongoing intimidation she says she's faced since going public with her allegations in October 2024. She told PunchUp she received an AI-generated audio message on her personal cellphone from an anonymous number around the time of Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre's death in April 2025.

"We know where you are, and we will get you," the message repeatedly warned.

Keul says similar messages have continued since, with the most recent arriving about a month ago. She says she doesn't know who is behind them but believes they were designed to frighten her into silence.

Powerful figures connected to Epstein, Keul says, have strong incentives to keep survivors from speaking, and she believes some women have stayed quiet after watching others get targeted or publicly discredited. She also rejected the official finding that Epstein died by suicide in 2019, telling PunchUp, "This is not a guy who would commit suicide."

Tom Latchem (DAILY BEAST) adds:

Keul first came forward in October 2024, alleging that Trump—then 47, while she was a 23-year-old banking executive and part-time model—lured her to his Donald J. Trump American Dream Pageant in New York. She says an aide then asked her to join the property developer for a “private meeting” before he allegedly groped her in a suite at the Plaza Hotel.

Her allegations prompted author and Daily Beast Inside Trump’s Head podcast co-host Michael Wolff to release some of the 100 hours of interviews he conducted with Jeffrey Epstein, including a recording of Epstein describing himself as Trump’s “closest friend.”

Last December, multiple women came forward with similar accounts in a New York Times investigation, in which Keul further detailed the alleged assault.

Keul is one of at least 28 women who have accused Trump of sexual misconduct, including writer E. Jean Carroll, whose sexual abuse claims a New York jury found credible. The Supreme Court rejected his push to throw out that jury’s finding on Monday. Trump, 80, has denied all allegations, calling them “unequivocally false” and insisting he has “never met” some of his accusers. He has not taken legal action.

(White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, then serving as press secretary for Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, also said in October 2024 that Keul’s claims were “fake allegations.”)

Let's wind down with this from Senator Elizabeth Warren's office:

Brokers have been caught selling the location data of people visiting abortion clinics, risking the safety and security of women seeking basic health care

Updated bill would protect Americans’ privacy and ban brokers from selling Americans’ health and location data

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Representative Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.) announced that they will reintroduce the Health and Location Data Protection Act, legislation banning data brokers from selling Americans’ sensitive personal information.

“It’s more important than ever that we crack down on data brokers that are raking in giant profits from selling Americans’ most sensitive information,” said Senator Warren. “Especially as more people enter their private health data into AI systems, we need to make sure that information isn’t exploited by the highest bidder.”

Data gathered by brokers has been used to circumvent the Fourth Amendment, out LGBTQ+ Americans, and stalk and harass individuals. Data brokers’ unfettered access to people’s health and location data has become increasingly dire as states continue to ban abortion care and law enforcement agencies may attempt to use this data to criminalize abortion seekers and providers.

The $300 billion data broker industry is largely unregulated by federal law. Data brokers gather personal data, such as location data from weather or prayer apps, often without consumers’ consent or knowledge. Brokers sell this data in bulk to virtually any willing buyer, reaping massive profits. These predatory and invasive practices pose real dangers to Americans’ privacy and safety.

The Health and Location Data Protection Act would:

Ban data brokers from collecting, selling, or transferring location data and health data, including data entered into AI systems.
Empower the Federal Trade Commission, state attorneys general, and injured persons to sue to enforce the provisions of the law, allowing for remedies such as damages and injunctions to stop any illegal practices.
Provide $1 billion to the Federal Trade Commission over the next decade to carry out its work, including the enforcement of this law.

This bill is cosponsored by Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Representatives Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.), Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.).

The bill is endorsed by the National Partnership for Women & Families, All* Above All, the Guttmacher Institute, the National Network of Abortion Funds, and the National Council of Jewish Women.

Senator Warren has fought to protect the sensitive data of American consumers from Big Tech companies and data brokers:

In May 2026, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) joined U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and U.S. Representative Pat Harrigan (R-N.C.) in releasing information confirming for the first time that hostile foreign adversaries are using commercial location data to target American servicemembers in active war zones.
In October 2024, Senators Warren, Ron Wyden, and Richard Blumenthal, along with Representative Katie Porter, wrote to the Department of Justice (DOJ) urging the investigation and prosecution of major tax preparation companies for illegally sharing protected and sensitive taxpayer information with Big Tech firms.
In May 2024, Senators Warren, Ron Wyden, and Sheldon Whitehouse, along with Representative Katie Porter, sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, among others, calling on them to investigate use and disclosures of legally protected and sensitive taxpayer information by tax prep companies.
In April 2024, Senators Warren, Bill Cassidy, and Richard Blumenthal wrote to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) urging an assessment of the cybersecurity landscape leading up to, and after, the Change Healthcare cyberattack.
In April 2024, at a hearing of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, Senator Warren pushed back on Big Tech’s misleading claims that “free data flows” provisions in trade agreements will help combat China’s digital authoritarianism, when the opposite in fact is true.
In January 2024, at a hearing of the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, Senator Elizabeth Warren questioned Emily Kilcrease, Senior Fellow and Director of the Energy, Economics, and Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, on the national security risks posed by digital trade rules that allow tech companies to collect, sell, and store Americans’ data wherever is cheapest, including China.
In November 2023, Senators Warren, Ed Markey, John Kennedy, and Jeff Merkley joined their colleagues in introducing the bipartisan Traveler Privacy Protection Act, which would ban the use of facial recognition technology and the collection of facial biometric data by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in U.S. airports.
In November 2023, Senators Warren and Bill Cassidy, M.D. released statements after Duke University published a report highlighting the detail, ease, and volume at which data brokers are selling the personal data of U.S. service members to web addresses located both in the United States and abroad.
In September 2023, Senators Warren and Richard Blumenthal sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, expressing concerns about the implementation of the contract the Department of Defense (DoD) awarded to Leidos Partnership for Defense Health (Leidos) for the Military Health System (MHS) Genesis electronic health record system after reports that the use of MHS Genesis may be contributing to delays in military recruiting, creating barriers to accessing benefits information, and invading the privacy of service members and military recruits.
In July 2023, Senators Warren and Lindsey Graham unveiled comprehensive legislation that would rein in Big Tech by establishing a new commission to regulate online platforms. The commission would have concurrent jurisdiction with FTC and DOJ, and would be responsible for overseeing and enforcing the new statutory provisions in the bill and implementing rules to promote competition, protect privacy, protect consumers, and strengthen our national security.
In July 2023, Senator Warren opened an investigation into a disturbing report on Google’s confidential effort to secure exclusive access to millions of tissue samples held at the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Joint Pathology Center (JPC).
In March 2023, Senators Warren, Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) introduced the Upholding Protections for Health and Online Location Data (UPHOLD) Privacy Act, legislation that would expand protections for Americans’ personal health data by preventing companies from profiting off of personally identifiable health data for advertising purposes, allow consumers greater access to and ownership over their personal health information, restrict companies’ ability to collect or use information about personal health without user consent, and ban data brokers from selling location data.
In March 2023, Senators Warren, Cassidy, and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) reintroduced the Protecting Military Service Members’ Data Act of 2023, a bipartisan bill that would protect the data of U.S. service members by preventing data brokers from selling lists of military personnel to adversarial nations, including China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. They first introduced the bill in May 2022.
In June 2022, Senators Warren, Cory Booker, and Ron Wyden sent letters to two leading mental health apps, expressing deep concerns about the companies’ use of patients’ personal health data.
In June 2022, Senators Warren, Wyden, Patty Murray, Sheldon Whitehouse, and Bernie Sanders introduced the Health and Location Data Protection Act, sweeping legislation that bans data brokers from selling some of the most sensitive data available about everyday Americans: their health and location data.
In May 2022, Senators Warren; Bill Cassidy, M.D.; and Marco Rubio introduced the Protecting Military Service Members’ Data Act of 2022 to protect the data of U.S. service members by preventing data brokers from selling lists of military personnel to adversarial nations, including China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.
In May 2022, Senator Warren led thirteen of her Senate colleagues in letters to two data brokers demanding answers regarding their collection and sale of the cellphone-based location data of people who visit abortion clinics such as Planned Parenthood.
In December 2021, at a hearing of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Growth, Senator Warren called on Congress and regulators to pass stronger antitrust laws, ban mergers involving huge companies, and encourage robust enforcement to protect the economy, consumers, workers, and data.
In March 2020, Senators Warren; Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.); and Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-La.) sent a letter to Ascension, the second-largest health systems provider in the United States, regarding the company’s information-sharing partnership with Google—also known as Project Nightingale—that provides Google with the health records of tens of millions of Americans.
In November 2019, following alarming reports of Google’s efforts to obtain the health records of millions of Americans without their awareness or consent, Senators Warren, Blumenthal, and Cassidy sent a bipartisan letter to Google demanding answers to the serious questions and concerns raised by “Project Nightingale.”