Elizabeth Warren

Senator Elizabeth Warren is the United States Senator for Massachusetts, serving since 2013. She is a member of the Senate committees on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP); Energy and Natural Resources; and the Special Committee on Aging. Recognized as one of the nation's top experts on bankruptcy and the financial pressures facing middle class families, Senator Warren was the driving force behind the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). President Barack Obama appointed her as Assistant to the President and as Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury, charged with the job of setting up the agency to hold financial institutions accountable and to protect consumers from financial tricks and traps. In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, Senator Warren also served as Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel (COP) for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Prior to her senate position, she served as the Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. Her research showed that one half of Americans in U.S. bankruptcy courts filed due to illness or medical bills-even though three quarters of them had health insurance. She is well known for her empirical work on the uses and effects of bankruptcy and credit laws and practices, and for her teaching.