Remarks to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce
Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce’s Government Affairs Forum
May 7, 2025
As prepared for delivery
Let me start by thanking Brian Grip of Bank of America, Jim Rooney, the Chamber’s Board, members, and staff, the staff of the Westin, and my staff. It is wonderful to join you this morning, as the Senate is busy with a flurry of activity that I am excited to share with you.
Last week, the Senate released our Fair Share supplemental budget, which we will debate tomorrow, And just yesterday we released our Fiscal Year 2026 budget recommendations, which we will debate later in the month. So, before we begin, I think we should give a round of applause to Senate Ways & Means Chair Michael Rodrigues and his staff for their incredible work these past few months—along with Vice Chair Jo Comerford and Assistant Vice Chair Paul Feeney and their staffs.
I am always proud of the budgets the Senate puts together through listening to the needs, ideas and priorities of our members—and this year is no different. Add to that the opportunity to make transformative one-time investments in public education and public transportation thanks to the success of the Fair Share initiative, and we have a lot of good news to share on the budget front.
We are also in the process of holding committee hearings, listening to advocates and members of the public on legislative priorities, and preparing legislation, while also working through the Senate Committee on Steering and Policy to understand—and then respond—to the actions of the Trump Administration through the Senate’s Response 2025 initiative, thanks to Chair Senator Cindy Friedman.
As I look out across this room, I am so pleased to see so many friends and colleagues—as well as so many business and civic leaders who care deeply about Massachusetts. I am so proud of the partnership the Senate has with the Boston Chamber, and so proud of the values we hold and the hopes we have for this great state.
This is reflected in the shared agenda focused on the state’s competitiveness put forward by the Chamber, AIM, the Business Roundtable and MTF in April. As you so wonderfully stated, “Massachusetts is at the intersection of education, research, and innovation; a combination that brings new technologies to the world and prosperity to our communities.” This is quite a mission statement – and why I believe Massachusetts is a light to our nation and our world. But—as you also note—federal actions threaten to dim that light by attacking the very things that make us Massachusetts.
So, I’d like to start off with a warning—and a plea. First, the plea: you must speak up. The Chamber represents 1200 organizations, including large corporations, small businesses, non-profits, and law firms. I can only imagine the billions of dollars in economic activity you represent when taken all together. So I hope you will all use your collective voices to let the Trump Administration, Congress, and the federal government know when their policies are harming your businesses, your employees, your families and your bottom lines—as well as the state we are lucky enough to call home.
You have a great example in our very own Jim Rooney, who is putting his influence to work by relaunching the Business for Federal Research Funding Coalition to engage members of Congress and the Administration to explain how research funding strengthens our nation’s economy and competitiveness. I am grateful for your efforts, Jim, because we need this research—and also because I fear that the massive changes being made by this Administration at the federal level are not just reshaping our government, they are also threatening our way of life and our basic democratic principles.
This is easy to see when you think of our most vulnerable residents, families with children with complex medical needs, and our veterans—among others—who rely on government programs like Medicaid, Head Start or the VA. Or when you think of the people—surely some of you in this room—who have had to fight to be afforded the same rights and privileges as other Americans.
But federal chaos is also a threat to our economy—and not just because economies crave stability. Just this past fall—practically a lifetime ago at this point—two MIT economists, together with their colleague from the University of Chicago—won the Nobel prize in economics for their work to show that over time, open, inclusive and democratic countries have stronger economies. Zoom out, and you see that the most successful examples invest in both education and health—two things we happen to have some experience with here in Massachusetts.
So – again – my plea: You can count on the Massachusetts Senate to do all we can to uphold the rule of law, separation of powers and due process, but we are limited in what we can do and we definitely can’t do it alone. That’s why we need your partnership more than ever to call out, when appropriate, a President who wants to be king and a Congress that is handing over its power to that President.
As the recent celebrations of our nation’s 250th anniversary have shown, the American experiment started here. And while Massachusetts is closely tied to our nation’s history, I have always believed that it represents our future as well. Because we have taken the gifts fought for and won by the generations that came before us—a commitment to education, an openness to people from around the world, a respect for entrepreneurs and free trade, and a noisy and sometimes messy democratic process—and built a state that I believe many would say—although they may never admit it openly—is one to be admired, maybe even envied.
And this is my fear—as we face four years of an Administration that ignores due process and the rule of law, forcefully shuts our borders rather than working on comprehensive immigration reform, and eliminates the programs that help all people get a better shot at success, that it’s not just the American way of life that will be changed, but the Massachusetts way of life as well—and that would be a great loss.
Look at any current list of growing industries in the United States and it reads like a description of the companies represented in this room. Life sciences. Cybersecurity. AI. Healthcare technology. Educational services. Clean energy. Advanced manufacturing and robotics.
Rather than cutting our research funding and bringing ‘hell’ to our cities, I invite President Trump to spend some time in Massachusetts if he truly wants to Make America Great Again. If he wants ideas on how to revive the outlook for American workers, he should look to us, because we are a state that is largely doing it right. We have taken the climate crisis and turned it into a green tech sector, produce research and products that save lives around the world, and know that diversity is our strength, not something to be eliminated.
So, we will continue to fiercely defend the Massachusetts way of life in the Senate, and we hope you will join us. So far, as part of the Senate’s Response 2025, we have held a hearing about the threats to our leadership in climate change, filed a bill to strengthen protections for those seeking and providing health care, met with the Canadian consulate to learn about tariff impacts, and forcefully condemned the Trump Administration's disregard for the rule of law and due process. We have also passed laws in the past several years to protect or expand access to public health, veterans’ benefits, immigrant rights, education, reproductive freedom, healthcare for transgender individuals, progress on climate change, and mental health care. By working with all of you, we plan to take further steps to protect our residents, defend our values, lead Massachusetts and shore up our economy as best we can through thoughtful policy. And we look forward to your continued partnership as we do so.
Last session, the Legislature worked hard to continue building an environment where businesses, workers, communities and families can thrive. I’m proud of what we were able to accomplish last session. We delivered the most comprehensive tax relief in a generation. We passed a four billion dollar economic development bill that authorized hundreds of millions of dollars for climate tech, life sciences, infrastructure, and small businesses—and I truly believe that our economic development bond bill is a terrific example of business and government working together, and I look forward to seeing the results in the months and years to come.
We authorized five billion dollars for housing construction and affordability. We got the strongest veterans benefits in the nation signed into law. And we recommitted ourselves to building our green energy future by passing siting and permitting reform. We also strengthened gun laws, reined in prescription drug costs, addressed private equity in health care, reformed maternal health and long term care, provided resources to address substance misuse disorder, and so much more.
And, finally, we delivered free community college through MassEducate, transformed early education and care, and made historic investments in public education at every level.
As we envision community college as a catalyst for workforce training and a path to the middle class for our residents—as well as a way to keep young people in our state—we should be thrilled at the stats coming in from these institutions. Total enrollment across all community colleges has increased 26 percent in two years, with the largest percent enrollment increases happening in zip codes with the lowest median household incomes. And if you’re wondering if these students are signing up to study in the fields we need most, the answer is a resounding yes: students enrolled in health-related programs have increased a whopping 168 per cent from fall 2022 to fall 2024.
I’d like to take a moment to thank everyone involved in making MassEducate such a success, including Governor Healey and Speaker Mariano. This session, the Senate continues to look for ways to expand opportunities and lower costs in Massachusetts—because the cost of living is still too high here.
But as you know, things are different this year. No state—not even one as strong and resilient as Massachusetts — can fill the massive budget gaps that could arise if federal dollars are stripped away. If the federal government pulls back its support, it will put serious pressure on our budget, our families, our communities, and our businesses.That's why it’s so important that we work together to advocate fiercely, plan wisely, and protect the progress we have made.
With the federal landscape in mind, the Senate released its Fiscal Year 2026 budget yesterday. As in previous years, we continue to prioritize access to public education at every level, but our main priority is to hold the line for our residents and businesses as we head into uncertain economic waters—and that includes no new taxes.
With this budget, we are continuing to take action on an issue that I believe is second to none for the state’s government to confront—the housing challenges that continue to act as a drag on our growth, our economy, and on helping families improve their quality of life. Because of passage of our historic tax cut package, investments in the low-income housing tax credit and the housing development incentive program are at record highs and have more than doubled in the last 5 years. But there is still more to do. That’s why the Senate Ways & Means budget invests over $1 billion in housing stability, residential assistance, emergency shelter services, public housing, and homelessness assistance programs.
We are also once again requiring that brokers’ fees be paid by the person who hires the broker, ensuring that renters are not unfairly burdened with unexpected and extraordinary costs. At a time when we need to be doing everything we can to drive down the cost of housing and make it easier to build, it is especially unfortunate that President Trump is pursuing tariffs and policies that are increasing the cost to build and the cost to borrow. Just last week, the Senate Committee on Steering and Policy held a briefing with the Consul General of Canada as part of our Response 2025 initiative—and she confirmed that costs on Canadian-produced lumber, steel and other building materials will indeed go up. We cannot control that—but we do have a responsibility to work together again this session to increase housing production and bring down costs.
And so, I am pleased to say that I have been working with our Senate Housing Chair Julian Cyr on a budget proposal that will work with our partners in the administration to explore removing the sales tax for construction materials on those multifamily housing developments that are ready to be built but are threatened by the potential increased costs—so thank you Senator Cyr.
Between our Fair Share supplemental budget and our FY26 budget, we have an incredible opportunity to invest in education and transportation—two key ingredients in the recipe of our collective success—and we are seizing that opportunity. This spring, we are appropriating—in total—just over $3 billion in Fair Share funds to continue to transform our public education and transportation systems.
We are stabilizing our early education sector through C3 grants, funding the best K-12 education system in the country through increased Chapter 70 funds and an additional $150 minimum in per pupil aid, dedicating significant resources towards career technical education, as I promised at the beginning of this session, putting money in the pockets of parents and caregivers by providing school meals, expanding opportunities through universal free community college, complete with access to the services that will help students succeed, ensuring families with lower incomes attend 4 year universities tuition-free through pell grants and the state’s MassGrant Plus program, stabilizing MBTA finances to the tune of $820 million in operating resources to fully fund MBTA’s operations for FY26, investing in expanded public transportation options – such as boats and busses—across the state, and securitizing billions of dollars to fund road, bridge and transit improvements.
Other budget highlights include supporting farms and families by increasing funding to the Healthy Incentives Program (HIP), investing in our municipalities through a $1.337 billion investment in local aid, and dedicating more resources to the Attorney General as she works to protect Massachusetts in the Trump era. I’m really proud of the steps the Senate is taking to address the most pressing areas of concern for both our residents and businesses, and I invite you to learn more about the details of our investments on the Senate’s new digital press room page on our website.
It is clear that the Fair Share surtax and our state economic activity are creating the conditions for us to invest dollars back into our Commonwealth. And I am glad the so-called Millionaires Tax is allowing us to make investments that seem to be attracting, creating and keeping wealth here in Massachusetts—while also opening up possibilities for expanding and supporting the middle class.
We still need to bring costs down to ensure that recent college graduates, young families, and aspiring entrepreneurs can afford to live and work here—and I can assure you that the Senate will continue working on this, and, as always, we welcome your ideas and partnership.
As many in this room might know, I have a son who is a public high school teacher. I’m happy to say that we talk a lot, and he often tells me about the unique challenges of teaching students who sit with a cell phone at their desk. There is mounting evidence that cell phone usage among students during the school day is detrimental for a number of reasons—from simple distraction to more worrying issues such as cheating and cyber bullying.I know you will find this hard to believe, but it can be difficult for me to process the constant stream of negativity I receive through various digital channels—and I have a team that manages my social media and a fully developed pre-frontal cortex
So I can’t imagine what 24/7 content, both impersonal and very personal, must do to a child trying to navigate learning while juggling emotions and the normal pressures of growing up. That’s why I would like the Senate to explore ways to keep our schools distraction-free—and more precisely cell phone free.
To quote social psychologist Jonathan Hite, who wrote the book ‘The Anxious Generation’ about kids and social media: “There’s really no argument for letting kids have the greatest distraction device ever invented in their pockets during school hours.”
It’s an idea that has broad bi-partisan support, and at least 18 states have laws limiting cell phone usage. It’s also timely, as just yesterday WBUR published an extensive report on cell phone usage in schools. In Massachusetts, our schools should be a truly safe space where kids can grow, learn, make mistakes, and develop healthy relationships, and so making schools cell phone free should be as fundamental to our understanding of what helps a child learn as providing school meals and access to social and emotional learning resources.
As we head into our first budget of the new session, and contemplate the implications of a new Presidential Administration for the next four years, I am more grateful than ever for the partnership the Senate has with the Boston Chamber. I am grateful to have the opportunity to make the case for the Senate’s priorities, as we did last year with Raise the Age—an issue we will continue to push this session because of its importance to both our economy and to ensuring justice for all of our residents—and I welcome your partnership on this.
As we navigate the coming months and years, we truly will need to continue to work closely together to solve the most pressing problems before us, and stand up for the state that we love. I am tremendously grateful for the opportunity to discuss and debate ideas with business leaders who are unafraid to stand up for what they believe in—and who know that our differences may stem from disagreements about policy, but ultimately we all want what’s best for our Commonwealth.
I can honestly say I love the Massachusetts way of life. And I look forward to working with all of you to ensure it not only survives, but strengthens, grows, and expands to include everyone in our great state. Thank you for your leadership and partnership, and thank you for having me here today.