We can't solve our country's budget problems with a meat-ax.

Sequestration isn't just dumb, it's dangerous and irresponsible. Blunt, across the board cuts are hurting our children, our seniors, our veterans – the people who need our help the most.

Last week, Congress stepped in to restore full funding for air traffic controllers to keep our country moving. But our children, seniors, and veterans shouldn't have to get stuck on a tarmac before Congress pays any attention.

People with cancer or families dealing with autism or Alzheimer's shouldn't be ignored. Flight delays are bad for all of us, but it's also bad for all of us when we cut funding for Meals on Wheels and Head Start. And it's bad for all of us when medical research gets sidelined and when young scientists' work can't get funded.

The truth is that we could end those cuts and put a stop to sequestration right now if we just made big corporations, millionaires, and billionaires pay their fair share.

That's why I'm joining Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse to sponsor legislation that repeals sequestration by ending the tax giveaways and special breaks for our most profitable companies and millionaires.

Become a citizen cosponsor of the Job Preservation and Sequester Replacement Act today.

Washington is rigged for the big guys -- the ones who can afford to hire an army of lobbyists, lawyers, and accountants to create and find the loopholes and special breaks that let big corporations off the hook for paying taxes.

• It's rigged for the five biggest oil companies, which made $118 billion in profits last year -- and yet still collected billions of dollars worth of government subsidies.
• It's rigged for multinational corporations, which get tax breaks to ship U.S. jobs overseas and stash their investments abroad.
• And it's rigged for hedge fund managers and billionaires, who pay lower tax rates than their secretaries.

The Job Preservation and Sequester Replacement Act closes corporate tax loopholes so everyone pays a fair share. And it implements the Buffett Rule so that people who make more than $1 million a year pay it forward so the next kid has a chance to make it big.

This is a sensible way to deal with our financial problems. But I need your help to build national support that puts pressure on Congress to pass the plan.

Show your support for the Job Preservation and Sequester Replacement Act now.

We've stood up to the most powerful special interests before and won. Often it's an uphill battle -- and we don't always win.

But we fought to get to the Senate to stand up for programs like Head Start, Meals on Wheels, and medical research when not enough people in Washington do. And now is no time to stop fighting.

It's a calm, quiet day in Boston today. It's difficult to believe that such horror filled our streets only a week ago.

Two times, bombs rocked the streets of Copley Square. Three lives were taken that day, and a law enforcement officer was killed just three days later. More than 260 people were wounded, many of whom remain hospitalized with amputations and other scars of tragedy.

I've heard from folks across the country, asking what they can do to help. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Tom Menino have formed a fund to help the people most affected by these tragic events.

If you're looking for a way to help, please consider making a donation to The One Fund Boston today.

Your donation will directly help the families who need it most. Please make a donation now to The One Fund Boston.

From West, Texas to Watertown, Massachusetts, we remember and honor the men, women, and children we lost last week. We help those whose lives will never be the same. And we thank our first responders, medical professionals, law enforcement officers, and National Guard for their heroic work.

I'm very proud of the people of Massachusetts for their strength, resolve, and courage. Bostonians are tough.

We are fighters -- and we cannot be broken.

No matter where you live, thank you for being with us in our time of crisis and our time of healing. We run together.

From the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency:

On Monday April 15th, there were several explosions with injuries at the Boston Marathon finish line shortly before 3pm. MEMA is supporting the city of Boston during this event:

• MBTA Service resumes today (4/16). Copley Station remains closed. Copley area bus route diversions. Expect delays and increased law enforcement presence throughout city and transit system.

• Mass Pike (I-90) Exit 22 Copley Square ramp remains closed. A crime scene has been established in the area of the incident, see http://www.cityofboston.gov/ for a map of crime scene perimeter.

• For finding persons, try all 3 of these tools: 

1. Mayor's hotline 617-635-4500.
2. Red Cross Safe and Well (1800REDCROSS or redcross.org/safeandwell)
   
3. Google Person Finder (http://google.org/personfinder/2013-boston-explosions) 

• If you need crisis counseling, call 1-800-985-5990. The American Red Cross has information on their website about recovering after a disaster, including helping children cope and resources in other languages

• Boston crime tips hotline: 800-494-TIPS and FBI tip line: 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324), prompt #3

• See the city of Boston website at http://www.cityofboston.gov/ for additional information

• Follow MEMA on Facebook and Twitter or download MEMA's Ping4alerts smartphone app

My brother David has always had the special spark in our family.

Like our two older brothers, David served in the military. When he got out, he started a small business -- and when that one didn't work out, he started another one. He couldn't imagine an America where he wasn't living by his wits every single day.

Year after year, my brother paid into Social Security. He never questioned it. He figured he was paying so that he -- and a lot of other people -- could have a secure retirement.

Today my brother lives on his Social Security. That's about $1,100 a month. $13,200 a year.

I'm telling you my brother's story not because it's unusual, but because it's like the story of so many other people. I can almost guarantee that you know someone -- a family member, friend, or neighbor -- who counts on Social Security checks to get by.  

That's why I was shocked to hear that the President's newest budget proposal would cut $100 billion in Social Security benefits. Our Social Security system is critical to protecting middle class families, and we cannot allow it to be dismantled inch by inch.    

The President's policy proposal, known as "chained CPI," would re-calculate the cost of living for Social Security beneficiaries. That new number won't keep up with inflation on things like food and health care -- the basics that we need to live.

In short, "chained CPI" is just a fancy way to say "cut benefits for seniors, the permanently disabled, and orphans."

Two-thirds of seniors rely on Social Security for most of their income; one-third rely on it for at least 90% of their income. These people aren't stashing their Social Security checks in the Cayman Islands and buying vacation homes in Aruba – they are hanging on by their fingernails to their place in the middle class.

My brothers and I grew up in an America that invested in its kids and built a strong middle class. An America that allowed millions of children to rise from poverty and establish secure lives. An America that created Social Security and Medicare so that seniors could live with dignity.

We can't chip away at America's middle class and break the promise we make to our seniors.

It's incredible --

Attorney General Eric Holder indicated in testimony before the U.S. Senate that some Wall Street banks have gotten so big that they are now above the law.

He actually said earlier this week:

I am concerned that the size of some of these institutions becomes so large that it does become difficult for us to prosecute them when we are hit with indications that if you do prosecute, if you do bring a criminal charge, it will have a negative impact on the national economy, perhaps even the world economy.

This is wrong -- just plain wrong. We are a country that believes in equal justice under the law -- not special deals for the big guys. And that's not all the special deals that the big banks get.

According to recent calculations by Bloomberg, the top ten biggest banks receive an $83 billion subsidy every year in the form of lower borrowing costs -- something not available to your community bank or credit union. The markets think that, if things get tough, the government will be there to bail out the big banks again but not the little guys.

To put things in perspective -- that $83 billion subsidy is about the same amount of money being fought over in the sequestration.

So why are we still debating this issue at all? Isn't it obvious that the "too big to fail" problem still exists and is bad for small banks? Bad for taxpayers? Bad for our economy? Bad for justice?

Here's one theory that worries me: maybe people believe that the banks have in fact become too big to shrink. They have started to say that we can't cut these banks down to size.

I'm not one of them, and neither are colleagues of mine like Sen. Sherrod Brown who have been fighting hard on this issue. We know we can take on the big banks and their army of lobbyists and win because we've done it before.

When banks are too big to fail, too big to jail, too big for trial, too big to manage, too big to regulate, too big to shrink, and too big to reform... they are just too big.

We're just getting started here.

I'm going to have to put off baking my Valentine's Day cake until I can get back home on Friday. I have my heart-shaped pans, but the oven is broken in my new Washington apartment. Even so, I'm not letting the day pass without asking everyone for a favor.

My mother was born on Valentine's Day. From the time she turned fifteen, my father gave her a heart-shaped box of chocolates, and from the time I was nine and bought some heart-shaped pans at the dime store, I baked her a cake. Mother loved the heart connection to her birthday.

Several years ago, the heart connection took on a new meaning. My mother was in good health. She went to the doctor regularly, and, except for some concern about high cholesterol and a few complaints about gas pains and arthritis, she always got a good report. When she had some minor surgery, all the kids and grandkids came to visit. She was doing great, ready to check out of the hospital the next morning. So after a few more turns racing her up and down the hallway in wheelchairs, we all headed home.

In the middle of the night, one of my brothers called. He said Mama was dead. I couldn't believe it. I thought he had made some kind of terrible mistake. He said Daddy had been sitting with her when she leaned forward and said, "Don, there's that gas pain again." Then she died.

The autopsy showed that she had advanced heart disease. No one had any inkling.

This year more women than men will die from heart disease. In fact, every minute, a woman dies from heart disease. And the symptoms for women aren't always the same as for men. As I learned when the doctor called to explain how she died, heart disease can easily be overlooked for women.

So enjoy Valentine's Day and all the hearts, but here's my ask: Today please ask a woman you love to learn more about heart disease. Learn the symptoms. Learn the risks. Learn prevention. Please don't wait.

Tomorrow I'll bake a cake. I'll open up the box that has some of the old valentines my daddy gave to my mother. And I'll ask the women I love to take better care of themselves.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Every senator is allowed to bring one guest to the gallery of the President's State of the Union Address. My guest tonight will be Kim Odom.

I've known Kim for a year or so. She is the pastor of True Vine Assembly Church in Dorchester, along with her husband, Ron. They have five great children and two beautiful grandchildren.

On October 4, 2007, Kim's 13-year-old son Steven was walking home with a group of friends after playing basketball. But Steven didn't make it home that night. A gang member mistook one of Steven's friends for a rival gang member. Just steps away from the Odom family's front door, Steven was shot and killed.

Like so many mothers and fathers across the country, Kim and Ron Odom never thought that this kind of tragedy would happen to them. Kim asks why her innocent son was killed, and she also asks why gun violence is allowed to take so many of our children.

Kim has turned her grief into action. She is an advocate for violence intervention and prevention, and came to Washington, D.C. today as a supporter of Demand A Plan, a campaign of Boston Mayor Tom Menino's organization Mayors Against Illegal Guns. She has told Steven's story to bring attention to gang violence, mental health and easy access to firearms. Kim is determined to work for changes that will keep our children safer.

I'm grateful for Kim's work, and I'm inspired by her courage. And I'm very honored that she has accepted my invitation to the State of the Union.

When you listen to the President tonight, I hope you'll think about Kim and Ron and other mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters. Gun violence isn't an abstraction that happens to other people. It happens in our communities to our children, and we owe it to our children to do a better job of protecting them.

We've received many calls and emails from people looking for a way to apply for a job with Elizabeth's Senate office.

If you are interested in a position, please use this form to send in your resume.

A member of Senator-Elect Warren's staff will contact you when and if positions become available. Please note: Due to the high number of applications received, staff members may not be able to respond to every application individually.

I'm disappointed by the filibuster reform deal we passed in the Senate last night.

Since Election Day, hundreds of thousands of people all across the country have spoken out for big, bold rules changes to stop Senate gridlock. That's not the bill we voted for in the Senate yesterday, and that's why I'm really disappointed.

But some change is better than no change at all. If my new colleagues can compromise to reduce the use of the filibuster, even just a little, then it's a step forward.

I'm new to the Senate, but I'm not naive. What happens if the new filibuster deal doesn't work? What if the Republicans go straight back to the same playbook?

Then we keep on fighting for more changes until we get it right. This vote shows that we need to remain vigilant, we need to work hard, and we need to stand strong for what we believe in. We got some change, and we're not giving up.

I want you to know that your participation made a difference. Without you -- and thousands of other people -- we'd have nothing and no hope for ending the gridlock. Now we have something, and we're staying on high alert for what comes next.

AIG made reckless bets that nearly crashed our entire economy.

Beginning in 2008, the government poured billions of your taxpayer dollars into the insurance giant to save it from bankruptcy after it gambled on mortgage-backed securities. And the bailout worked -- earlier this year, AIG reported making billions in profit.

But AIG has a funny way of showing its gratitude. This morning, reports indicated that AIG is considering joining a lawsuit against the federal government because the terms of the bailout weren't generous enough. Can you believe it?

AIG should thank American taxpayers for their help -- not bite the hand that fed them.

The story gets even worse: The government is still bailing out AIG. Right now this profitable insurance giant is getting special tax breaks to give it an advantage and boost its bottom line.

Today, I'm renewing my call for an end to AIG's special tax status to avoid paying taxes -- and I want you to join me. Enough is enough.

Every time AIG files its taxes without paying a dime, it receives another payment in an ongoing, stealth bailout. Those special tax giveaways give AIG a competitive advantage over its competitors -- all while inflating AIG's profit numbers and compensation for its executives.  

Washington shouldn't keep giving special breaks to giant corporations while hard-working middle class families get stuck paying the bill -- especially corporations that sucked up billions of dollars in bailouts after nearly crashing our economy.

Join the call for ending AIG's ongoing bailout and special tax status. They've received enough of our help.

Everyone should have to play by the same rules and pay their fair share -- even giant insurance companies. That's what I believed when I was chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel with oversight on the bank bailout, and that's what I still believe now.