Welch, Britt Headline Edward M. Kennedy Institute’s Seventh Installment of ‘The Senate Project’ Bipartisan Conversation Series 

BOSTON, MASS. — U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.) appeared in Boston this week to participate in The Edward M. Kennedy Institute’s (EMKI) 2026 installment of The Senate Project series. The Senators had an in-depth discussion on timely topics, including interactions and collaborations with fellow senators during their tenure, and their combined work on bipartisan legislation to protect children, curb the effects of social media on youth mental health, and better predict and prepare for  water-related disasters. Senator Welch also discussed the need for institutional reform of the Senate and how President Trump’s corruption will impact the upcoming midterm elections. 

The Senate Project series aims to reintroduce the culture of seeking common ground and consensus that has been the essence of the Senate since it was conceived in 1789. Martha MacCallum, anchor of The Story with Martha MacCallum, moderated the discussion. 

“Our politics are deeply fractured and broken… What I believe is that we step back and look at the problems we face, and Katie was alluding to this: they’re shared problems. We’re all scared about what social media is doing to our kids. We’re all really wondering what happens to our kids when they get out of college and they can’t afford to get a condo, let alone even think about building a house. We’re all concerned about health care—that is getting well beyond anybody’s ability to pay, including our employer-sponsored healthcare programs,” said Senator Welch. 

“If you start out where you’re talking about the problems that you share, then it can lead to a concrete discussion about a shared solution. What’s fractured is a lot of things that are hurting it: gerrymandering, money in politics, social media—a lot of those things. But the whole point of politics is about accepting, acknowledging, and solving shared problems. That requires that you do some listening to one another and you have mutual respect for the motivation that everybody you serve with is there to do the same thing that you’re there to do,” the Senator continued. 

Watch a livestream of the event here and view photos from the event below: 

Images Courtesy of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate 

Senator Welch on his path to the Senate and the importance of public service: 

“It’s inspiring to be here, because what motivates a lot of people who go into public service, whether they have conservative or liberal politics, is public service. There’s a desire on the part of most of us, whatever it is we do, by the way, not just going into elected office—but to have a feeling at the end of the day you’ve helped somebody out and make a step ahead. And it can be a banker who helps somebody get a loan for their first home, it can be a teacher who cracked the code to help a child learn how to read. That sense of service, I think, is what I find is common ground. Katie and I, our backgrounds are totally different, and our politics are different. But you just heard a recitation that I quite admire about her desire to have an opportunity to serve.” 

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Senator Welch on the need for bipartisanship and how to fix gridlock in Washington: 

“I actually believe that all of us who serve in the Senate have to acknowledge that much of the Senate that Senator [Ted] Kennedy served in, Senator Robert Kennedy served in, Senator John Kennedy served in, is broken. We don’t address the critical issues facing the country. We’ve got a huge debt; it’s not even a topic. Social Security is on the brink of being insolvent; we don’t talk about it. We basically have gotten into a situation where the legislating is done through the reconciliation process. You know, the Senate is supposed to be a place where you come together and you do work out differences and hear from the minority, but the reconciliation process is an indication that we’ve given up on that… 

“So, I actually think we have to aspire to continue doing the work together that say, Katie and I are doing. But there’s got to be some acknowledgement that there have got to be some significant changes affecting the Senate. I think radical gerrymandering is affecting Congress, less so obviously in the Senate. The money in politics is brutal, and we’re seeing this election that individuals can really overcome it—it has a real impact on what happens on both the Republican and Democratic side.” 

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Senator Welch on the need for institutional reform and why the Senate must reassert its constitutional responsibilities: 

“There is a need for institutional reform in order for us to be able to get back to the Senators being able to work out the differences on major pieces of legislation…What I’ve seen in the Congress, this is when I served in the House and now in the Senate, is that there is a continuing abdication of responsibility by the U.S. Senate of its constitutional prerogatives. We should not have tariffs without a vote of the Senate for those tariffs—those are taxes, and under our Constitution, it’s the Congress that decides. We should not be going to war without a vote—a vote. And we’ve not had the opportunity for a full vote. We’ve got this war in Iran, and that should never have started. We’ve seen the power of Congress to appropriate money is taken away by the executive if he impounds the money that Katie’s Appropriations Committee appropriates. 

“So, my view here is that institutionally, if you’re a U.S. senator, you have to insist that the prerogatives under the Constitution of the U.S. Senate are maintained, and that’s to have that competition, and that check, and that balance. But the executive is assuming more authority…My view is that all of us in the Senate should unite around asserting our authority and accept our responsibility.” 

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Senator Welch on how President Trump’s corruption will impact the upcoming midterm elections: 

“The midterms, we all know historically, is a referendum on the incumbent president. So, President Trump is on the ballot, and the outcome of these elections is going to largely be determined by how people feel about him. And his poll numbers are terrible. I think the concerns about corruption are immense. I think the concerns about the erratic behavior are immense…But if the Democrats do get a majority, we have to have a certain amount of humility here. This isn’t about us winning. It’s about Trump losing favor among the American people. It gives us an opportunity to earn trust, and in order to earn trust, we have to make the institution work better…So, and we won’t be able to solve those things if we just do it alone. There’s got to be some humility on the part of the Democrats if, as I hope, we will be successful.” 

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Senator Welch on how the Trump Administration has exacerbated economic inequality in America: 

“Economic inequality that is now institutionalized in this country has never been worse since the Gilded Age, and the process of politics is about trying to create economic conditions where people who are willing to work hard —and by the way, people like to work. Work makes you feel good —then at the end of the month, they can pay their bills. So, we’ve got to work together to solve real problems, and that means we have to assert our authority.” 

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