A growing number of Democratic lawmakers – including several in Massachusetts – are following the Nancy Pelosi school of get-rich-quick schemes, a sure-fire way of seeing your family wealth skyrocket while serving in Congress.

Ayanna Pressley, Elizabeth Warren, Katherine Clark, Ilhan Omar have all become richer – some astonishingly so – after stepping in the cash-lined halls of the Capitol, whether it’s from their husband’s businesses, their stock portfolios or their book deals.

Far left “Squad” member Pressley’s rise from nearly zero to up to $8 million in net worth, fattened by her and her husband’s four rental properties in Mattapan, Boston, Fort Lauderdale and Martha’s Vineyard, is drawing increasing scrutiny, as she bristles at questions about her newly-acquired wealth. Pressley and hubby Conan Harris sold the half-million-dollar Florida pad for a $67,000 profit in 2024.

“I wish you people would stop reporting fake news,” a heated Pressley, surrounded by a team of security in black SUVs, said in Washington when confronted by a reporter recently. “You don’t know anything about me and my life. I was raised in a single-parent home. Every single thing my family and I have we have earned. And you are reporting fake news. Do your homework.”

Pressley, who makes $174,000 a year and like Warren has railed against tax breaks for the wealthy, also told Fox News “there’s nothing to see here” about her financial rise.

“Sir, I submit a financial disclosure, just like everybody else,” she said.

Squad member Omar and her husband, Tim Mynett, who owns several businesses, had almost nothing when she was first elected, but her net worth reportedly exploded in just a few years to $25 million.

The Republican-led House Oversight Committee is now investigating Omar’s mysterious rise to wealth, which comes amid a federal social services fraud probe in her home district in Minnesota.

“We’re going to get answers, whether it’s through the Ethics Committee or the Oversight Committee, one of the two, “ Oversight chair James Comer (R-Ky.) told the New York Post. “There are a lot of questions as to how her husband accumulated so much wealth over the past two years. It’s not possible. It’s not. I’m a money guy, it’s not possible.”

Warren’s net worth has risen to a reported $10 million from book deals and her Senate salary. Known for her rants against billionaires and standing up for the little guy, she holds mutual funds worth an estimated $1.76 million. The Cambridge Democrat and her husband, Bruce Mann, reported earning more than $912,000 in 2024, according to their tax forms.

Clark and her husband, Rodney Dowell, are worth more than $14 million, making a cool $458,000 in the stock market last year before stopping trading, according to reports.

She was estimated to be worth $6.8 million in 2018, before her rise to Democratic House Whip, which is second in command to the House Minority Leader.

The STOCK Act, signed into law by Barack Obama in April 2012, prohibits members of Congress from using private information given to them because of their positions for personal gain, such as stock trades.

Former House Speaker Pelosi, 85, and her husband Paul have an estimated net worth of more than $278 million, making her one of the richest members of Congress. Her investment moves in the stock market while serving in Congress have added millions to her net worth.

While it appears that most of the lawmakers have not broken laws, their spectacular rise in wealth and refusal to answer questions about it raises questions about accountability and hypocrisy.

They should be forced to stand before the press and explain exactly how they made such money while serving in the public sector. And have they had any influence over their husband’s financial successes?

Gov. Maura Healey testified Wednesday before the Joint Ways and Means Committee on her $63.4 billion FY27 budget proposal, kicking off testimony by blaming President Donald Trump for the state’s economic challenges before taking questions from lawmakers.

Healey immediately went after Trump when addressing the committee, blaming his cuts to federal COVID relief funding and other programs, as well as his tariffs on Canadian goods for the Bay State’s economic woes. The governor used a line she repeated during her testimony: “Donald Trump has made cuts and caused chaos.”

“Over the past three years, we’ve worked together collaboratively and constructively through a period marked by significant physical challenges. Federal pandemic funding went away altogether. The cost of everything nationwide has gone up. Donald Trump cut funding and caused chaos. And in spite of these challenges, we were able to protect the taxpayer,” Healey said. She highlighted the different priorities set forth in her proposed budget before going back to the “challenges” presented by Trump.

“In the past year, Donald Trump has essentially taken a hatchet to state budgets across the country. In Massachusetts alone, $3.7 billion has been stripped away. That includes over $1.1 billion in cuts to healthcare, cuts to food programs that feed kids in school and seniors at home, cuts to public safety and emergency response, public health and disease prevention, broadband access, energy supply, you name it. And at the same time, the President’s tariffs continue to drive costs and prices up,” she said.

Healey went on to claim that Trump’s federal cuts and numerous tariffs brought the potential for a double-digit increase in state spending, saying “but, I wasn’t going to let that happen.”

Healey’s budget plan would hike spending by 3.8% over the FY26 budget she signed over the summer with tax revenues projected to rise by just 2.9%. But Healey continues to call it a $62.8 billion budget proposal with a 1% increase in spending over FY26.

The bottom line includes $60.114 billion in line item spending, $2.7 billion in spending from the state’s income surtax, and a nearly $550 million transfer to the Medical Assistance Trust Fund, equating to a $2.32 billion or 3.8% increase over last year. The proposal comes as general purpose tax revenues have shown disappointing growth.

Committee members also hit the governor on other topics.

State Sen. Ryan Fattman (R-Worcester & Hampden) asked Healey about the vast outmigration issue facing Massachusetts, along with the growing number of businesses that are shutting down or moving to more economically friendly states.

“This is something on my mind every day. Look, I think Massachusetts is an incredible state. I think we’ve got assets that other states would kill for,” said Healey. “Outmigration actually is down since our administration. Now, it doesn’t mean that it isn’t something that we’re keeping an eye on and are very, very focused on. Particularly, you should look at a five-year or six-year trend.”

The latest U.S. Census Bureau data shows Massachusetts continues to see significant outmigration numbers, with the state losing roughly 182,000 residents while gaining 152,000 in the 12-month period ending on July 1, 2025, according to its “Vintage” population estimates. That works out to a net domestic outmigration of over 30,000 residents. The data also shows Massachusetts primarily relies on international immigration for bringing residents into the state.

Massachusetts peaked in net domestic outmigration in 2021 and 2022 with 57,292. Net outmigration remains high, but continued to drop since that timeframe, with the state seeing a net outmigration of 39,149 residents in 2022 and 2023, and then 27,480 in 2023 and 2024 – Healey’s first year in office. That number is back up in 2024 and 2025 for the first time since the peak seen in 2021 and 2022.

“We also are very mindful of, and I am, of what’s happening with companies,” Healey said in response Fattman’s question about businesses fleeing Massachusetts.

“What is happening with businesses? Are they able to come here? Are they able to expand here, or do they have trouble recruiting talent because they can’t find people who can afford housing here? Are electricity costs are too high? Is it easier for them to go somewhere else and manufacture. I get all that,” she said, advocating for increasing the amount of affordable housing in the state, investing in the state’s education system, and continuing to work to lower costs, among other things.

Asked by Fattman about possibly considering a rollback of the states NetZero by 2050 mandate to a goal, like it was under former Gov. Deval Patrick, Healey doubled down on what she says is the need for renewable energy sources while also saying that she is for an “all of the above” approach when it comes to utilizing traditional sources like natural gas and nuclear power.

“It should be about both how to bring as much energy from as many sources as possible online as quickly as possible. I do think the move towards renewables is something that we absolutely need to continue on,” Healey said. “Now’s the time where we should be looking to do as much as we can with respect to all parts of energy, and I continue to be a strong proponent of clean energy while recognizing the balance that we need.”

Fattman then pressed Healey on soaring energy costs in Massachusetts, referencing the findings of an independent study that found state policies and climate mandates are the driver behind increasing utility bills.

“But you have to acknowledge, I think we all have to, that a lot of the costs on utility bills are not happenstance. They come from the legislative mandates since 2021. And those are directly impacted on the Netzero [by 2050 mandate], pressing Healey again on considering a rollback of the mandate. Healey against expressed her support for increasing renewable energy usage in Massachusetts.

The House and Senate will redraft Healey’s spending blueprint and debate their own versions, typically in April and May.

Fiscal year 2027 begins July 1.

A state advisory council’s recommendation to strengthen Massachusetts’ creative economy is shaping both long‑term policy discussions and current legislative efforts, including proposals to expand creative space, workforce support and sustainable funding.

What’s ahead includes a statewide Arts and Culture Summit planned for 2026, continued advocacy at the State House during Creative Sector Advocacy Week, and efforts to advance legislation, such as the Creative Space Act.

Springfield’s Tiffany Allecia served on Gov. Maura Healey’s Cultural Economy Advisory Council, a state‑appointed body created in 2024 to develop policy recommendations for strengthening the creative economy.

The Healey administration released the council’s report and recommendations in April. It was informed by statewide listening sessions with artists, educators, cultural workers and creative entrepreneurs.

“We know the creative economy is a multibillion‑dollar sector — about 133,000 jobs generating roughly $27 billion in revenue — and it’s doing that without extensive organization,” Allecia said.

She said creative workers are often spread across multiple systems, making it difficult to access resources and sustained funding.

“The creative sector often gets dissected into education, mental health or tourism, instead of being recognized as its own economic engine,” she said.

Allecia said the work is about more than economic output — it’s about ensuring artists and cultural workers can live, work and create in their own communities.

Key challenges include limited access to affordable studios and creative spaces, short‑term training programs that pull creatives away from paid work, and grants that fail to provide long‑term support.

“If you want to use a commercial kitchen, do pottery or glassblowing, you often have to leave Springfield — those spaces simply don’t exist here,” she said.

Recommendations and goals

The council recommended defining and mapping the state’s cultural economy, and elevating arts and culture within state government through stronger cross‑sector partnerships.

It also called for capital investments to support downtown revitalization and preserve creative space, expanded business and workforce development for creative workers, and exploration of a permanent, sustainable revenue stream for the arts.

Advocacy organizations, including MASSCreative, are advancing a 2025–2026 legislative agenda that includes the Creative Space Act, which will address these long-standing issues.