In the News

SPRINGFIELD — The U.S. House and Senate are likely to pass another stimulus payment program and the federal government might extend a $600-a-week enhancement for unemployment insurance recipients, payments meant to soften the blow the coronavirus dealt to the economy, said U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield. Neal spoke Thursday to reporters gathered outside his… Read more »

BOSTON (WWLP) – The House is expected to vote Monday on a bill that would protect and expand the Affordable Care Act. The Trump administration has joined a number of states in a lawsuit to overturn the law-known popularly as Obamacare. Democrats have called the idea “crazy” to eliminate a plan that provides health insurance for millions of Americans in the midst of a… Read more »

HOLYOKE, Mass. — A Massachusetts congressman is working with a coalition that is calling for more changes at the Holyoke Soldiers' Home following a massive COVID-19 outbreak at the veterans facility. Rep. Richard Neal, who represents the state's 1st District, held a news conference on Saturday with members of the Holyoke Soldiers' Home Coalition, which is made up of former… Read more »

HOLYOKE — A coalition of veterans, their families and local advocates are raising concerns with changes announced by Gov. Charlie Baker that are intended to improve oversight and operations at the Soldiers’ Home. Called the “Coalition to Fund the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home Now,” the group demanded Friday that none of the governor’s… Read more »

HOLYOKE, MA (WGGB/WSHM) -- Congressman Richard Neal held a press conference at the Holyoke Soldiers' Home today, and he is now calling for change to happen at the facility where more than 70 veteran residents died from the coronavirus. The Holyoke Soldiers' Home has been under the microscope since the coronavirus spread throughout the facility. The killing of at least 76 veteran… Read more »

HOLYOKE, Mass. (WWLP) – The last three months have been very hard on family members of veterans at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home. The coronavirus killed 78 veterans, including Laurie Beuadette’s father James. “It’s agonizing knowing how my dad passed seeing him fade away on Facetime, it was awful. I took screenshots and I get nightmares looking at them,”… Read more »

A proposal to renovate and expand the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home got a major boost Saturday as First District U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, Chairmen of the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, threw his support behind the plan. “The proposals that we are speaking about today regarding the renovation for the future of the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home are critical given the terrible… Read more »

The beacon of light touted recently by Massachusetts U.S. Rep. Richard Neal for an east-west passenger rail extension in the state is a grant program under which all states could compete for transportation project funding. Neal, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, said at a press conference last week that the new $1.5 trillion infrastructure package House Democrats will pursue… Read more »

Rep. Richard Neal, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, joined House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic House committee chairs to present a bill that would expand coverage under the Affordable Care Act during the coronavirus pandemic. “We’re very much in the midst of this pandemic,” Neal said during a press conference yesterday. “There is no… Read more »

Lawmakers, officials and others weighed in Wednesday on findings of an independent report that said leadership at the Holyoke Soldiers' Home made "substantial errors and failures" in handling a deadly COVID-19 outbreak.  Seventy-six veterans at the state-run facility testing positive for the virus have died in recent months. John Paradis was a deputy superintendent at the… Read more »