Jack Reed

Support local Rhode Island businesses and celebrate #NationalSeafoodMonth at the 35th annual Bowen’s Wharf Seafood Festival! https://t.co/dRwHVKatzG

Trump’s failed policies continue to drive up your costs & fuel inflation, squeezing household budgets & leaving hardworking Americans with the tab. https://t.co/5yfVD03rtq

Joined Higher Ground International's Cultural Gala to celebrate the 2026 Village Leader Award recipients! Thank you for your commitment to restoring dignity, empowering lives, and keeping peace. https://t.co/4LEMz7ARGJ

As major retailers seem to be using AI to make so-called ‘surveillance pricing’ or ‘personal pricing’ more intrusive, unfair & opaque, I'm working to protect your data & prevent companies from unfairly using it to charge you more. https://t.co/NGDCwok33A

https://t.co/3IXmGFawKF

PROVIDENCE, RI – As the former girlfriend of President Trump’s eldest son, Kimberly Guilfoyle had a front row seat to the Trump Administration for several years while she dated Don. Jr. from 2018 to 2024. President Trump then tapped her to be his ambassador to Greece in 2025. Guilfoyle resigned in disgrace this week following a series of allegations of misconduct, including claims that she offered a political donor access to senior administration officials in exchange for money. Today, U.S. Senator Jack Reed issued the following statement: “Corruption within the Trump regime is rotten, rampant, and continues to cost taxpayers. “The Guilfoyle case exposes how Trump officials continue ignoring the basic needs of the American people to focus on their own, personal financial enrichment. “It seems likely that Guilfoyle was emboldened by and followed the same pattern of grift she witnessed others in Trump’s inner circle misusing to cash in. “Despite these accusations coming from a Trump booster, President Trump is giving her the same type of soft landing that Kristi Noem was granted for similar wrongdoing. Instead of condemning misconduct and demanding a full investigation, the president said it was “too bad” and the White House press secretary praised Guilfoyle as “a wonderful asset to the team, and we wish her well.” “Ms. Guilfoyle’s alleged misconduct is egregious and similar to her ex-fiancée, President Trump’s son, who let a Russian oligarch fund his lavish tropical wedding celebration. “Democrats know there is an incredible need to pass bipartisan anti-corruption reform to prevent President Trump’s inner circle from enriching themselves by subverting the federal government, selling out taxpayers, and obstructing the fair and impartial administration of justice. We’ll see if Republicans share that view.”

Thanks to all who came out to @NAMInRI’s 5K walk to help raise awareness about mental health, reduce stigma, & support those experiencing mental health issues. #namiwalks https://t.co/xCUdy5xiIi

https://t.co/p1zXppiO6b

NEW: $38.7M for @RI_InfraBank will help accelerate lead service line replacements to ensure families across RI have access to clean & safe drinking water. Proud to have supported the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act which made extra funding possible. https://t.co/EULYQ07qFU

Years of hard work to bring NOAA’s Marine Operations Center – Atlantic to Rhode Island is paying off. Great to tour progress at this state-of-the-art facility & chat about the Ocean State’s growing leadership in the Blue Economy. https://t.co/YcaZ5n2rtm

PROVIDENCE, RI -- As major retailers begin using artificial intelligence (AI) to make so-called ‘surveillance pricing’ or ‘personal pricing’ more intrusive, unfair, and opaque, U.S. Senator Jack Reed is seeking to prevent companies from unfairly charging consumers more based on personal data algorithms. Personalized or individualized price discrimination broadly refers to the practice of retailers “using troves of personal data to set individualized prices. As a result, people are paying different amounts for the same exact product, just because businesses are better equipped to infer who will pay more.” During a visit to the Bom Café in Providence today, Senator Reed joined café owner Rosie Santana and Nina Harrison, Policy Director of the Economic Progress Institute (EPI), for a conversation about the importance of marketplace fairness and preventing unfair AI-enabled cost manipulation. “Consumers deserve transparent pricing and equal treatment, not hidden technology that misuses their personal data to set different prices for the same item and charge some shoppers more than others. AI is a powerful tool, but it presents real and pressing challenges. This is one of them and Congress needs to take thoughtful, concrete steps to ban exploitative AI-enabled price discrimination and ensure fairness in the marketplace. Whether it’s food, coffee, or basic staples, no family should pay hidden premiums and higher prices for the same product based on their personal online data that has been collected without their knowledge or consent,” said Senator Reed. The Economic Progress Institute recently released its biennial Rhode Island Standard of Need report offering a snapshot of what it costs for individuals and families to afford a no-frills life in Rhode Island. The 2026 report calculates monthly and annual budgets for housing, food, transportation, health care, child care, and other essentials—and shows that nearly 40 percent of Rhode Island households may not have enough income to meet their basic needs. “Rhode Islanders literally cannot afford to have surveillance pricing in this state. They cannot afford for companies to take their personal information and use that personal information against them to raise prices and make things even less affordable. Working families can’t afford it. We can't allow it. And that’s why I’m so grateful to Senator Reed for doing this work and raising this issue to try to get ahead of it and prevent surveillance pricing before it harms Rhode Islanders,” said EPI’s Policy Director Nina Harrison. An investigation by Consumer Reports and Groundwork Collaborative found that popular grocery apps like Instacart used AI-enabled pricing experiments to inflate the grocery bills of some users. AI-powered algorithms led to some shoppers getting charged $3.99 for a box of Wheat Thins, while another shopper from the same store at the same time was charged $4.89. Based on how much Instacart estimates a typical household of four spends on groceries, the average price variations observed could translate into a cost swing of $1,200 per year on food alone. Senator Reed says there should be federal guardrails and clear, durable consumer protection laws in place that keep pace with the needs of Americans and rapidly-evolving technology. Businesses have long used algorithmic pricing to determine how much consumers are willing to pay for products and services. But those systems set general prices for the masses based on supply, demand, competitor prices, and other broad data points. These new exploitative AI-enabled algorithms use personal data as a tool for price discrimination to try to ensure every consumer pays the maximum. As AI becomes more common-place, more companies are starting to experiment with ‘personalized’ or ‘surveillance’ pricing, including the use of personal information such as browsing history, demographics, or behavioral patterns, and companies typically collect and analyze the data using AI and algorithms to charge different prices for different customers, based on a range of factors, such as their income, zip code/geolocation, mouse movements, or other personal data. Reed is urging Congress to take bipartisan action to crack down on algorithmic price discrimination and prevent companies from using non-public data and artificial intelligence to unfairly squeeze every last penny out of consumers. “If federal lawmakers fail to act, online shoppers will be at increased risk of price gouging, cost manipulation, and data privacy threats as more businesses use AI to target the finances, privacy, and equality of consumers,” said Senator Reed. “To ensure a healthy and prosperous Rhode Island, we must ensure working families can afford basic necessities. I will work across the aisle to ban AI-enabled price discrimination while ensuring companies can continue offering targeted discounts, promotions, rewards, loyalty and membership benefits, or contextual pricing.” Many consumers are already being charged more money through ‘dynamic pricing’ for things like rideshares, airline tickets, and hotels whose prices can go up when demand is high and change based on timing and location. But even dynamic pricing is a concept that raises prices for all consumers, not just certain individuals.

WASHINGTON, DC – In response to U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announcing plans to live-stream the military execution of convicted Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan, a former U.S. Army psychiatrist who opened fire on dozens of people at the Soldier Readiness Processing Center in Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009, Senate Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Jack Reed (D-RI) issued the following statement: “Live-streaming an execution is a barbaric spectacle. This is yet another stunt by Secretary Hegseth to distract from his tenure’s repeated failings which have only weakened our national security and standing in the world. “The Trump Administration should reconsider this abhorrent move, which only gives the shooter what he wants: more attention and more control. Instead of forcing the shooter to face justice, the Trump Administration is literally handing him more power and offering him a global platform to amplify his hateful, anti-American message. This is a gift to anti-American terrorist recruiters. It is absolutely shameful and damaging to America’s interests and core values.” Army Regulation 190-55 governs who may witness military executions and does not provide for unrestricted public attendance, but it may be waived by the Commander-in-Chief.

NEW: $38.7M for @RI_InfraBank will help accelerate lead service line replacements to ensure families across RI have access to clean & safe drinking water. Proud to have supported the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act which made extra funding possible. https://t.co/yl7qplThBV

Honored to receive an “A” on @DTVPAC 2026 legislative scorecard! I will continue fighting corruption, protecting voting rights, defending democracy, and serving as a voice for all RIers! https://t.co/APohZmydKP

https://t.co/3nzdRoJeIg

WASHINGTON, DC -- With colder weather approaching, millions of Americans and thousands of Rhode Islanders are facing dramatic price spikes as they seek to heat their homes this winter. The price of home heating oil is nearly identical to diesel prices and is approaching all-time highs. According to the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources, about a third of Rhode Island households use home heating oil, which gets delivered to their homes by trucks. And during cold winter months, a typical home relying on heating oil alone can use 100 gallons in just a few weeks. In an effort to help lower home heating costs, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) joined over two dozen Democratic lawmakers from northeastern states in sending a letter to U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Chris Wright urging the Trump Administration to take swift action to cut soaring heating oil costs that have skyrocketed due to President Trump’s reckless war with Iran. In their joint letter, Reed along with U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Ed Markey (D-MA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Peter Welch (D-VT), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and several members of the U.S. House of Representatives urged the U.S. Department of Energy to support an immediate end to the Iran war and prioritize lowering energy costs for the winter, warning that rising prices will force families to choose between heating their homes and paying for basic necessities. “Heating oil costs for the upcoming winter are projected to reach record levels, and families throughout the northeastern United States will likely bear the brunt of these costs,” wrote the lawmakers. President Trump’s war of choice with Iran has played a large part in driving up the price of heating oil. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has pushed crude oil from $72 to over $100 a barrel, causing a massive increase in heating oil costs in the United States. American families that rely on heating oil are projected to pay about $600 more to keep their homes warm this winter than last year. In addition to jacking up the cost of heating oil, the Trump administration has made or attempted to make heating costs for the upcoming winter even higher by: • Attempting to eliminate the $4 billion Low-Income Heating Assistance Program (LIHEAP) that supports families with high energy bills. • Effectively increasing taxes on solutions to the heating cost crisis by eliminating four tax credits and deductions that supported residential and commercial building energy efficiency upgrades. • Cutting more than $20 billion in clean energy and grid modernization funding for hundreds of energy projects across the country that would have decreased costs for families. “As Americans face immense difficulty with keeping the heat on, the administration appears to be cutting off all avenues for meaningful relief, handing out tax cuts to billionaires, spending tens of billions of dollars on an unnecessary foreign war, and jacking up costs for struggling families,” the lawmakers continued. “To address these costs for American families, we urge you to reverse course on the senseless war in Iran, undo the administration’s cuts to clean energy and grid modernization programs, work with Congress to repeal the tax increases imposed on energy efficiency upgrades and other ways to lower heating costs, and end the administration’s attacks on LIHEAP,” the lawmakers concluded. In addition to the U.S. Senators, the letter was also signed by U.S. Representatives Stephen Lynch (D-MA), Representative Lori Trahan (D-MA), Gabe Amo (D-RI), Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), Becca Balint (D-VT), Joe Courtney (D-CT), Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Maggie Goodlander (D-NH), Bill Keating (D-MA), Seth Magaziner (D-RI), John Mannion (D-NY), Gregory Meeks (D-NY), Grace Meng (D-NY), Seth Moulton (D-MA), Richard Neal (D-MA), Chris Pappas (D-NH), Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Paul Tonko (D-NY), and Nydia Velázquez (D-NY). Senator Reed is the leading Congressional champion for the LIHEAP program. Last month, Reed led a bipartisan letter urging the Trump Administration to swiftly release LIHEAP funding to the states at the highest level possible. Full text of the letter follows: Secretary Wright: We write to ask that you take immediate action to address the impact on our constituents of the rapidly rising cost of heating oil fueled by the President’s war in Iran and the administration’s failed policies. Today, the price of heating oil is around 60 percent higher than before the Iran war. The costs will be borne by American households struggling to heat their homes this winter while making ends meet. Instead of continuing down this path, we urge you to support an immediate end to the war and to stop blocking or restricting Department of Energy (DOE) programs that would help American families lower their energy bills. Heating oil costs for the upcoming winter are projected to reach record levels, and families throughout the northeastern United States will likely bear the brunt of these costs. American families that rely on heating oil are projected to pay about $600 more to keep their homes warm this winter than last year. The price of heating oil has steadily risen to more than $4 a gallon, nearing record highs. Families from our states will shoulder the brunt of these prices: around one-third of New England homes rely on heating oil to heat their homes, and in some states, around half do. Families that warm their homes with heating oil are estimated to see their energy bills spike from $1,740 to around $2,300, placing immense strain on families and forcing them to make impossible decisions about whether to keep the heat on, the fridge stocked, or critical medical necessities in supply. The President’s war in Iran has played a large part in driving up the price of heating oil. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has disrupted global trade in crude oil and impacted global supplies of heating oil and diesel, both refined products distilled from crude oil. Before the Iran war, crude was trading at $72 a barrel; now, the price for crude oil has jumped to more than $100 a barrel. Government reports indicate that national supplies of distillate fuel oil, which includes heating oil, are at their lowest levels on record. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) has assessed that constrained global supplies are “contributing to low U.S. diesel inventories and high diesel prices.” Meanwhile, U.S. refiners and fossil fuel companies have seen banner profits while shipping heating oil abroad. As EIA notes, constraints in the global supply for heating oil have “raised domestic prices and incentivized U.S. exporters to increase distillate exports.” U.S. weekly exports of distillate products, including heating oil, hit a record high in August. President Trump promised that high energy prices would be a “small price to pay” for a “little while” at the start of the war. In March 2026, you said that “prices have likely peaked and they’ll start going down,” stating that “[t]his is a weeks…not a months thing.” Yet, months later, energy prices have continued to surge. Adding insult to injury, the Trump administration has made heating for the upcoming winter season even more expensive in other ways. The administration has attempted to eliminate the $4 billion Low-Income Heating Assistance Program (LIHEAP) that supports families with high energy bills. The administration has effectively increased taxes on solutions to the heating cost crisis, by eliminating four tax credits and deductions that supported residential and commercial building energy efficiency upgrades. The administration has cut more than $20 billion in clean energy and grid modernization funding for hundreds of energy projects across the country that would have decreased costs for families. As Americans face immense difficulty with keeping the heat on, the administration appears to be cutting off all avenues for meaningful relief, handing out tax cuts to billionaires, spending tens of billions of dollars on an unnecessary foreign war, and jacking up costs for struggling families. To address these costs for American families, we urge you to reverse course on the senseless war in Iran, undo the administration’s cuts to clean energy and grid modernization programs, work with Congress to repeal the tax increases imposed on energy efficiency upgrades and other ways to lower heating costs, and end the administration’s attacks on LIHEAP. Thank you for your attention to this important matter. Sincerely,

#NationalSeafoodMonth is a great time to support our local fisheries! Learn more here: https://t.co/40doBya2Kq https://t.co/EAw701Bigc

¡Qué gran momento celebrar el 20.° aniversario de Fuerza Laboral y los distinguidos premiados del Premio Legado! Proud to have secured $650K to support their mission of building sustainable career pathways for hardworking Rhode Islanders. https://t.co/YTdpsyVY3K

During #DomesticViolenceAwarenessMonth, we reaffirm our commitment to ending domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking, while ensuring survivors have access to the care, support, and resources they need. https://t.co/B5p8vIwcQT

Great time cheering on families, advocates, & caregivers at @BreakthroughT1D’s annual walk to raise awareness and support research to improve the lives of people with Type 1 Diabetes! https://t.co/uwfXzcpx6Y

Joined @dayoneri Pioneers of Hope Celebration to congratulate the 2026 ‘Pioneers of Hope’ awardees. https://t.co/seaUxcSCSV

Joined @NFB_voice’s 56th Annual Convention to discuss ensuring that people with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities as everyone. https://t.co/xYC2gKCpML

After securing $3.1M to support @HopeandMain, I joined chef-entrepreneurs to cut the ribbon of their new West End Kitchen, which serves up test kitchen space & #smallbiz training. https://t.co/OOwExsuzHc

Celebrating #HispanicHeritageMonth with @LGSabinaMatos, @RITreasury & more. So grateful for the countless contributions & positive impacts of RI's vibrant Latino communities. https://t.co/3n8ey8Gf7R

Almost all of us know someone who had cancer or sadly lost their battle to this devastating disease. I joined @ACSCANRI #RIResearchBreakfast this morning to discuss my efforts to boost & protect federal research funding to advance the fight for a cure. https://t.co/YhKqhr4jil