Elizabeth Warren August 2013

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., gestures during a meeting Wednesday with editors and reporters from various news organizations based in the state's Gateway Cities. (Staff photo by Robert Rizzuto)

WORCESTER - U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., reiterated her opposition to the cuts the so-called federal sequester has imposed on the American populace at a meeting in Worcester on Wednesday, while also dishing on the state's casino question and even a former opponent's presidential ambitions.

Warren said she doesn't have a strong opinion on casino gambling, but rather appreciates the fact that any plan must pass a vote in its host community.

"I spent a lot of time studying families in financial trouble. There are two pieces that are relevant here. Gambling can be a real problem for individuals and hard for families," Warren said. "But, I've also studied what happens when people don't have jobs. I think Massachusetts is trying to find the balance, and it's a tough one. The state is trying to make sure it's an economic engine and not a financial drain.

"We understood from the beginning the pluses and minuses and collectively did our best to make certain that the gambling that's permitted here creates more positives than negatives. No one can guarantee that," Warren added, "but it's the shape of it."

On the topic of transportation and infrastructure financing, Warren said she feels the federal government's job is to be a good partner and provide funding when possible.

"It's our collective investment in our collective future," Warren said, adding that things are currently up in the air as far as passing a budget in Washington considering the partisan divide about spending.

Warren said sequestration, which took effect mandating layoffs and furloughs when Congress failed to pass a budget in December, is likely to continue until something changes in the nation's capitol.

"The cuts that are now starting to squeeze us in the commonwealth are getting deeper. The federal government won't be able to be a good partner," Warren said. "This is a fight for the future of this country, and we can't continue as a country in the direction we're headed now. The basic notion of a budget- how America spends its money, can't be hammered down for an up-or-down vote is crippling to our economy."

Cuts to programs like Meals On Wheels and Head Start are just "wrong" and don't paint a good picture about what we value as a nation, the senator added.

"Sequestration is the most mindless way to cut spending because it's blunt and across the board. I believe we should be spending more on cyber research and development than we did five years ago. Yet in sequestration, they get cut along with (overall defense spending)," Warren said. "Sequestration hits meals on wheels and head starts because they receive money from the government. But look at the other side. The oil industry continues to suck down billions of dollars in tax subsidies. Because there is no expenditure, it continues to be as big as the edge of the loophole. The tax breaks, as we go through this financial contraction, become even more powerful than they were and they aren't even on the chopping block the same way. I think that's fundamentally wrong and the wrong approach."

In regards to the problems the commonwealth's coastal communities are experiencing in light of the hardships faced by fishermen, Warren said that it is imperative for the federal government to offer some assistance.

"Our fishing industry was declared a national disaster. This was not something the fishermen had done wrong but rather something that happened because of the government regulations. The government was just wrong on this," Warren said. "And that hardship has now hit our fisherman and our coastal communities like a body blow."

Warren's fishery relief legislation passed the Senate in March and was later killed in the House. Despite the setback, Warren said she is working to directly engage the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which regulates the fishing industry, and work to get federal relief funding.

"I will stay after this one. We can't lose," Warren said.

When pushed to react to the news that her Republican opponent from 2012, former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, was in Iowa testing the presidential waters, Warren laughed and said, "That's up to the Republicans."

When asked if she has any presidential aspirations, Warren again laughed and said she is happy to be a senator.

"I have a job, and I love what I'm doing. This is hard, but it feels good to fight for the future. To fight for the kids who don't have a lobbyist in Washington. To fight for the projects that don't have billionaires beating down the doors," Warren said. "I care about this. I feel the urgency of the moment on these decisions we'll be making."

Warren's Senate office has worked with Bruce Mohl, editor of CommonWealth Magazine, and the state's non-profit think tank MassINC to organize the meetings in Worcester as a way to provide face time to regional medial outlets.

Asked to reflect on what she has learned since previously meeting with the group in March of this year, less than three months after taking office, Warren said legislation is only one part of the solution in the Senate.

"There are more tools in the toolbox that I realized. In Washington, you think in terms of big pieces of legislation. But there are more tools in the toolbox than that. The place this is most apparent to me now is banking regulations. There is a lot of law there," Warren said. "And the hearings can be valuable for creating pressure. And if you're willing to do your homework, really dig down into the guts of a bill that's moving forward, there are narrow opportunities to make things better- to move them just a few degrees."

Following the sit-down at the offices of the Telegram & Gazette in Worcester, Warren was to attend a closed-press tour of the AbbVie Bioresearch Center there.

She was then slated to head west to Springfield to visit with Western Massachusetts politicos at Hampden sheriff Michael Ashe's annual clambake.

Check back with MassLive.com for a photo gallery and full report on the clambake