"I hope that the national decimation of our public health strategies and policies and protocols by Trump and RFK Jr. are the motivation we need to put this infrastructure into place,” said Rausch.

Rausch, a Needham Democrat, said the trip itself was “extremely emotional and extremely powerful.” But she said she also was disappointed lawmakers did not have the opportunity to question Netanyahu or meet with members of the opposition party in the Knesset, Israel’s legislative body.

“The decisions of the government of Israel have a direct impact on the safety and security of Jews around the globe,” said Becca Rausch, a Democratic state senator in Massachusetts, who called the trip quite personal.

Citing shifting gender and family dynamics, Rausch argued that diaper stations are needed beyond women’s restrooms. “Current practice is forcing parents and caretakers who don’t use the women’s restroom to change their baby’s diapers on a floor, sometimes in the dirty men’s bathroom on the floor, or wait to change a soiled diaper.”

“We in Massachusetts have shown a number of times that we can do at the state level what the federal government has failed to do,” Rausch said. “And we should do it in regards to freedom of the press.”

From her mouth to legislative leaders’ ears.

The overwhelming reception for the bill was positive, said Senator Rebecca Rausch of Needham, the committee’s co-chair. “The base has a lot of really strong pieces in it,” she said. “I’m looking forward to digging in further and to building upon it."

While working on this bill, Rausch and her colleagues collected the plastic trash that accumulated in their office, demonstrating the mountains of waste generated on a daily basis. There was so much plastic, when her children came into the State House during a day off from school, they “built a kindergarten-sized human completely out of plastic trash,” she recalls. “We called him Plastic Pete.” Rausch brought Plastic Pete out to the floor of the Senate and to a press conference in advance of a debate on the bill, as a “warning” to her fellow policymakers about its necessity. “I think people don’t want to become Plastic Pete,” Rausch says.

“Budget week is always a really intense, but also fun time in the Senate because we’re all together, and we’re all striving to achieve a common goal," said Rausch. She condemned the Trump administration’s “big beautiful bill,” which she has dubbed the “barftastic blunder bill,” and described as “a horrible stain on the history of this country."

State Sen. Becca Rausch said, “When Kate is involved, I never worry because it’s always done right. Every single time. We will miss your caring heart, your sense of humor, and your unwavering commitment to excellence.”

“We are incredibly grateful to Congressman Auchincloss, Senator Rausch, and all those who have helped preserve this cornerstone of Medfield’s heritage,” said Dick Judge, chair of the Kingsbury Pond Grist Mill Committee. “Preserving the mill has been a true community effort over many, many years.”