Chair's Press

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26. – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the senior Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and committee member Senator Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) today praised the Senate passage and urged swift House action on their bill to reduce infant deaths and disabilities by expanding research,...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 – The senior Republican on the Senate health committee today released the following statement on the administration announcement that online sign-up for Obamacare’s small business health insurance exchanges will be delayed until November: Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said: “Another day, another Obamacare...

WASHINGTON, D.C., Sept. 26--A bipartisan group of Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee senators—Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA), Ranking Member Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Senator Al Franken (D-MN), Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS), Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO), and Senator Richard Burr (R-NC)—announced that they have...

WASHINGTON, D.C. —Leaders from the Senate and House committees overseeing health policy today announced that they have reached an agreement on legislation to help ensure the safety of compounded drugs and our nation’s pharmaceutical supply chain. This legislation, the Drug Quality and Security Act, reflects a bipartisan, bicameral...

*** “Who do you suspect is going to get blamed for this? We will have succeeded in shifting the blame for passing Obamacare from the Democrats, who did it unanimously, to the Republicans for shutting down the government.” – Lamar Alexander  WASHINGTON, Sept. 25 – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today said...

*** "Why should a 27-year-old male in Memphis be forced to pay nearly three times what he pays today for health insurance? Why should a young woman in Nashville have to pay twice as much?”  – Lamar Alexander WASHINGTON, Sept. 25—The senior Republican on the U.S. Senate health committee said that an Obama...

*** "One out of 20 patients, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), goes to the hospital [and] gets an infection, …Prevention and elimination of healthcare-associated infections is crucially important.” – Lamar Alexander WASHINGTON, Sept. 24—At a Senate hearing today on healthcare-associated...

Washington, D.C. – The President’s health care law imposes a number of new taxes on American businesses and individuals that will drain money from Americans’ pocketbooks. Among the many taxes and fees imposed by Obamacare is an annual fee levied on health insurance providers which is estimated to take more than $100 billion out of...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senator John Thune (R-S.D.), Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, and Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Ranking Member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, were joined today by several of their colleagues in sending a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, calling...

*** "Given the Department of Justice’s enormous discretion in choosing which enforcement actions to pursue, and its repeated claims that its budget is stretched too thin, it is hard to see how this case is a good use of federal resources." – Letter to Attorney General Holder WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 —The senior Republican on the U.S....

*** "Let’s write a new law…not as an ideological exercise but simply in the way that someone would weed a garden before planting a new crop.” – Lamar Alexander WASHINGTON, Sept. 19—The senior Republican on the U.S. Senate education committee said today that the committee should “start from scratch” on a...

"The stakes are high – just as the decline in the auto industry sent jobs and profits overseas, a similar failure in U.S. higher education would damage our economy and send the best minds overseas.  In a highly competitive world, there is no guarantee that we will continue to produce 25% of the world’s wealth.” – Lamar...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 – A group of 21 Republican senators today urged the administration to prohibit union health plans from receiving a carve-out in Obamacare, specifically premium assistance tax credits that are intended for the uninsured to purchase health insurance – a benefit no non-union member in America would receive. In a letter...

*** "I am going to be looking for long-term solutions on a restructuring of the National Labor Relations Board that will ensure that it is more likely to be an umpire and an adjudicator than an advocate, whether the president is a Democrat or a Republican.”– Lamar Alexander WASHINGTON, Sept. 18—The senior Republican on the U.S....

*** "This legislation puts vouchers in the hands of many working mothers so they can make their own decisions about what child care suits their needs the best.” – Lamar Alexander WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 - The senior Republican on the U.S. Senate labor committee released the following statement on passage of the Child Care and...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Richard Burr (R-NC), Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) applauded the passage of the bipartisan Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2013 by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee. This bill reauthorizes and...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16—The senior Republican on the U.S. Senate labor committee released the following statement on the President’s speech today on the economy:   Sen. Lamar Alexander (R. Tenn) said: “The president’s policies are hurting American workers. Today, 7.3 percent of Americans qualify as unemployed, while...

KNOXVILLE, Sept. 13—The senior Republican on the U.S. Senate health committee today said a new requirement that certain painkillers come with a warning to mothers and prescribers that chronic use during pregnancy can cause babies to suffer from life-threatening withdrawal “should help Tennessee combat the epidemic of babies addicted to...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 12—The senior Republican on the U.S. Senate health committee this week joined in introducing a bill and an amendment to delay the health care law’s employer and individual mandates until 2015. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said: “Full repeal of this law is my goal—no family in Tennessee should ever be...

NASHVILLE, Sept. 9—The senior Republican on the U.S. Senate health committee today released the following statement on the news that the health care law is forcing an end to Cover Tennessee, a state program created in 2006 to help provide affordable coverage to Tennesseans who are uninsured or have pre-existing conditions: Sen. Lamar...