Chair's Press

WASHINGTON – Following today’s release of the Fiscal Year 2009 national student loan default data showing that for-profit colleges continue to have the highest default rate in higher education, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) reiterated his call for reform and stronger oversight of the for-profit education...

WASHINGTON—Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) chaired an executive session in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to vote on the Children's Hospital GME Support Reauthorization Act (CHGME), which provides critical resources to children’s hospitals for pediatric residency programs, and the Combating Autism...

WASHINGTON – Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) released the following statement on today’s ruling by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act:  “The 11th Circuit is wrong in its assessment of the individual mandate.  At...

“In the decade before the Affordable Care Act was passed, relentlessly increasing health insurance premiums imposed a heavy tax on families and small businesses.  Over those ten years, premiums for family, employer-sponsored coverage more than doubled.  Small businesses simply couldn’t afford it anymore and began dropping...

WASHINGTON—Today, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, issued the following statement on Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’s acceptance of the Institute of Medicine’s guidelines for women’s preventive health services: “I...

WASHINGTON – In advance of tomorrow’s Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee first hearing on FDA User Fee legislation, the Committee’s Chairman and Ranking Member Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Mike Enzi (R-WY) released the following joint statement expressing their commitment to a bipartisan...

WASHINGTON – With next week’s 21st Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) approaching, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) introduced the IDEA Full Funding Act, which would fulfill the federal government’s 36-year-old commitment to cover 40% of the excess cost of educating students with disabilities. “This bill...

In January, I wrote Mayor Bloomberg regarding New York City's Taxi of Tomorrow project, encouraging him to select a design for the fleet that would be accessible for the thousands of New York residents and visitors who use wheelchairs. New Yorkers and tourists - whether they're disabled veterans or people like Karl Nguyen, the Californian suffering...

*As Prepared for Delivery* The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions will come to order.  The title of this hearing is “Lessons from the Field:  Learning from What Works for Employment for Persons with Disabilities.”  The purpose of today’s bipartisan hearing is to learn from a diverse group of...

*As Prepared for Delivery* I want to welcome everyone to the latest in our series of hearings focusing on retirement security.  Today, we are going to take a close look at the important role pensions can play in building a strong, vibrant middle class, both in terms of the economic security they provide to retired Americans and because of the...

WASHINGTON – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), the Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released the following statement after the Department of Health and Human Services announced proposed rules to help states establish state-based competitive marketplaces where Americans and small businesses will be able...

HELP Committee Data Shows One Quarter of Post 9/11 G.I. Bill Education Benefits Went to 15 For-Profit Higher Education Companies Last Year WASHINGTON – Following last night’s PBS Frontline segment documenting the mistreatment of America’s veterans by some for-profit colleges, a group of Senators condemned the practices brought to...

WASHINGTON—Today, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee heard testimony from Americans who are struggling to make ends meet and those who are studying the decline of the middle class.  After delivering a speech on the Senate floor yesterday decrying Washington’s focus on cutting the deficit at the expense of...

WASHINGTON—Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, spoke on the Senate floor in support of modernized elections rules proposed yesterday by the National Labor Relations Board. Below are his full remarks as prepared for delivery: “In 1912, women went on strike at a textile...

WASHINGTON—Today , Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, released the following statement in response to the National Labor Relations Board's proposal of modernized election rules, which will clear the way for workers to vote on unionization by streamlining regulatory processes: "To...

WASHINGTON – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, released the following statement after the Supreme Court ruled that a sex discrimination class-action suit against Wal-Mart cannot move forward:  “At a time when women make only 77 cents for every dollar a man makes, I am...

WASHINGTON – Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) joined members of the National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health Council, including Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Domestic Policy Council Director Melody Barnes, and Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, among others, to unveil the National...

*As Prepared for Delivery* “Four years ago, America was caught off guard by the sub-prime mortgage crisis.  Fast talking sales people deceived consumers into taking out loans that they knew would never be paid back, and financial speculators hid the risk and passed the debt off to investors. What has become clear over the past year,...

WASHINGTON – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and the Appropriations Subcommittee that funds education, released the following statement on the final Gainful Employment rule: “The Department of Education’s Gainful Employment rule is a modest and important first step...

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) reintroduced the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Act, legislation that builds on the work of Mrs. Shriver by reauthorizing the Special Olympics Sport and Empowerment Act, whose programs support people with disabilities through health, education, and initiatives around the world. Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO)...