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  • WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA), Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) today sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) urging an immediate appeal of a U.S. District Court decision that...
  • *As Prepared for Delivery* “Today’s roundtable will focus on moving beyond NCLB—the current iteration of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)—and towards reauthorization of the law for the needs of the 21st Century. Over the last two years the Committee has held 10 hearings on the full range of issues covered...
  • WASHINGTON – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, released the following statement after a federal district judge blocked the Food and Drug Administration’s effort to make Americans aware of the health risks of cigarettes through graphic warnings that, when finalized, will...
  • WASHINGTON – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, announced that the bipartisan Elementary and Secondary Education Reauthorization Act passed out of committee by a bipartisan vote of 15 to 7.  The legislation, which overhauls the No Child Left Behind Act, will now be sent to...
  • WASHINGTON – The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee mark up of legislation to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) will continue TOMORROW at 8 A.M.  The comprehensive bill reflects 10 months of bipartisan negotiations between Chairman Harkin and Ranking Member Mike Enzi (R-WY), and addresses...
  • WASHINGTON – Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Mike Enzi (R-WY), the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today announced an agreement to move forward with bipartisan legislation to overhaul the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). “This opportunity is the result of more than two...
  • WASHINGTON – Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, praised the Department of Health and Human Services’ announcement of $100 million in Community Transformation Grants, authorized by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Harkin, the author of the ACA’s prevention and...
  • WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today marked the one-year anniversary of crucial health care protections that have already benefitted millions of Americans.  Established under the Affordable Care Act and known as the Patient’s Bill of Rights, these protections have banned many insurance company abuses, and put...
  • WASHINGTON – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, issued the following statement after President Barack Obama announced that he would allow states to apply for waivers from certain parts of No Child Left Behind in exchange for state-led efforts to close achievement gaps, promote...
  • WASHINGTON—Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, introduced the Medical-Legal Partnerships for Health Act, which would help connect legal aid attorneys with patients at hospitals and health clinics. For many American families struggling to make ends meet, maintaining a...
  • WASHINGTON – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP), and Representative George Miller (CA-7), Ranking Member of the House Education and Workforce Committee, today issued the following statement after the Department of Labor announced that it will be re-proposing its rule...
  • *As Prepared for Delivery* “As part of our ongoing process to reauthorize the FDA user fee legislation this congress, we have convened this hearing to examine the safety and integrity of our pharmaceutical supply chain.  Few issues are more important to the health and safety of Americans than the integrity of our drug supply.  The...
  • 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...