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  • *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)...
  • WASHINGTON—Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, spoke on the Senate floor today to reveal strategies that for-profit education companies use to enroll veterans and active-duty service members in order to profit off their Post 9/11 G.I. Bill education benefits.  An...
  • *As Prepared for Delivery* "I am pleased to convene this hearing today on a very important issue—defending our Nation against public health threats.  "Such threats are diverse in origin and include exposure to chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear agents.  Sometimes these threats occur naturally—the 2009 H1N1 pandemic...
  • WASHINGTON – At a hearing this morning to examine the shrinking American middle class, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) challenged a Boeing Company executive to justify why his own compensation increased by 34% in one year while the average Boeing employee’s compensation has increased by...
  • *As Prepared for Delivery* “As I have traveled through Iowa and across the country, I have heard from more and more hardworking middle class families who feel that the American Dream is slipping away. I recently received a letter from one of my constituents, who wrote: My own disposable income has disappeared, and I am not alone. Where I once...
  • WASHINGTON—Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, spoke on the Senate floor to address recent attacks on the National Labor Relations Board regarding its handling of a complaint against Boeing. Below are his full remarks as prepared for delivery: "Mr. President, recently, the...
  • WASHINGTON – Thursday at 9:15 A.M., Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, will convene the first in a series of events to examine why the middle class is increasingly slipping out of reach for Americans.  As corporate profits reach record levels, and the gulf between...
  • WASHINGTON – This morning, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) gave the keynote address at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Corporate Disability Employment Summit.  A longtime champion for people with disabilities, Harkin sponsored the Americans with Disabilities Act, and as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and...
  • WASHINGTON – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-3) released the following statements responding to the proposed rules for calorie labeling on menus in chain restaurants and vending machines announced by the Food and Drug Administration...