Chair's Press

Washington, DC: Today, as President Bush focuses on health care in his State of the Union address after ignoring it for five years, Senator Kennedy will put forward real health care reform that would give quality affordable health care for all Americans. America’s health care system is the most economically inefficient in the industrial...

Washington, DC: Today, Senators Reid, Kennedy, Durbin, Schumer, and Stabenow sent President Bush the following letter urging him to reassess the health care proposals he plans on making on Tuesday and instead offer the American people a solution that will work. After five years of ignoring our nation's healthcare crisis, President Bush is expected...

Washington, DC: After five years of ignoring our nation's healthcare crisis, President Bush is expected to announce at the State of the Union proposals to encourage health savings accounts (HAS). Last year, the White House launched a failed privatization social security plan and now they want to do the same to healthcare. Senator Kennedy believes...

Washington, DC—Today, Democratic Senators gathered to urge President Bush to take immediate action to fix the failed and flawed Medicare Part D program that has left America’s seniors and disabled without prescription drug coverage and without their medications. America’s low-income elderly and disabled persons who previously had...

Boston, MA—Today, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Mike Leavitt, will meet with Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney on the Bush Administration’s attempt to fix a myriad of problems that Massachusettsresidents have been facing since Medicare’s “Part D” program was implemented in early January. Massachusetts has...

Washington, D.C. - Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Health Education Labor Pensions (HELP) Committee Ranking Member, Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), Chairman of the HELP Committee, Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA), and Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) today announced that they will meet with the families of Sago Mine workers whose lives were lost early this...

Washington, DC: Today the Food and Drug Administration issued new drug labeling rules that state that federally approved medication labels pre-empt state law. This statement gives a boost to pharmaceutical makers by offering them protection from lawsuits from patients who are injured by their products. Under the new regulations, drug companies are...

I commend the Maryland legislature for increasing the state’s minimum wage. Maryland is one of many states and communities across the country to recognize that no one who works for a living should have to live in poverty. These states are acting because year after year, Congress has failed to act, and more and more hard-working Americans are...

I commend Maryland for its leadership in the battle for decent health care for workers and their families. Business and government both have important roles in making sure that decent care is available and affordable for all. Maryland is the first state to hold big business responsible for its fair share, and I’m hopeful that Maryland’s...

Washington, D.C. Today, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, ranking member of the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions sent the below letter to Chairman Mike Enzi requesting a hearing to investigate the tragedy that took place this week in Tallmansville, West Virginia in the Sago Mine where twelve lives were lost. The...

I’m concerned by President Bush’s decision to bypass the Senate and give a recess appointment to Peter Kirsanow as a member of the National Labor Relations Board. I had made it clear that I was willing to work with the White House and Republicans to confirm a comprehensive package to fill all of the three existing vacancies on the...

Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander is floating a new education idea in Washington that is worth serious consideration. His plan would provide $500 Pell Grants to underprivileged kids. The money could be used for anything from in-school extracurricular activity expenses to private school tuition. Inside most of today's public and private classrooms, all...