Chairman's Press
Alexander, Barrasso Comment on White House Announcement that Americans Unable to Replace Canceled Health Plans May Purchase Catastrophic Coverage
WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 - The senior Republican on the Senate health committee and the chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee released the following statements in response to the Obama administration's announcement that it would allow Americans unable to replace their canceled health care plans to instead purchase "catastrophic" coverage: U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), said: "Republicans hav… Continue Reading
12.19.13
Alexander: Obamacare Delivers Unwelcome Christmas Present, Unhappy New Year for Many Tennesseans
*** "Unfortunately, at least 82,000 Tennesseans are losing their health policies this year, and that's an unwelcome Christmas present. Even more unfortunately, an Unhappy New Year is coming in which hundreds of thousands of Tennesseans could lose the employer-sponsored policies they have and like when Obamacare's burdensome mandates on employers kick in." - Lamar Alexander WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 - In a speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate yesterday, U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) highli… Continue Reading
12.18.13
Alexander, Barrasso, Enzi Introduce Bill to Reverse Administration’s “Politically Motivated” Decision to Delay Next Year’s Obamacare Insurance Enrollment Until After 2014 Election
WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 - Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), and Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) today introduced legislation that would reverse the Obama administration's recent decision to delay next year's Obamacare insurance enrollment deadline until after the 2014 election. "The Premium Disclosure Act" would also require the administration to provide premium increase and cost-sharing information to Americans prior to open enrollment so they have time to make decisions about their he… Continue Reading
12.12.13
Alexander: Get Washington Out of the Way, College Accreditation Too Costly
*** "The whole purpose of accreditation to begin with was an effort by autonomous institutions to regulate themselves with the sole purpose of determining quality. … Are the accreditors doing some things they don't need to be doing? And are they spending enough time really focused on quality?" - Lamar Alexander WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 - The senior Republican on the Senate education committee today questioned whether "the federal government has overstepped" in college accreditation, asking w… Continue Reading
11.27.13
Alexander Bill to Reduce Premature Births Signed Into Law
MARYVILLE, Nov. 27- U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the senior Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today praised the signing into law of his bill to reduce infant deaths and disabilities by expanding research, education, and intervention activities related to premature birth. "This is an important step to help reduce the rate of premature births in Tennessee, which is over 12 percent. Our legislation will help doctors and researchers working … Continue Reading
11.27.13
Alexander Compounding Legislation Signed Into Law to Help “Prevent Another Nightmare for Tennesseans Like Last Year’s Terrifying Meningitis Outbreak”
MARYVILLE, Nov. 27- Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the senior Republican on the Senate health committee, today praised the signing into law of The Drug Quality and Security Act, a result of a legislative agreement he reached with House and Senate health committee leaders to make injections of compounded sterile drugs safer. Alexander said: "I have been working with my Senate colleagues for a year to find a solution that would help prevent a repeat of the terrifying meningitis outbreak that … Continue Reading
11.26.13
Alexander Statement on Supreme Court Agreement To Review Obamacare Religious Freedom Case
MARYVILLE, Nov. 26 - U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the senior Republican on the Senate health committee, today released the following statement on the Supreme Court's announcement that it will review a mandate in Obamacare that requires business owners to offer employees reproductive services that violate the institutions' religious beliefs: "Requiring business owners to defy the basic tenets of their faiths shows a disturbing disregard for the Constitution's protections of religious … Continue Reading
11.22.13
Alexander: Administration Moves Next Year’s Obamacare Insurance Enrollment to After 2014 Election to “Help Democratic Politicians”
MARYVILLE - U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the senior Republican on the Senate health committee, released the following statement on a U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services announcement that it will delay the beginning of the next Obamacare enrollment season by one month, till Nov. 15, 2014, after the midterm elections, instead of beginning open enrollment season on the department's previously announced date of Oct. 15: "The only American consumers this change will help are Democrati… Continue Reading
11.21.13
Alexander, GOP Colleagues Call on Administration to Conduct Proper Assessment of Proposed Rule on Silica Exposure
WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 - The senior Republican on the Senate labor committee today led 15 of his Republican colleagues in calling on the Obama administration to conduct a proper assessment of a proposed rule on workplace silica exposure. In a letter to David Michaels, the Assistant Secretary of Labor, the senators requested that the comment period for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) proposed rule on Occupational Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica be extended and t… Continue Reading
11.20.13
GOP LAWMAKERS QUESTION SUCCESS OF OBAMACARE LOAN PROGRAM
WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 - Today, five Republican lawmakers wrote to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and questioned the success of the Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans (CO-OP) loan program - a new ObamaCare program that has issued nearly $2 billion in loans to non-profit health insurance issuers - and whether taxpayer dollars would be repaid on time. In the letter, spearheaded by Finance Committee Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the lawmakers cited two Health and Human… Continue Reading
11.20.13
Alexander, Risch, Rubio, McConnell Introduce Bill to Protect Health Insurance Plans of Millions of Americans
WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 - Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) today introduced a bill that would protect the right of employers to provide insurance to employees through self-insurance plans. Today, 100 million Americans receive health insurance through employers or labor unions that self-insure, meaning they pay employee health costs directly. Many companies that self-insure as a means of providing insu… Continue Reading
11.19.13
GOP Senators Introduce Bill to Prevent Special Union Exemption From ObamaCare Reinsurance Tax
WASHINGTON, D.C.-Following media reports that the Obama administration is once again trying to find a way to exempt unions from ObamaCare's numerous taxes and mandates, U.S. Senators John Thune (R-S.D.), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), and eight of their Republican colleagues today introduced the Union Tax Fairness Act (S. 1724), a bill to prevent union health care plans, known as Taft-Hartley plans, from being exempted from the ObamaCare reinsurance tax. "Unions should not b… Continue Reading
11.18.13
Senate Health Policy Leaders Hail Passage of Bipartisan Legislation to Improve Safety of Compounded Drugs, Track Prescription Drugs; Bill Now Heads to the President’s Desk
WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 -Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA), Ranking Member Lamar Alexander (R-TN), and HELP Committee members Senator Al Franken (D-MN), Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS), Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO), and Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) today hailed Senate passage of legislation to help ensure the safety of compounded drugs and to track all prescription drugs from the time they are manufactured to the moment they are picked up at the dru… Continue Reading
11.18.13
Senate Education Committee Members Announce Task Force to Review Higher Ed Regulations and Reporting Requirements
Task force of higher ed officials and experts will identify ways to reduce and streamline confusing or costly regulations WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 - Senate education committee Ranking Member Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), and members Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) today announced the formation of a task force to examine burdens on institutions of higher education. The Task Force on Government Regulation of Higher Education will conduct a comprehens… Continue Reading
11.15.13
Senate Passes Alexander-Bennet Bill to Reduce Premature Births
WASHINGTON, Nov. 15. - 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 of their bill to reduce infant deaths and disabilities by expanding research, education, and intervention activities related to premature birth. The House passed the bill on Tuesday, and it now heads to the president's desk. "This bill will help the scientists and… Continue Reading
11.14.13
HATCH, ALEXANDER INTRODUCE LEGISLATION TO STRENGTHEN WORKER RIGHTS
WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 - U.S. Senators Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), current member and former Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), current Ranking Member of the HELP Committee, introduced legislation today to significantly reform labor laws for the first time in more than 50 years to improve worker rights. The Employee Rights Act gives workers the freedom to choose to unionize or not and be free from intimidation or retribution for … Continue Reading
11.14.13
Alexander: 5 Million Americans Know “After Too Many Broken Promises From This Administration, the Details Matter”
WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 - U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the senior Republican on the Senate health committee, today released the following statement on the president's speech announcing a proposal to fix the Obamacare provision leading to millions of canceled health care plans: "The 5 million Americans - including 82,000 Tennesseans - losing their health care plans know that, after too many broken promises from this administration, the details matter. The president should send his proposa… Continue Reading
11.14.13
Alexander: Federal Financial Aid Application “A Good Place to Start From Scratch”
*** "I believe that making the financial aid process more user-friendly and more accessible will encourage more students to apply for federal funds to follow them to the college or university of their choice, and more students will go to college." - Lamar Alexander WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 - At a committee hearing on ways to simplify the federal financial aid process, the senior Republican on the Senate education committee today held up the 10-page federal financial aid application, or FAFSA form, … Continue Reading
11.14.13
Senate Passes Bill to Ensure Children Continue to Benefit from Pediatricians Trained at St. Jude and Other Children’s Hospitals
*** "Our children and grandchildren in Tennessee and across the country will continue to benefit from pediatricians trained at children's hospitals like St. Jude." - Lamar Alexander WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 - The senior Republican on the U.S. Senate health committee today praised Senate passage of a bill to continue the successful children's hospital graduate medical education (CHGME) program that supports the training of pediatricians at children's hospitals in Tennessee and across the nation. The… Continue Reading
11.14.13
GOP Senators to Administration: No Union Carveouts from Obamacare
*** "The regulatory process is meant to implement the law as written, not as the Administration wishes it were. If the law will unfairly hurt certain groups, it should be repealed or amended through Congress." - Letter to OMB Director Burwell WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 - Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), John Thune (R-S.D.) and 18 of their Republican colleagues today urged the Obama administration against moving forward with a proposed regulation that would exempt unions from … Continue Reading
