Chair's Press

WASHINGTON, February 3, 2017 – Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said the Senate was poised to confirm Betsy DeVos on Tuesday, “swapping a national school board for a local school board,” after the Senate today voted to end debate on her nomination and move to a vote. “She believes what 85 of us...

WASHINGTON, D.C., February 1, 2017 – Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today said the U.S. Senate had taken the next step to confirming Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary, after the Senate voted to begin debate on her nomination. “Betsy DeVos will be an excellent Education Secretary. Mrs. DeVos believes in our children, their...

WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb. 1, 2017 – Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today said that the 18 million Americans in the individual insurance market are facing an “Obamacare emergency” and “without quick action, many of these 18 million Americans may have zero choices for insurance next...

WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan. 31 – Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) announced the chairs and assignments for the committee’s three subcommittees for the 115th Congress, after committee members approved the subcommittees and rules in an executive session this...

WASHINGTON, January 31 — The Senate’s education committee today favorably reported out the nomination of Betsy DeVos to become the next United States Secretary of Education. DeVos’s nomination is now ready for consideration by the full Senate. “Betsy DeVos is on our children’s side. On charter schools and school...

The United States Senate should follow the lead of its Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee in voting to confirm President Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos. I have worked with Mrs. DeVos on education issues in Tennessee for several years. I know her to have both a heart for our school children and the...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – House and Senate leaders with jurisdiction over workforce protections and federal contracting today introduced a joint resolution of disapproval that would block implementation of the Obama administration’s flawed, redundant, and burdensome “blacklisting” rule through the Congressional Review Act. The...

As a pastor and community servant, I try to be not only an ear but also a voice for families across my city. When it comes to the education of our children across Memphis, I try to represent children and parents who don’t have an association or lobbying group pushing their agenda in legislative chambers. However, there has been a person and...

Betsy DeVos, President Donald Trump’s pick for Education secretary, is fighting back against allegations that she is not familiar with a federal law requiring public schools to provide services to help educate children with disabilities. In a Jan. 24 letter to Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., DeVos said she was “committed to...

Betsy DeVos, the nominee for secretary of education, said in a letter to a senator after her confirmation hearing that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is a "wonderful example of what happens when parents are regarded as full partners in their child's educational decision-making" and that she is "committed to enforcing all...

WASHINGTON, January 24 – Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement commemorating National School Choice Week 2017: “The real answer to inequality in America is giving more children more opportunities to attend a better school. Since the GI Bill for Kids in 1992,...

WASHINGTON, January 18 — Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today issued the following statement after the Department of Education withdrew its proposed regulation on Supplement-Not-Supplant: “I am glad the Education Department has listened to Congress and has chosen not to move forward with its proposed...

WASHINGTON, January 18 — At today’s Senate health committee hearing on the nomination of Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said that Obamacare should be repealed and replaced simultaneously and concurrently as President-elect Trump and Speaker Paul Ryan have...

WASHINGTON, January 17 — At today’s Senate education committee hearing on the nomination of Betsy DeVos to lead the U.S. Department of Education, Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said “Betsy DeVos is on our children’s side.  On charter schools and school choice, she is in the mainstream of those trying to help...

WASHINGTON, January 17 — Senate labor committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today announced the committee will plan to hold its confirmation hearing for Andy Puzder – President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to become the next Secretary of Labor – on February 2nd. Chairman Alexander said: "Mr. Puzder is a respected...

WASHINGTON, January 12 — United States Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement after meeting this morning with Seema Verma — President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to become the next Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS): “I had an excellent meeting this...

WASHINGTON, January 12, 2017 — Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) tonight took the first step toward building better health care systems that give Americans access to truly affordable health care by voting for the Senate budget resolution that provides the tools necessary to begin repealing Obamacare. He rejected...

WASHINGTON, January 10 — Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today met with Betsy DeVos – President-elect Trump’s nominee to become Secretary of Education. Senator Alexander said: "Betsy DeVos and I had a great meeting today, and she is going to make an excellent Secretary of Education. I'm...

WASHINGTON, January 10, 2017 – Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today proposed a three-step plan for repealing and replacing Obamacare simultaneously and concurrently, as President-elect Trump and Speaker Paul Ryan have suggested. “To me, ‘simultaneously’ and ‘concurrently’ mean...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 – Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) today announced the committee will move its confirmation hearing for Betsy DeVos to January 17. Alexander and Murray said: “At the request of the Senate leadership to accommodate the Senate schedule, we have...