Chair's Press

Conservative reformers have had major successes, notably on welfare in 1996. But when a reform doesn’t turn out as hoped, they need to adapt. A case in point is No Child Left Behind, which the GOP Congress is now preparing to leave behind. This week the House plans to debate the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which lapsed in...

WASHINGTON, November 30 – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate education committee, released the following statement on the National Governors Association’s full endorsement of the Every Student Succeeds Act: “The National Governors Association's full endorsement of our bipartisan legislation to fix...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today bipartisan leaders on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions released the final legislative text for improving K-12 education and replacing No Child Left Behind. The final bill is being released after legislative proposals passed separately...

Long-awaited changes to the nation's K-12 policy got one huge step closer to completion Thursday. Legislation that would alter No Child Left Behind passed through a conference committee of House and Senate members, with only one of the 40 committee members opposed: Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. Having already been through a months-long legislative process,...

WASHINGTON — States would set and enforce their own K-12 academic standards under a massive, bipartisan rewrite of education policy that cleared a crucial vote Thursday. The legislation would produce the most significant changes to elementary and secondary education since President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind...

WASHINGTON, D.C. | November 19, 2015 - Today, the House-Senate conference committee reached agreement on a proposal to improve K-12 education and replace No Child Left Behind. The agreement represents a compromise between the House-passed Student Success Act (H.R. 5) and the Senate-passed Every Child Achieves Act of...

WASHINGTON, November 18 – The chairman of the Senate health committee today urged full Senate passage of two pieces of bipartisan public health legislation, after they passed out of committee, which he said are proof of the committee’s “record of results-oriented bipartisanship.” So far this Congress, the Senate...

“There are a lot of people counting on us to get a result: 50 million children and 3.4 million teachers in 100,000 public schools.” WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov. 18 – At the meeting today of the joint House and Senate conference committee to fix No Child Left Behind, the chairman of the Senate education committee said that...

WASHINGTON, D.C, November 18 – The chairman and ranking member of the Senate education committee today praised the Senate for voting to appoint all 22 members of the Senate HELP committee as conferees to work with members appointed by the House in a conference to fix No Child Left Behind. Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and...

“I want to hear what you think the FDA can do to build its capacity and fix the impact of its regulations so that the FDA is a partner in innovation, rather than a barrier.” WASHINGTON, D.C., November 17 – At today’s hearing to consider the nomination of Dr. Robert Califf to head the Food and Drug Administration (FDA),...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN) and Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA), along with Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA), issued the following joint statement on efforts...

CHATTANOOGA, Nov. 9 – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today told students and administrators gathered at Chattanooga State Community College that the “number one obstacle” to students applying for Tennessee Promise is the “dreaded FAFSA,” which the senator pledged to simplify. Alexander said...

WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov. 6 – Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today made the following statement on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Higher Education Act this Sunday, Nov. 8:   “Fifty years ago, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the original Higher Education Act, which gave...

Two Senate committees are deepening their investigations into a controversial ObamaCare program that has given $2.3 billion to startup insurers, half of which have since failed. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) wrote to the head of the agency overseeing ObamaCare on Monday, demanding to know how federal officials are...

Sen. Lamar Alexander is taking on the National Labor Relations Board again, this time over a ruling that he argues is the biggest attack on business he has seen in years. At issue is a 3-2 decision by the board in August that expanded the definition of what it means to be a “joint employer.” Before the ruling, companies could be held...

WASHINGTON – Today, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) sent a letter to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Acting Administrator Andrew M. Slavitt questioning the administration on the financial viability and...

“Already, there is an enormous response to try to help: at the state level, through the private sector, and from the federal government. As a former Governor, I know that states have traditionally been on the forefront.” – Lamar Alexander WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 29 – Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander...

WASHINGTON, D.C, October 28 – U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today said that the 23 percent rate increase for Tennessee’s “benchmark” health care plan under Obamacare will “hurt those Tennesseans that this law was intended to help.” Alexander, chairman of the Senate health committee, continued:...

WASHINGTON, D.C., October 28 – Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) made the following statement on results released today from the 2015 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), often called the “Nation’s Report Card”: “Today’s results from the Nation’s Report...

WASHINGTON – Today, a bicameral group of 23 Republican lawmakers sent a letter to the Office of Management and Budget, calling on the Administration to pull a pending rule that would reverse course on curbing opioid drug abuse.  Under the 2012 proposed rule, innovations for abuse-deterrent formulations would be subject to additional...