Chair's Press

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 – The senior Republican on the Senate education committee today praised innovations at Austin Peay University in a hearing on the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, and said lawmakers should look for ways to encourage similar innovations without creating mandates from Washington. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.)...

*** “The least we could do is keep the president’s promise, even if he hasn’t kept it, and let Americans stay on insurance plans they like.” – Lamar Alexander WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 – The senior Republican on the Senate health committee today cosponsored a bill to repeal Obamacare requirements and allow Americans to...

Says “I hope it will force open the administration’s black box of secrets that are keeping Congress and the entire American public in the dark” *** “We shouldn’t have to issue a subpoena or pass a law to get the administration to tell us basic information about the Obamacare exchanges, but apparently that’s what...

  *** “Before the Internet, RCA knew how many records Elvis was selling every day. Before the Internet, Ford knew how many cars they were selling every day. Before the Internet, McDonald’s could tell you how many hamburgers it had sold each day. Yet the Obama administration cannot tell us how many Americans have tried to sign...

*** “The labor board needs to be umpire rather than advocate and Mr. Griffin’s background as a union advocate and his work as general counsel for one of the major unions doesn’t do anything to help me believe that he will improve the situation at the NLRB.” – Lamar Alexander WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 – The senior...

*** “Expecting this secretary to be able to fix in a few weeks what she has not been able to fix during the last three and one half years is unrealistic. It is throwing good money after bad.”  – Lamar Alexander WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 – The senior Republican on the Senate health committee today (Video HERE) called for...

*** “Before the Internet, RCA knew how many records Elvis was selling every day. Before the Internet, Ford knew how many cars they were selling every day. Before the Internet, McDonald’s could tell you how many hamburgers it had sold each day. Yet the Obama administration cannot tell us how many Americans have tried to sign up for...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 - Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Ranking Member Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., today announced they have sent a letter demanding Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius provide requested documents related to the...

*** “This isn't really complicated information. [I’d like to know] how many people tried to sign up? How many were successful? What zip code are they in? What level of insurance did they buy? Here in Tennessee, people are finding when they get on [Healthcare.gov] that their individual insurance might...

*** “No more hiding the damage of the train wreck—Americans are on this train.” – Lamar Alexander KNOXVILLE, Oct. 22 – The senior Republican on the Senate health committee today announced on a Knoxville radio show that he will introduce a bill requiring the administration to provide weekly reports to Congress and to...

*** “The president is right—this law is more than a website that won’t work—it’s a mandate that many Americans are finding impossible, and it’s an historic mistake that is raising premiums, forcing employees off insurance plans, increasing out-of-pocket costs, and pushing employers to cut jobs and...

*** “We are concerned by recent comments to the media that the system suffers from architectural problems that need design changes.  We seek information about these problems as well as whether you still expect individuals to suffer a tax penalty if they do not purchase government-approved health insurance.” – Letter to HHS...

*** “These will be tough and disappointing days for many Americans, as they finally log on to the exchanges and discover that health insurance next year will cost multiple times what it costs them now.” – Lamar Alexander   WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 – As Americans begin to make their way onto the Obamacare exchanges, many are...

*** “This law is about as clear as mud, and instead of helping Americans understand their new obligations, the Obama administration has been burying important changes—not announcing them boldly, as you’d expect an administration that’s proud of its new health care law to do.” – Lamar Alexander   WASHINGTON,...

*** “I've been warning that a train wreck is coming with this law, but the truth is that no train wreck has ever had this many warning signs.” – Lamar Alexander   WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 – The Obama administration persisted with the roll out of the Obamacare exchanges on October 1, despite countless warning signs that the...

NASHVILLE, Sept. 28– Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the senior Republican on the Senate health committee, today released the following statement on the vote by the House of Representatives to delay the individual mandate, repeal the medical device tax, and keep the government operating: "To avoid a government shutdown, the Senate should...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—A bipartisan group of Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee senators—Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA), Ranking Member Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Senator Al Franken (D-MN), Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS), Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO), and Senator Richard Burr (R-NC)—today applauded the House passage of...

*** “I’m not in the shut-down-the-government crowd, I’m in the take-over-the-government crowd. Take it over the way the Constitution says: Elect more conservative senators and a president and do all we can to delay, dismantle, repeal and replace Obamacare.” – Lamar Alexander WASHINGTON, Sept. 27 – U.S. Senator...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26. – 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 and urged swift House action on their bill to reduce infant deaths and disabilities by expanding research,...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 – The senior Republican on the Senate health committee today released the following statement on the administration announcement that online sign-up for Obamacare’s small business health insurance exchanges will be delayed until November: Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said: “Another day, another Obamacare...