Press Releases

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12, 2015 – U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) released the following statement on President Obama’s last State of the Union address: “Last year the Republican Senate majority made a real difference by passing several pieces of bipartisan legislation that will help American families, including the first...

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee approved the nomination of Dr. Robert Califf to be Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Ahead of the vote, Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) delivered remarks expressing her support for Califf’s nomination, highlighting his...

WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan. 12 – Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today made the following statement on the Senate health committee’s approval of Dr. Robert Califf to head the Food and Drug Administration (FDA): “The FDA affects the lives of nearly every single American and regulates about a quarter of all consumer spending...

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee released the following statement after the House of Representatives passed legislation to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and defund Planned Parenthood.  Republicans in the Senate previously...

MARYVILLE, Tenn., January 6 – The chairman of the Senate health committee today urged President Obama to sign legislation to repeal Obamacare after it passed the House of Representatives. The Senate voted to pass this legislation last month. Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said, “Unfortunately Republicans were right when we...

State and school district officials who have complained for years that an inflexible, overprescriptive federal role in public education is at the heart of the No Child Left Behind Act seem to have finally gotten their wish: a replacement law that scales back Washington’s K-12 footprint for the first time in more than a quarter-century. Now,...

A total of 163 members of the Senate and House urge the Supreme Court to uphold women’s constitutionally protected reproductive freedom in Whole Woman’s Health v. Cole   (Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Representatives Diana DeGette (D-CO), Louise Slaughter...

FDA announcement follows Murray’s call for full FDA review of scopes linked to deadly infections in Washington state    (Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, released the following statement on draft guidance from the FDA...

Washington has given up power? Unheard of. Absurd.Washington relinquished authority? Unthinkable.Why unheard of, absurd, and unthinkable?Tradition!(With apologies, or a bow, to “Fiddler on the Roof”) Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander led the charge to bring about a goal of his that a year ago few, if any, believed could happen....

With Republicans in charge, 4 Senate HELP Committee bills signed into law—including legislation fixing No Child Left Behind and “reversing the trend toward a National School Board”   WASHINGTON, December 22 – Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today highlighted...

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) released the following statement on the finalized guidance from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding gay men and blood donation.   “Lifting the lifetime ban on blood donation for gay men is a...

WASHINGTON, December 18 – The chairman and ranking member of the Senate health committee today urged House passage of their legislation to help state and local communities prevent suicide, help children recover from traumatic events, and help improve mental health awareness for teachers and others. The bipartisan Mental Health Awareness...

WASHINGTON, December 18 – The chairman and ranking member of the Senate education committee today commended Senate passage of legislation to “improve the quality of education research and make research more relevant and usable for teachers, principals, school districts and states.” “This bill makes research on education...

WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 17 – The chairman of the Senate education committee today made the following statement on his legislation to extend the Perkins Loan Program for two years, which now heads to the president’s desk for signature after passage today in the House: “My goal in the Senate education committee is to find...

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander deservedly is receiving a lot of credit for guiding through Congress the education reform measure that replaces the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 during the first year of President George W. Bush. Alexander, the Tennessee Republican, former Secretary of Education and former two-term governor, was one of the primary...

WASHINGTON, December 16 – The chairman of the Senate health committee today said that guidance released by the Obama administration that tells states how they can obtain waivers from Obamacare is “not much flexibility and not much relief.” “This so-called waiver provides surprisingly little relief from Obamacare, which...

It is the nature of the right these days that a major legislative victory goes almost unnoticed while failure to obtain unrealistic aims (e.g., repeal Obamacare while President Obama is still in office) is analyzed and discussed endlessly. (And inevitably denounced as another betrayal.) This past week, the GOP achieved something extraordinary...

It took a while — 13 years — but the nation’s education law finally has a fix. The Every Student Succeeds Act is signed and sealed. It’s up to the nation’s educators to deliver. This would not have happened without the determination of U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander to unlock bureaucratic shackles on teachers, allowing them...

Last year, campaigning for reelection, I said to Tennessee voters, “Give us a Republican majority in the United States Senate and we’ll repeal the federal Common Core mandate and reverse the trend toward a national school board.” This past week, the United States Congress did just that and President Obama signed it. The Wall...

WASHINGTON – 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), released the following statements after President...