Press Releases

“Last year, the President and Congress worked together to cut nearly in half interest rates on all new student loans for undergraduates. Hopefully he will work that way again instead of joining Senate Democrats' political stunt to give some former students a $1-a-day subsidy to help pay off loans while raising income taxes by $72 billion and...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today released the following statement in response to a report released by a federal, interagency Working Group tasked with making recommendations to improve chemical facility safety and security. The Working Group was...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Kay Hagan (D-NC) today introduced new legislation to protect servicemembers and veterans in response to the Justice Department’s recent settlement with Sallie Mae, a student lending corporation that violated federal law and charged servicemembers excessive interest rates on their student...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today applauded the confirmation of Sylvia Mathews Burwell to serve as the next U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. The Senate confirmed her nomination by a vote of 78 to 17. The HELP Committee held the...

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Since a bipartisan, bicameral group of legislators announced a deal to improve the nation’s workforce development system through the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), a broad array of labor, business, and workforce development leaders, as well as governors and mayors from around the country, has...

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Since a bipartisan, bicameral group of legislators announced a deal to improve the nation’s workforce development system through the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), a broad array of labor, business, and workforce development leaders, as well as governors and mayors from around the country, has...

*** “Republicans would like to repair the damage that Obamacare has done. We would like to prevent future damage, and as responsibly and rapidly as we can, we want to move in a different direction to put in place proposals that provide more freedom, more choices, and lower costs. We trust Americans to make those decisions for ourselves. We...

WASHINGTON, D.C.— U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today joined a group of 20 senators in calling on state governors to expand Medicaid in their states under the Affordable Care Act. In a letter to the 18 governors who have yet to undertake the expansion, the senators...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Senate should act to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities (CRPD) now that the Supreme Court has ruled in the case of Bond v. United States, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) said today. Harkin is the Senate author of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act and has helped lead the fight in the Senate...

*** “The purpose of the compounding law is to end confusion and improve communication so we can help prevent another tragic meningitis outbreak. If FDA isn’t sitting down with doctors, patients and pharmacists and communicating how it is implementing the law, then I will stay on FDA until it does.” –Lamar...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Lawmakers in both the Senate and House today introduced legislation to protect students from unfair banking practices involving campus-sponsored financial products and to preserve the integrity of federal student aid programs. These bills remove conflicts of interest and end kickbacks between financial institutions and...

WASHINGTON, DC – Republican leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Senate Finance Committee, and Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions yesterday sent a letter to Marilyn Tavenner, Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, regarding the backlog of Medicaid applications in the states....

WASHINGTON, May 22 –Representatives Stephen Fincher (R-Tenn.) and Diane Black (R-Tenn.), and Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today introduced legislation to protect small businesses from Obamacare’s job-killing mandate to provide employees government-approved health insurance or pay a fine. Fincher said: "Across the 8th District, I've...

WASHINGTON, May 22 – Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) welcomed the administration’s reversal this week on electronic health records deadlines, after officials earlier this year refused to grant providers additional time to comply with regulations...

(Washington, D.C.) - Today, a bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers announced that they have reached a deal to improve the nation’s workforce development system through new legislation, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).  The bill, which will now be considered by both the House and Senate, modernizes and improves...

After Months of Negotiations, Leaders from House, Senate Introduce “Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act" Current Federal Workforce Laws, Written in 1998, Have Been Overdue for Reauthorization for More Than Ten Years WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, a bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers announced that they have reached a deal to improve...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, U.S. Sens. Tom Harkin (D-IA), Al Franken (D-MN), Pat Roberts (R-KS), and John Barrasso (R-WY) introduced a bipartisan bill to help rural communities address the challenges they face when it comes to providing quality health care. The Craig Thomas Rural Hospital and Provider Equity Act (R-HoPE) would...

“America’s working women have made incredible strides in the workplace.  And as women succeed, America succeeds and our economy succeeds.  But huge challenges remain.  Too many working women are stuck in poor-quality, low-wage jobs, living in or near poverty, struggling to make ends meet.  “In addition, even as...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Ranking Member on the HELP Committee, and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Ranking Member on the Senate Finance Committee, today highlighted a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report entitled, International Labor Grants: Labor Should Improve Management of Key Award Documentation, which found...

 “We have convened this hearing to examine the state of tobacco use and regulation in the United States – both the extraordinary public health efforts that have driven down tobacco use and the enormous challenges that remain.  “Our nation has made remarkable progress in the 50 years since the first Surgeon...