Press Releases

***As prepared for delivery***  WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a floor speech today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, said that the President’s announcement in last night’s State of the Union that he would sign an executive order to raise the minimum wage for...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee and Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS), a member of the HELP Committee, today applauded unanimous Senate passage of a bipartisan bill that would make it easier for charities and cooperatives to continue to offer pensions to...

*** “This is a real answer to inequality in America: giving more children more opportunity to attend a better school.” – Lamar Alexander WASHINGTON, Jan. 28 – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today introduced legislation that would allow states to create $2,100 scholarships out of existing federal education dollars to...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today welcomed the news that President Obama will use his State of the Union address this evening to call for raising the minimum wage through Executive Order to $10.10 for federal contract workers.  He will also call on Congress to finish the job for all workers by passing the bill Harkin and...

*** “As the FDA itself has recognized, ‘Consistent labeling will assure physicians, health professionals, and consumers that a generic drug is as safe and effective as its brand-name counterpart.’ Allowing generic manufacturers to unilaterally change their labeling means potentially dozens of drugs that are chemically and...

*** “Before the Internet, RCA knew how many records Elvis was selling, Ford knew how many cars it was selling and McDonald’s knew how many hamburgers it was selling. It would be laughable in the Internet age that the Obama administration still can’t tell us how many Americans have actually enrolled in Obamacare, if the...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA), Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT), and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) today highlighted a report released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that found seniors who had continuous health insurance coverage prior...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a statement submitted this week to the Congressional Record, U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, marked the 50th anniversary of the landmark Surgeon General report on smoking and health. “This 50th anniversary gives us an opportunity to...

“Today’s roundtable will focus on our main federal college access programs — TRIO and GEAR UP—and how they’re performing in helping low-income students access and persist through postsecondary education.  This roundtable marks our fifth event in a series to examine issues we plan to address in the upcoming...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Another bipartisan Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee bill is headed to President Obama’s desk following unanimous Senate passage last night. The Poison Center Network Act cleared the Committee in December and passed the U.S. House of Representatives last week. The legislation is the eleventh...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—At an event held today at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA joined Rep. George Miller (D-CA) and Jason Furman, Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, to call on Congress to pass legislation Harkin and Miller have introduced to raise the minimum wage to $10.10.  Harkin is...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Carper (D-DE) wrote to the Department of Defense (DOD) requesting that it take steps to address inaccuracies and information gaps in the “higher...

*As prepared for delivery* WASHINGTON, D.C.—In a floor speech Monday, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, expressed his support for extending federal unemployment insurance.  He also voiced concerns about the impact of proposed offsets, which include cuts to programs...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today issued the following statement after learning that Congressman George Miller (D-CA), senior Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee, would retire at the end of his term.  Harkin and Miller were both elected to the U.S. House in 1974 and have worked together on numerous...

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) applauded the historic and continued success of anti-smoking efforts ahead of the 50th anniversary of the first Surgeon General’s report on smoking and health. The most recent evidence of the extraordinary progress made over the last five decades comes from a new study in the Journal of...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, welcomed the announcement by the Administration that a final rule issued today will help ensure that Medicaid’s home and community-based services programs provide full access to the benefits of community...

*** “One of the Senate’s most important roles in our system of checks and balances is its constitutional power of advice and consent on presidential nominees, and the Senate decides when it is in session – not the president.”– Lamar Alexander WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee welcomed the announcement this week that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is moving forward with implementation of the Drug Quality and Security Act, which Harkin led to Senate passage in November 2013 and...

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today welcomed the announcement from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that under provisions he authored in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), women will be able to gain access to medications that will...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Senators John Thune (R-S.D.), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) today expressed concern over a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Inspector General (IG) report finding insufficient oversight by the Centers for Medicare &...