Press Releases

Senate HELP Committee Passed Legislation Unanimously Earlier Today; Harkin Has Also Supported Policy in His Role as Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee Overseeing NIH Funding WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate HELP Committee, today hailed the Senate passage of bipartisan legislation that...

Food Allergy Guidelines are Required by the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, Which Harkin Helped Author Just Today, Senate HELP Committee Approved Legislation to Improve Access to Emergency Epinephrine in Schools WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today applauded new voluntary guidelines for schools and early care...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, issued the following statement after the HELP Committee approved two nominees—Michael Keith Yudin and James Cole Jr. — to serve at the Department of Education, and one nominee—Chai...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released the following statement after the Committee approved six bipartisan bills at an executive session today. Two of the bills – the Streamlining Claims Processing for Federal Contractor Employees...

  *** “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...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today issued the following statement after the Senate approved the nomination of Richard Griffin to serve as General Counsel to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Griffin’s nomination was cleared by the...

*** “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...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today issued the following statement after the Senate voted to advance the nomination of Richard Griffin to serve as General Counsel to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Griffin’s nomination was approved...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Last night, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee delivered a speech on the floor of the Senate on the nomination of Richard Griffin to serve as General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Following is the full text of his remarks, as...

*** “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—Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) released the following statement in response to an announcement by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), a bill that would prohibit workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, would soon come to the full Senate...

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...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Yesterday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a voluntary recall of certain sterile products supplied by Specialty Medicine Compounding Pharmacy in South Lyon, Michigan because “unidentified particulate matter was found floating in a sterile product from the same lot as products that may have been...

*** “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,...