Press Releases

WASHINGTON, DC— Today, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Chairman of the Senate Health,Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, released the following statement in response to thepassage of the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007. “There is no truer test of our moral values as a nation than the way we...

WASHINGTON, D.C.--Tonight, Senators Edward M. Kennedy and Pete Domenici announced abreakthrough in Mental Health Parity negotiations. The new agreement will protect all statelaws and provide equity in mental health treatment to 113 million Americans. Senator Kennedy said, “Tonight a major agreement was reached with the mental healthcommunity,...

Washington D.C. – U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-WY, Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP Committee), today said that conferees from the Senate and House of Representatives have reached a bipartisan agreement on the “America COMPETES Act,” H.R. 2272, a bill to enhance American...

Washington D.C. – U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-WY, Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP Committee), applauded last night’s Senate passage of the “Safety of Seniors (S.O.S.) Act of 2007,” S. 845, an innovative bill designed to expand research on approaches to fall prevention and...

WASHINGTON, DC‹ Today, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Chairman of the Senate Health,Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, released the following statement in response to thepassage by the HELP Committee of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. “Today, we put children back on the national agenda. The bipartisan...

Washington, D.C. - The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee today accepted an amendment to ban clove flavored tobacco offered by U.S. Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), the panel’s Ranking Member. Enzi’s clove amendment was added to a flawed Democrat bill, S.625, which would have allowed clove flavoring while requiring...

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today denounced the HELP Committee’s approval of a Democrat bill he said “coddles Big Tobacco’s ambitious marketing plans while protecting the industry’s best tools to recruit and addict...

(As Prepared for Delivery) Many of the best ideas in public policy are the simplest. The Children’s Health InsuranceProgram is based on one simple and powerful idea – that all children deserve a healthy start inlife, and that no parents should have to worry about whether they can afford to take theirchild to the doctor when the child is...

WASHINGTON, DC— Today, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Chairman of the Senate Health,Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, released the following statement in response to thepassage by the United States House of Representatives of the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007. “No American should be denied equal pay for equal work. Employees’...

(As Prepared for Delivery) Many of the best ideas in public policy are the simplest. The Children’s Health InsuranceProgram is based on one simple and powerful idea – that all children deserve a healthy start inlife, and that no parents should have to worry about whether they can afford to take theirchild to the doctor when the child is...

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), Ranking Member of theSenate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today urged theSenate to approve legislation that would prevent expiration of the Animal Drug User FeeAct (ADUFA), which provides the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with theresources to evaluate and approve...

Washington D.C. – U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-WY, Ranking Member of theSenate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP Committee), todayintroduced the Volunteer Health Care Program Act of 2008, a bill that will remove alegal barrier preventing physicians and health care professionals from volunteering theirservices to individuals...

WASHINGTON, DC— Yesterday, Senators Kennedy, Snowe, Rockefeller, Warner, and Cantwellintroduced a bill to encourage states to modernize their unemployment insurance systems.The Unemployment Insurance Modernization Act would make $7 billion in incentive paymentsavailable to states to encourage them to expand eligibility for benefits and...

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today said he was pleased that the HELP Committee agreed to include his amendment that requires stronger warnings labels on tobacco product packages. The amendment was added to a flawed Democrat bill, S.625, that...

Washington D.C. – U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-WY, Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP Committee), today sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) urging them to move forward on critical drug safety legislation. Enzi called on Senator Reid...

(As Prepared for Delivery) Today, the Senate is taking the first step toward passage of legislation that should have beenenacted years ago – authority for the FDA to regulate tobacco products, the most lethal of allconsumer products. Used as intended by the companies that manufacture and market them,cigarettes will kill one out of every three...

Mr. Chairman, The bill we are marking up today is ambitiously called the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. Well, I’ve carefully studied this bill. I’ve read all 168 pages. I can tell you that it will neither prevent families from smoking nor effectively control tobacco. That’s what this fatally flawed bill...

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today responded to criticisms from the President of “Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids” by inviting him to discuss the Enzi proposal to use a cap-and-trade program to shrink the of the tobacco market and...

After years of struggling with rising college costs, help is on the way for students across thiscountry. We have pledged here in the United States Senate that it doesn’t matter where you’re from.What matters is where you’re going. And no American should be denied the right to go to college because of money.Today, the Senate made...

(As Prepared for Delivery) From our earliest days as a nation, education has been the mainstay of our democracy and theengine of the American dream. Our nation’s founders knew that an educated citizenry wouldstrengthen our land and build up the values and character that make us Americans. Theyinvested in education because they looked to the...