Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV), Richard Burr (R-NC), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), and Angus King (I-ME) plan to introduce tomorrow a bipartisan compromise, the “Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act,” to avert student loan rates from doubling on July 1st and provide a permanent solution that...

“Today marks the 75th anniversary of the signing of the Fair Labor Standards Act by President Franklin Roosevelt on June 25th, 1938.  The FLSA was a landmark achievement.  After years of struggle, this national law set a floor under wages, limited working hours by requiring overtime pay, and set out to eliminate child labor. ...

Washington, D.C., June 25 –U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the senior Republican on the committee overseeing labor policy, today said the committee’s hearing on minimum wage was “on the wrong subject—on fewer jobs—and I’d like to see it on creating more jobs.” Alexander said: “My problem with...

Washington, D.C., June 24 –U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the senior Republican on the committee overseeing labor policy, today released the following statement on the announcement that the Supreme Court will decide on the constitutionality of the president’s January 2012 appointments to the National Labor Relations...

WASHINGTON—Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released the following statement in reaction to the United States Supreme Court’s announcement that it will review a federal appeals court ruling that President Obama’s intrasession appointments to the...

Senator Alexander’s Response: “No: Congress must find a long-term solution, not a short-term fix” Making Loans Fair for Students and Taxpayers This is the season for high school graduations. More than two million of those graduates are going to college and many of those students will need a loan to help pay for it. On July 1,...

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 today on a report issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) showing that under the health reform law, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), consumers will receive...

On January 4, 2012, President Obama made three so-called recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) while the Senate was not in recess. These appointments were unprecedented—no other president has made recess appointments while the Senate was in session. A year later, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of...

“Today’s hearing will address a very important topic – how federal policy can better support a skilled workforce through the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act. “I am pleased to be joined today by Senators Murray and Isakson who have been tireless champions of reauthorizing this bill. They have been working...

WASHINGTON—Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released the following statement in reaction to a new study released by the National Institute on Retirement Security, which shows that the retirement crisis is even worse than previously thought: “The findings of...

WASHINGTON– Members of the Tennessee United States congressional delegation today announced that their inquiry into whether the administration awarded Medicare contracts to businesses not licensed in Tennessee has resulted in the finding that 30 of 98 suppliers were not licensed and will have their contracts voided. On May 21, Senators Lamar...

Washington, D.C., June 19 – All Republican members of the Senate health committee today sent a letter to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Margaret Hamburg requesting details on the agency’s promotion of the new health care law, saying, “The upcoming enrollment period and coverage availability under PPACA appear...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today delivers the Weekly Republican Address, assuring Americans that Senate Republicans “will work hard with the President and the House” on the long-term student loans solution all agree on, while making clear that Republicans have “a major disagreement” with...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate, Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, joined 15 of his Senate colleagues to reintroduce legislation to create a universal financial aid award letter so that families and students can easily compare financial aid packages from different schools. He joined...

Washington, D.C., June 14 –U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today announced he is cosponsoring a bill to reverse the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision establishing a sweeping new legal standard that allows unions to form micro bargaining units, or “micro-unions,” for the purposes of collective bargaining with...

Washington, D.C., June 14 –Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today praised the signing into law of legislation that he said would “reduce farmers’ costs by reducing the average waiting time for the FDA to approve generic animal drugs by 450 days and eliminating a backlog of applications.” Alexander, the Ranking Republican on...

WASHINGTON—Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, applauded President Obama for signing the Animal Drug User Fee Agreement (ADUFA) and Animal Generic Drug User Fee Agreement (AGDUFA) reauthorizations into law today. ADUFA and AGDUFA allow the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)...

WASHINGTON--Chairman Tom Harkin released the following statement after the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee today approved Harkin's Strengthening America's Schools Act (SASA), a bill to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). “The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education...

Washington, D.C., June 12 –U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today voted against sending to the Senate floor a bill introduced by Senate Democrats that he said would “establish a national school board.” In a party-line vote, Democrats voted 12 to 10 to send the bill to the floor. Alexander offered as an alternative a proposal...

WASHINGTON, June 12 – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) defended states’ rights on common core education standards when he voted Tuesday against requiring states to obtain approval from the U.S. secretary of education on their education standards and tests. Referring to the Democratic education bill, the subject of the committee...