Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – During a hearing today on addressing the importance of the landmark Supreme Court ruling in Olmstead, which held that individuals with disabilities are entitled to community-based long-term care services where appropriate, Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Ranking Member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP)...

WASHINGTON, D.C. –  Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Ranking Member Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) today released the following statement after the House of Representatives passed the bipartisan Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (S.3187), which would reauthorize the user fee...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – During a hearing today on the forty-year anniversary of Title IX, the groundbreaking law that ensured equal educational opportunities for women, Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Ranking Member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, said although there has been remarkable progress, America must not...

WASHINGTON, DC– Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA), Ranking Member Mike Enzi (R-WY), House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman (D-CA) today announced a bipartisan agreement on the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act, S...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), Michael B. Enzi (R-Wyoming), and Tom A. Coburn, M.D. (R-Oklahoma) wrote a letter expressing their concerns that a potential regulation being considered by the Obama Administration could force small businesses into more regulated plans and cause millions of Americans to lose their...

WASHINGTON—Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, spoke on the floor of the Senate in support of the Paycheck Fairness Act, a bill to help close the wage gap. Today, an American woman makes an average of 77 cents for every dollar earned by a man.  In Iowa, that figure...

WASHINGTON—Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions applauded the Walt Disney Company for updating its nutritional standards and for announcing new guidelines ensuring that junk food won’t be advertised on Disney’s kid-targeted TV programming and websites: “I...

 The Atlantic Op-Ed - Time to Fix America's Broken Health Care System Instead of interfering in private innovation, Washington needs to let new ideas thrive. By Mike Enzi It is time to get serious about improving the quality of our country's health care system and lowering its cost for hardworking American families. We must rescue...

WASHINGTON—Today, Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Ranking Member Mike Enzi (R-WY) of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee issued a joint statement welcoming Senate passage of the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (FDASIA), bipartisan HELP Committee legislation that would ensure that the FDA can...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today joined Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.) and a bipartisan group of Senators in introducing legislation so that families and students will gain a more accurate picture of exactly how much college will cost them before deciding which school to attend.  Harkin is Chairman of the Senate Health,...

The Hill Op-Ed - Passing FDA bill will save lives By Sens. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) As work in our nation’s capital slowly grinds to a halt because of election-year politics, several members of Congress are quietly working on bipartisan legislation that will help patients, create jobs and save lives.  The legislation...

WASHINGTON, D.C. –  During remarks made in support of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) User Fee Reauthorization Bill (S. 3187), Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Ranking Member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, said this legislation represents a strong bipartisan approach in making important changes to...

WASHINGTON—Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, spoke on the floor of the Senate to call for passage of the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (FDASIA), a bill which passed out of the HELP Committee with overwhelming bipartisan support. Below is the full...

Staring down steep tuition hikes, students at the University of California have taken to carrying picket signs. As far as I can tell, though, none has demanded that President Barack Obama accept a Grand Swap that could protect their education while saving them money. Allow me to explain. When I was governor of Tennessee in the early 1980s, I...

WASHINGTON—Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, released the following statement in response to the announcement by Education Secretary Arne Duncan of a new resource document aimed at reducing the use of seclusion and restraint practices in schools: “I am pleased that...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – During a hearing on addressing the importance of balancing work and family in today’s economy, Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Ranking Member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, said for too many Americans, the daily struggle is not how to balance a job, but how to get a job.  Enzi...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – During a debate today on addressing rising student loan interest rates, Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Ranking Member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, said if the Senate was serious about finding bipartisan solutions to the student loan issue, its leaders should send the legislation through...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senior Republicans in the Senate and House today questioned whether a Health and Human Services’ (HHS) $3.8 billion loan program to create non-profit health insurers would result in greater competition and lower costs.  In a letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the members noted that the Department’s...

WASHINGTON—Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, today expressed his disappointment at the failure of a Senate cloture vote on a measure that will keep interest rates on federal student loans from doubling in July, from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent.  Harkin helped develop and is...

WASHINGTON—Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, sent a letter to National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) member Terence Flynn, requesting his resignation after the NLRB Inspector General uncovered Flynn’s repeated ethics violations. The Inspector General’s...