Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today marked the one-year anniversary of crucial health care protections that have already benefitted millions of Americans.  Established under the Affordable Care Act and known as the Patient’s Bill of Rights, these protections have banned many insurance company abuses, and put...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Ranking Member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today said President Obama’s proposed waivers of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law would undermine the policy making authority of Congress.  “I am extremely disappointed that after spending so...

WASHINGTON – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, issued the following statement after President Barack Obama announced that he would allow states to apply for waivers from certain parts of No Child Left Behind in exchange for state-led efforts to close achievement gaps, promote...

WASHINGTON—Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, introduced the Medical-Legal Partnerships for Health Act, which would help connect legal aid attorneys with patients at hospitals and health clinics. For many American families struggling to make ends meet, maintaining a...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Ranking Member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, said he was disappointed the Senate Appropriations Committee rejected an amendment sponsored by Senator Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) that would have stopped the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from pursuing any...

WASHINGTON – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP), and Representative George Miller (CA-7), Ranking Member of the House Education and Workforce Committee, today issued the following statement after the Department of Labor announced that it will be re-proposing its rule...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – During a speech on the floor of the United States Senate today, Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Ranking Member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, said that as the Senate considers updates to the No Child Left Behind legislation, it must work to give states a larger role in education. ...

*As Prepared for Delivery* “As part of our ongoing process to reauthorize the FDA user fee legislation this congress, we have convened this hearing to examine the safety and integrity of our pharmaceutical supply chain.  Few issues are more important to the health and safety of Americans than the integrity of our drug supply.  The...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Ranking Member Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), today joined with Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), John Thune (R-S.D.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) and Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) to call on the Senate to pass legislation to stop federal agencies from placing...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Ranking Member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today called for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to improve its oversight of the pharmaceutical supply chain.  The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has repeatedly found that FDA does not police...

WASHINGTON – Following today’s release of the Fiscal Year 2009 national student loan default data showing that for-profit colleges continue to have the highest default rate in higher education, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) reiterated his call for reform and stronger oversight of the for-profit education...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Ranking Member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today said he was pleased to see the President finally shift his focus to jobs. Enzi noted that in the past two months, the Administration put out 1225 new regulations. He said complying with these new rules will...

WASHINGTON—Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) chaired an executive session in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to vote on the Children's Hospital GME Support Reauthorization Act (CHGME), which provides critical resources to children’s hospitals for pediatric residency programs, and the Combating Autism...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Ranking Member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, joined with Senators Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), to express their strong opposition to “quickie election” rule changes proposed by...

WASHINGTON – Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) released the following statement on today’s ruling by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act:  “The 11th Circuit is wrong in its assessment of the individual mandate.  At...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Ranking Member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released a report today that shows access to child-only health insurance plans has declined significantly since passage of the new health care law.  Enzi said the Department of Health and Human Services has...

“In the decade before the Affordable Care Act was passed, relentlessly increasing health insurance premiums imposed a heavy tax on families and small businesses.  Over those ten years, premiums for family, employer-sponsored coverage more than doubled.  Small businesses simply couldn’t afford it anymore and began dropping...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – During a hearing today on health insurance premiums, Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Ranking Member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, said that the new health care law passed last year is already driving up insurance premiums.  He said that Congress should work on lowering health care...

WASHINGTON—Today, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, issued the following statement on Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’s acceptance of the Institute of Medicine’s guidelines for women’s preventive health services: “I...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – During a hearing today on the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) user fee programs, Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Ranking Member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, said that he supports bipartisan efforts to reauthorize the programs. “The prescription drug and medical...