Press Releases

Washington, D.C. – At today’s U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing, “Examining the Continuing Needs of Workers and Communities Affected by 9/11,” Ranking Member Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) saluted 9/11 heroes and called for oversight of a National Institute of Occupational Safety and...

  Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) voiced their disappointment regarding partisan workplace safety reform legislation concepts announced by House and Senate Democrats today.  Enzi, Ranking Member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Isakson, co-author of the...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today announced the panel will hold a hearing titled “Examining the Continuing Needs of Workers and Communities Affected by 9/11.”   The goal of this hearing is to learn more about the health needs...

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee today made the following comments upon appointing Kyle Hicks as his Labor Policy Director. “Kyle Hicks has been a valued member of my staff on the HELP Committee for nearly six years,” said...

“For more than 50 years, the Federal government has provided students with grants and loans to help pay for college.  That’s a public-private partnership between the government and students.  It is an investment premised on the idea that a higher education will improve life for the borrower, and also will strengthen our...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A new report raises significant concerns about the return on federal investment in financial aid at for-profit colleges and universities.  The report, titled “Emerging Risk?: An Overview of Growth, Spending, Student Debt and Unanswered Questions in For-Profit Higher Education,”  was unveiled today by...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today urged Congress and the Administration to use a scalpel rather than a machete in their efforts to excise bad actors from for-profit education, warning that for-profit institutions provide the only practical...

To view the report, click on the link "For Profit Emerging Risk Report" under "Related Files".

Washington, D.C. – New health insurance rules unveiled this week violate President Obama’s promise to allow Americans who like their health plans to keep them, U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, Ranking Member of the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee, said today on the Senate floor. “Last week, the Administration...

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, led Senate Republicans today in sending a letter to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius requesting a response regarding the Administration’s missed deadline for establishing the...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, made the following statement today in recognition of the 11th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s 1999 Olmstead decision which improved access to community-based care for individuals with...

Good afternoon and thank you Chairman Harkin, for your leadership on this important issue and for holding this hearing.   I would also like to thank our witnesses for taking time out of your schedules to be with us.   It’s a pleasure to welcome all of you to our hearing. Today’s hearing is quite important as it...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released the following statement praising regulations issued today by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that would implement a new Patient’s Bill of Rights under the health reform bill, The Affordable...

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee today commended the Senate for the confirmation of Brian Hayes to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). “Brian Hayes will bring a valuable combination of private sector and prior NLRB experience to...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today announced the witnesses for the first hearing in a series intended to examine federal education spending at for-profit higher education institutions.  The series will examine a broad range of issues related to the...

“I want to welcome everyone to today’s hearing.  We’re here today to talk about worker misclassification, an issue of critical importance to millions of working men and women across the country. “We all know that these are very difficult times for our economy, especially for working families.  Millions of Americans...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today issued the following statement after the U.S. Department of Education proposed a broad set of rules and definitions to strengthen the federal student aid programs.  The Department is proposing, among the regulations, a requirement that proprietary institutions of higher education and...

“Thank you all for attending this important hearing.  The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico – more accurately called an oil well blowout – is an unprecedented environmental and human disaster.  On April 20, the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig killed 11 workers, a terrible tragedy.  The explosion set about a...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today issued the following statement after President Obama signed an executive order establishing the National Prevention, Health Promotion and Public Health Council.  The Council was authorized under the new health reform law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  Harkin, who...

Washington, D.C. – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today issued the following statement in honor of the 47th anniversary of the signing of the Equal Pay Act on June 10, 1963.  Harkin is a cosponsor of the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would strengthen penalties for discrimination, and has introduced the Fair Pay Act, which would require...