Press Releases

Murray: “There is no reason to block this bipartisan legislation that would give students some certainty for next year.” (Washington, D.C.) – Today, Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) delivered remarks on the Senate floor, urging her colleagues to pass a one year...

WASHINGTON, DC – Senators James Lankford (R-OK), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Steve Daines (R-MT) today sent a letter to Department of Labor Secretary Thomas Perez to challenge the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) recent use of an expedited regulatory guidance process rather than a more transparent...

  Sept. 28 (BNA) -- Health information exchange groups widely blame the federal EHR incentive program for making it too difficult for doctors and hospitals to digitally share patient information according to a GAO report made available to Bloomberg BNA Sept. 28. The report, requested by Senate Republicans, was an analysis of interviews with...

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) released a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) highlighting that nearly half of private sector workers do not have a retirement plan through their employer, primarily because they lack access. The...

Murray calls on Republican leaders to drop partisan votes, work with Democrats to avoid a government shutdown   (Washington, D.C.)  - Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee delivered remarks on the Senate floor ahead of a partisan, Senate Republican...

“Since when did OSHA get in the business of trying to figure out if a franchisee and franchisor are joint employers or not?  Why does OSHA care about that? Why isn’t OSHA interested in health and safety?” – Lamar Alexander WASHINGTON, D.C., Sept. 23 – The chairman of the Senate labor committee today said...

“Bullying is a serious problem. But the United States Senate doesn’t agree that the federal government ought to be telling the local school what its bullying policy ought to be. So how does the Department of Education get the right to make a guidance which will be under Title IX, when the head of Title IX thinks everybody she issues a...

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 22 – Small business owners and business groups are urging Congress to pass legislation introduced earlier this month by senior Republican lawmakers to roll back the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) “joint employer” decision, which the chairmen of the House and Senate labor committees...

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 18 – Senate labor committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and employment and workplace safety subcommittee chairman Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) today called for the Department of Labor (DOL) to resolve safety failures in its Job Corps program, after two students were murdered in separate attacks...

WASHINGTON, D.C., Sept. 16 – Senate health committee chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement on the reauthorization of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act: “It is a top priority of the Senate health committee to reauthorize the legislation that provides health care and support...

Legislation would help ensure workers can advocate for higher wages and improve workplace conditions without unlawful interference from employers (Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and Congressman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA) introduced the Workplace Action for a Growing Economy (WAGE) Act, legislation...

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), the top Democrat on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that highlights the importance of borrower relief options for those struggling to pay down their student loans. The report found that...

WASHINGTON, D.C., Sept. 16 – Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today called for a delay until January 1, 2017, of making final rules for stage three of the federal government’s program to require doctors and hospitals to create electronic health records systems. He said that stage three...

WASHINGTON, D.C., Sept. 15 – Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today made the following statement on the nomination of Dr. Robert Califf to be the next commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration: “Dr. Califf has impressive credentials. The committee will move promptly to consider his...

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 14 – Senate labor committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and retirement security subcommittee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) today called on the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) to take immediate action to prevent fraud and abuse in its occupational disability program. In 2008, a New York...

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) released the following statement on the Obama Administration’s action to allow students and families to apply for financial aid earlier and use tax information from the previous year to finalize Free Application...

(Washington, D.C.) – Today Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, issued the following statement commemorating the 21st anniversary of the bipartisan Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).   “For decades, the Violence Against Women Act has helped women and...

NLRB’s new “joint employer” standard “would make big businesses bigger and the middle class smaller by discouraging companies from franchising and subcontracting work”   Washington, D.C., September 9 — Senior Republican lawmakers today introduced legislation to roll back the National Labor Relations...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, issued the following statement on President Obama’s Executive Order requiring federal contractors to offer their workers up to seven days of paid sick leave annually.   “I strongly support this...

* * *  “Tennessee has been working hard to fight this fast-growing drug problem, but we are losing more than a thousand Tennesseans a year to drug overdose." –Lamar Alexander    KNOXVILLE, Tenn., Sept. 4 – Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today said Tennessee will get a “big...