Press Releases

MARYVILLE, October 2- U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today called on the Obama administration to immediately rescind the Education Department’s 37-page guidance issued to instruct 14,000 local school districts from Washington on how to distribute state, local and federal funds to ensure students have equal access to educational...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Mike Johanns (R- Neb) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Congressman Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) today led an effort urging the Department of Labor (DOL) to suspend a rule that could dramatically increase costs of non-medical, in-home personal care services, many of which are administered through Medicaid or other state...

MARYVILLE, Oct. 1 – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) released the following statement on the first anniversary of the Obamacare exchanges opening and the news that another 2,000 Tennesseans are receiving notices this month of their health plans being canceled:   “Today we learn that 2,000 more Tennesseans are losing their...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of both the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education (the LHHS subcommittee), released the following statement after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)...

Obamacare has failed Americans in many predictable ways: It has increased premiums and out-of-pocket expenses for many; it has added to the deficit that our children and grandchildren will have to repay; it has decreased choices for many Americans, with smaller networks of doctors and fewer drugs covered on the plans sold in the exchanges; it has...

ASHLAND CITY, Sept. 25 – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said the recent study by PricewaterhouseCoopers showing that health insurance premiums for Tennesseans will increase by an average of 14 percent in 2015 is “one more reason Americans need a Republican majority in the Senate to start over to repair the damage Obamacare...

NASHVILLE, Sept. 25 – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today made the following statement on Nashville-based HCA Healthcare’s donation of $1 million to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Foundation to help respond to the Ebola epidemic:  "I'm glad to see such a prominent Tennessee company joining Samaritan's Purse...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, joined seven House and Senate Democrats in releasing a new report that found that hundreds of tobacco advertisements and images glorifying smoking and e-cigarettes appear in magazines with large teen...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 – U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today highlighted a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report entitled, “DOL's Use of Financial and...

NASHVILLE, September 24 – At a roundtable today with Vanderbilt University Medical Center experts and state health officials, U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said Tennessee and the nation must be prepared to respond to the Ebola epidemic “with the urgency required of a threat as deadly and dangerous as ISIS.” The roundtable...

KNOXVILLE, Sept. 23 – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today made the following statement on the report by the Health and Human Services’ Inspector General on Healthcare.gov’s security weaknesses: "Seems like every day we hear a new report on problems with the Obamacare website. All these reports tell us one...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) released the following statement on legislation they introduced this week that would crack down on worthless degrees peddled by unscrupulous academic institutions, many of which...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released the following statement applauding Senate passage of the Paul D. Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Community Assistance, Research and Education (MD-CARE) Amendments of 2014. In July, this bill was passed...

WASHINGTON, DC – Republican leaders of the House and Senate Committees of jurisdiction today sent a letter to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Marilyn Tavenner regarding the ongoing challenges states are facing while implementing the health law’s changes to Medicaid.  House Energy and Commerce...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), as Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released a new report on an investigation he called for regarding the barriers that people with disabilities face as they seek to rise out of poverty and enter the middle class. To implement the recommendations...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Ranking Member Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), and Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA) applauded Senate passage of the bipartisan Sunscreen Innovation Act just hours after it was passed by the HELP...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Ranking Member Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), and Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA) applauded Senate passage of the bipartisan Sunscreen Innovation Act just hours after it was passed by the HELP...

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) introduced a bipartisan Senate Resolution recognizing the week of September 22nd , 2014 as National Adult Education and Family Literacy week. “I am proud to cosponsor this bipartisan resolution that recognizes the importance of adult education and...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—At the Senate HELP Committee hearing “Fulfilling the Promise: Overcoming Persistent Barriers to Economic Self-Sufficiency for People with Disabilities,” Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, unveiled a report that he instructed his HELP Committee...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Ranking Member Lamar Alexander (R-TN) praised the HELP Committee’s passage of the Strengthening Education through Research Act, a bill that would reauthorize the Education Sciences Reform Act...