Press Releases

fFollowing widely criticized House oversight hearing on Planned Parenthood, Senate Democrats express concern over political theater and disrespect in letter to Republican Leadership   (Washington, D.C.) —Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and 20 Senate...

Murray highlights Washington state’s efforts to ensure patients get critical preventive care using electronic health records   (Washington, D.C.) – Today, Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) delivered remarks at a HELP Committee hearing on Achieving the Promise of Health...

“Making [this program] succeed is essential to the biomedical research and innovation legislation we hope to finish this year.” – Lamar Alexander WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 1 – Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today gave administration officials five reasons to take more time before making...

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 30 – The chairman and ranking member of the Senate health committee today urged Senate passage of their legislation to extend programs to help prevent suicide among youths, ensure the nation’s health care system is better prepared to provide support to children and families in the wake of traumatic...

Perkins Loan Program helped 15,000 Washington state students last school year   (Washington, D.C.) – Hours before the Perkins Loan Program is set to expire, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee released the following statement on the Senate’s failure...

WASHINGTON, D.C., Sept. 30 – A study done by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), known as the “Congressional Watchdog,” revealed that the federal government’s program to require doctors and hospitals to adopt electronic health records systems is actually standing in the way of...

The Women’s Pension Protection Act would address challenges women face in accessing retirement security (Washington, D.C.) – Today, Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA), introduced new legislation to address the challenges women face in accessing retirement security to ensure...

“This bill will help ensure that federal programs are more effective in helping pregnant women struggling with opioid use disorders, so that they get the help they need and have healthy babies.” – Lamar Alexander   WASHINGTON, D.C., September 30 – Citing a tenfold increase in Tennessee of infants born addicted to,...

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, at a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Executive Session, Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) submitted remarks on several bipartisan bills to improve the health and wellbeing of families and communities. The Protecting Our Infants Act, the Mental Health Awareness and Improvement Act,...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two Senate committee chairmen urged the administration to immediately adopt stage two modifications for the federal government’s program to require doctors and hospitals to create electronic health records systems and make the rules for stage three final no sooner than January 1, 2017.  The call from...

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...