Press Releases

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), the top Democrat on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Congressman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA), the ranking member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, praised a new standard to reduce workplace exposure to beryllium, a mineral...

As the Senate starts its month-long recess, Democrats took a parting shot at Republicans for blocking measures they say would benefit workers, an issue that will likely find its way into congressional and presidential campaigns in the fall of 2016. Sen. Patty Murray, ranking Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee...

WASHINGTON, D.C., August 5 – Senate labor committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today said Senate Democrats’ proposals to create new mandates on American employers were “designed to make it harder to hire and harder to find work.” “With more than 10 percent of American workers either unemployed or...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 5 – U.S. Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement on the “Student Protection and Success Act,” introduced today by Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) to give colleges and universities a stronger role in sharing the risk of lending to...

Senators raise doubts about whether ED officials adequately reported results of their Servicemembers Civil Relief Act reviews A copy of the letter is available here A copy of the Warren staff report is available here WASHINGTON, DC - Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Senator...

WASHINGTON, D.C., August 5 – U.S. Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today said federal aid policies should encourage students to make progress in college and complete on time, and higher education policies should help colleges and universities help their students finish their degree or...

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) delivered remarks at a hearing on Reauthorizing the Higher Education Act: Opportunities to Improve Student Success. In her remarks, Murray said she would continue to be focused on making sure more students from all...

*WATCH: Murray, Warren call for moving forward on legislation to help working families, Republicans object*   (Washington, D.C.) – Today, Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) asked unanimous consent to move forward on legislation to expand economic security and stability for working families across the country. The...

Murray: “In Congress, we must act to give workers some much needed relief.  We need to grow our economy from the middle out, not the top down.  And we should make sure our country works for all Americans, not just the wealthiest few.”   (Washington, D.C.) – Today, Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP)...

Murray: “Political attacks and threats to shut down the government aren’t going to get in the way of women’s access to the care they need.”   (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...

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 31 – Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement on the administration’s plan to make some state and federal prisoners eligible for Pell grants: “This may be a worthwhile idea for some prisoners, but the administration absolutely does not...

WASHINGTON, July 30 – House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-Minn.), Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Senate Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wash.), and House Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-Va.) today met to discuss proceeding with a conference committee to...

Agree to recommend House Chairman John Kline to chair the conference committee to reconcile House- and Senate-passed bills   WASHINGTON, July 30 – House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-Minn.), Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Senate Ranking Member...

Murray: “Simply put, in colleges and universities across the country, basic human rights are being violated.” (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 Reauthorizing the Higher Education Act:...

Bipartisan bill will improve programs to increase awareness, prevention, and early identification of mental health conditions   WASHINGTON, D.C., July 29 – Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) today introduced the Mental Health Awareness and Improvement Act, a bill to...

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 29 – Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today said the committee’s objective, in its work to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, is to ensure that any federal law or regulation will help the nation’s 6,000 colleges and universities create a campus environment that...

(Washington, D.C.) – Yesterday, the U.S. Senate passed a bipartisan resolution from U.S. Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Patty Murray (D-WA) to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which was signed into law on July 26, 1990.   “As we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Americans with...

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) released the following statement to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid, which were signed into law on July 30, 1965.   “Fifty years ago, President Johnson signed into law a promise to...

Sen. Lamar Alexander walked into Sen. Patty Murray’s office and closed the door. Alexander, a Republican from Tennessee, had just taken control of the education committee in the new GOP-led Senate and was determined to rewrite No Child Left Behind, the main K-12 federal education law. It was early February, and he had released a draft of his...

Some college administrators are complaining they already have enough regulations about responding to sexual assault, but lawmakers like Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) have no intention of abandoning plans for new federal rules on the issue. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension committee will hold its first hearing Wednesday on the Campus...