Press Releases

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) delivered remarks at a HELP Committee roundtable on Fixing No Child Left Behind: Innovation to Better Meet the Needs of Students. In her opening statement, Murray explained that supporting innovation in education is a...

Leaders of HELP Committee plan bipartisan working groups, series of hearings  WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 - Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate HELP Committee, today announced they are launching a bipartisan initiative to examine the process for getting safe treatments, devices...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 3, 2015 – At a roundtable on fixing No Child Left Behind today, U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate education committee, said the federal government ought to be an enabler and encourager, rather than a mandater, of state and local K-12 innovation. Today’s roundtable marked the 27th hearing in...

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) released the following statement on the education proposals in President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2016 Budget. “Ensuring that every student has access to a high-quality education is one of the best investments...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), along with Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Michael Bennet (D-Utah) and today introduced S. 316, The Expanding Opportunities Through Quality Charter Schools Act, which streamlines existing Charter School Programs and provides startup, replication and expansion...

*** “We have a real opportunity to work together and get a result so that cutting-edge medicine begins reaching patients more quickly, while still preserving this nation’s gold standard for safety and quality …The President has recognized this, Chairman Upton in the House is working on this, and I have spoken with Secretary...

WASHINGTON – Republican leaders in the House and Senate today sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell amidst growing concerns about the security and privacy of consumer information shared on HealthCare.gov. This letter follows a September 17, 2014, letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services regarding...

Raising the overtime salary threshold would help millions of middle-class Americans earn time-and-a-half-pay when they work more than 40 hours a week  Democrats continue focus on increasing wages, economic security WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, led by U.S. Sens. Patty Murray (D-WA), the top Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor,...

Report details challenges to getting cutting-edge treatments, devices and cures to American patients  WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 – Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Richard Burr (R-N.C.) today released a report on the challenges to getting safe treatments, devices and cures to patients more quickly and effectively, examining what is...

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) delivered remarks at a committee hearing on Employer Wellness Programs: Better Health Outcomes and Lower Costs. In her opening statement, Murray highlighted that wellness programs are a key tool to help workers improve...

*** “If we’re going to have a conversation in this country about enabling high-quality, lower-cost insurance, we should start with the roughly half of Americans who have health insurance through an employer.”  – Lamar Alexander  WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan. 29 –U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the chairman of...

WASHINGTON - Today, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) introduced the American Job Protection Act, a bill to repeal Obamacare’s job-killing employer mandate.  Under the President’s health law, businesses with 50...

HELP Committee Executive SessionSenator Murray StatementsJanuary 28, 2015 Executive Session Opening Statement: “Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thanks to you and your staff for your cooperation with me and my staff on the items before us today. “I intend to support each of the items on today’s agenda and urge my colleagues to do so...

Bill makes research easier to access and more relevant at state, local levels WASHINGTON, January 28 – Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), and Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the respective Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate education committee, today announced that the committee passed legislation to improve the quality of education research...

WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan. 28 – Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) today announced assignments for the committee’s three subcommittees for the 114th Congress after committee members approved the subcommittees and rules in an executive...

WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan. 28 – The Senate health committee today unanimously approved the Older Americans Act Reauthorization Act of 2015, bipartisan legislation by U.S. Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) with Senators Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Bernie Sanders...

Washington, D.C., January 28 – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate labor committee, today introduced the NLRB Reform Act to turn the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from an advocate to an umpire and keep the general counsel from operating as an activist for one...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 27 – Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) commented on the release of House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton’s (R-Mich.) discussion document for the “21st Century Cures” initiative: “One of the committee’s top...

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) delivered remarks at a committee hearing on Fixing No Child Left Behind: Supporting Teachers and School Leaders. In her opening statement, Murray recognized the challengesteachers and school leaders face, and called for...

Given all of the great progress that states and local school districts have made on standards, accountability, tests, and teacher evaluation over the last 30 years—you’ll get a lot more progress with a lot less opposition if you leave those decisions there.”  –Lamar Alexander  WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan....