Ranking Member's Press

WASHINGTON, D.C.—On the fifth anniversary of the last minimum wage increase, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Representative George Miller (D-CA), and Senator Al Franken (D-MN) held a press conference to outline the growing pay cut currently faced by millions of minimum- and low-wage workers as a result of Congressional Republicans’ refusal...

“Since the establishment of state land-grant universities, our country has rightly recognized higher education as an essential public good. States have played a critical role to an affordable college education, through investing in higher education, being a key player in oversight, and developing strategies to increase degree...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, issued the following statement after the HELP Committee approved seven bipartisan bills at a Committee markup today. The approved bills include: the Promoting Physical Activity for Americans Act; the Paul D....

WASHINGTON, D.C.—In response to recent workplace trends and supporting research that suggests uncertain work schedules can have broad negative consequences for working families, leading Democratic members of Congress today introduced legislation to stem abusive scheduling practices directed primarily at hourly workers. In some of the...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today issued the following statement after President Obama signed into law the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). The bill seeks to update and improve the nation’s workforce development and...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) released the following statement today following rulings from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (King v. Burwell)  and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (Halbig v. Burwell) regarding the use of tax credits on state-based Health Insurance Marketplaces. Harkin is...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) released the following statement today applauding the approval of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CPRD) by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and urging its consideration by the full Senate. Harkin is the Senate author of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)...

*As Prepared for Delivery* “Thank you to Senator Casey for holding this important hearing so that we can learn more about the struggles that coal miners and their families face when filing claims for benefits under the Black Lung Benefits Act.  “Although we don’t really mine coal in Iowa anymore, protecting the health,...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released the following statement today regarding the news that on Monday, President Obama will sign an Executive Order (EO) banning workplace discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) workers...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released the following statement today after Senate Republicans obstructed consideration of theProtect Women’s Health from Corporate Interference Act, also known as the Not My Boss’s Business Act. Harkin...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Bob Casey (D-PA) introduced the Hide No Harm Act of 2014, a bill that would make it a crime for a corporate officer to knowingly conceal the fact that a corporate action or product poses a danger of death or serious physical injury to consumers and workers. The...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Members of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, led by Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Ranking Member Lamar Alexander (R-TN), are pressing for answers following three separate incidents in which select agents were reportedly improperly handled, stored, or transferred by federal laboratories...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Labor, Education, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today joined Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and Al Franken (D-MN) to introduce legislation to curb abuses that deprive employees and retirees of their earnings and retirement...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released the results of an undercover investigation into pension advance companies requested by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee and Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Ranking Member of the HELP Committee. GAO...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Yesterday, the House of Representatives approved the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act by a bipartisan vote of 415-6.  When the bill is signed by the President, as he has indicated he will do, fourteen bills in the HELP Committee’s jurisdiction—under the leadership of Chairman Tom Harkin...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Legislation to update the Workforce Investment Act, overdue for reauthorization for more than a decade, is headed to the President’s desk following overwhelming bipartisan support from both houses of Congress. The Senate and House authors of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) applauded the...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, joined his Senate Democratic colleagues in introducing the Protect Women’s Health from Corporate Interference Act. The bill would restore the contraceptive coverage requirement guaranteed by the Affordable...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today released the following statement on the June employment report showing that the economy added 288,000 jobs last month, with the national unemployment rate falling to 6.1 percent from 6.3...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) released the following statement today on two reports issued by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regarding the verification of eligibility for coverage and financial help through the Marketplace.  Harkin is Chairman of the Senate...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released the following statement today on the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s (PBGC) FY2013 Projections Report. Congress requires the agency to provide the Projections Report so that policymakers and the...