Ranking Member's Press

WASHINGTON, D.C—Today, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Chairman of the Senate Health,Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, released the following statement in response to thecloture vote on the Employee Free Choice Act. “The American people spoke up—loudly and clearly—in the last election, saying they want aCongress that...

(As prepared for delivery) Over the years, the American workplace has changed immensely for the better. Itwas not so long ago that the normal workday was 10 hours or even more. The workweek wassix days. There was no overtime pay or minimum wage. Workers regularly risked injury ordeath on the job because there were no workplace laws. There was no...

WASHINGTON, D.C— Today, Senators Kennedy, Hatch, Clinton, and Enzi announced anagreement on legislation authorizing the FDA to approve a follow-on version of biologictherapies. The legislation includes standards for the FDA to approve follow-on biologics, amechanism to resolve patents in an expedited way, and strong but responsible incentives...

WASHINGTON, D.C— Today, legislation put forth by Senator Edward M. Kennedy andcolleagues, Senators Mike Enzi, Hillary Clinton and Orrin Hatch to modernize health care forthe 21st century successfully was introduced in the United States Senate. Patient care declinesin quality when physicians do not have access to timely information about the...

WASHINGTON, D.C— Today, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Chairman of the Senate Health,Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, released the following statement in response to theDepartment of Education’s report “Evaluation of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program:Impacts After One Year.” “America’s competitiveness...

WASHINGTON, D.C— Today, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Chairman of the Senate Health,Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, released the following statement in response to theDepartment of Education’s report “Evaluation of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program:Impacts After One Year.” “America’s competitiveness...

WASHINGTON, D.C—Today, Senator Edward M. Kennedy released the following statement inresponse to the Republican remarks on the Employee Free Choice Act. “Opponents of American workers are trafficking in the politics of fear, by grosslymischaracterizing the policies in the Employee Free Choice Act. They’re afraid to give workersa...

WASHINGTON, D.C—Today, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Chairman of the Senate Health,Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, released the following statement in response tothe passage by the HELP Committee of the Higher Education Access Act of 2007 and theHigher Education Amendments of 2007. “This is a historic day for America's students....

WASHINGTON, D.C—Today, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Chairman of the United StatesSenate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, convened an executive session ofthe Committee to move forward on two bills that will help millions of students attend college,the Higher Education Access Act and the Higher Education Amendments of 2007. The...

WASHINGTON, D.C—Today, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Chairman of the Senate Health,Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, released the following statement in response to thepassage by the United States Senate of the Improving Head Start Act. “For forty two years, Head Start has been a lifeline of support for our nation’s...

(As delivered) My heart goes out this morning to the families of the nine fallen firefighters in Charleston, andto my colleagues Senator Graham and DeMint and to the people of Charleston. These fallenheroes made the ultimate sacrifice to protect their fellow citizens. And today we rememberthem and all firefighters and their families for whom...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. George Miller (D-CA), Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV) and Sen. EdwardKennedy (D-MA) today announced a new package of legislation to help improve health andsafety in U.S. mines. The legislation would improve mine emergency response plans, strengthen the ability of thefederal Mine Safety and Health Administration to enforce...

WASHINGTON, DC: Today, as the Senate prepares to take up the Employee Free Choice Actwith a possible vote on Thursday, Senator Kennedy issued the following statement. Also belowis a fact sheet on how the Act will help restore middle class security. “Now that the House has passed the Employee Free Choice Act with bipartisan support,...

WASHINGTON, D.C—Today, Senator Edward M. Kennedy and Health, Education, Labor, andPensions Committee members sent the following letter to the Secretary Education, MargaretSpellings, urging the department to refrain from proposing new regulations on accreditationuntil after the Higher Education Act is reauthorized.

WASHINGTON, D.C.--Today, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Chairman of the United StatesSenate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released a report on thestudent loan system entitled “Report on Marketing Practices in the Federal Family EducationLoan Program." The report discusses the findings of Chairman Kennedy's investigation...

WASHINGTON, D.C—Today, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Chairman of the Senate Health,Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, released the following statement in response tointroduction of the Higher Education Act (HEA) package in the United States House ofRepresentatives. "The House bill responds to the urgent needs of students and their families...

WASHINGTON, D.C– Today, Senators Edward M. Kennedy and Richard G. Lugar welcomed 250students from around the world to promote cultural awareness and understanding. SenatorsKennedy and Lugar founded the Cultural Bridges program in October of 2002 after theSeptember 11th terrorist attacks. The program provides scholarships for secondary...

WASHINGTON, D.C— Today, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Chairman of the Senate Health,Education, Labor and Pensions Committee released the following statement in response to thenomination of Dr. James Holsinger for Surgeon General. “America faces major public health challenges -- TB, health disparities, the growing crisis ofobesity, and many...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, Senator Edward M. Kennedy and Senator Thad Cochranintroduced legislation that would authorize roughly $500 million to improve the health andhealth care of racial and ethnic minority and other health disparity populations. The bill is alsoco-sponsored by Senators Barack Obama, Jeff Bingaman, Hillary Clinton, Sherrod...

WASHINGTON, D.C—Today, Senators Edward Kennedy, Chairman of the Senate Health,Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and Michael Enzi sent letters to Dr. JulieGerberding, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Secretary MichaelChertoff of the Department of Homeland Security requesting information on interactions...