Ranking Member's Press

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today applauded HELP Committee approval of National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) nominee Lauren McGarity McFerran to serve as a Member of the NLRB. Her nomination now goes to the Senate floor for...

WASHINGTON, DC— Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension (HELP) Committee, released the following statement on the final menu labeling rule announced by the White House today. “I commend FDA for issuing a sensible rule that puts the health of the American people first. Every American family...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—This week marks the one-year anniversary of the landmark Drug Quality and Security Act (DQSA), which Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Ranking Member Lamar Alexander (R-TN) introduced and led to passage in the Senate. The DQSA significantly improved...

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today applauded Senate passage of the Sudden Unexpected Death Data Enhancement and Awareness Act, a bipartisan health bill that will help to address the more than 25,000 stillbirths that occur in the...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senior Democrats from the House and Senate today proposed sweeping reforms to the federal program that provides benefits to coal miners suffering from black lung disease.Federal law requires that coal companies compensate disabled miners who contract black lung, which is caused by inhaling coal dust over an extended period of...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today introduced the Higher Education Affordability Act (HEAA), his bill to reauthorize the Higher Education Act. The bill takes a comprehensive approach to rein in rising college costs and ensure the system...

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, delivered the following statement at the HELP Committee hearing on the nomination of Lauren McFerran to serve as a Member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Harkin praised McFerran, urging swift...

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Ranking Member Lamar Alexander (R-TN) today applauded HELP Committee approval of the Adding Ebola to the FDA Priority Review Voucher Program Act.  “As the U.S. continues to respond to Ebola, it...

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today applauded HELP Committee approval of the Sudden Unexpected Death Data Enhancement and Awareness Act. “Every year tens of thousands of families suffer the unimaginable loss of a child due to stillbirth,...

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today applauded HELP Committee approval of two Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) nominees, two Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission nominees, and a Department of Labor (DOL)...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), and Richard Burr (R-NC) today applauded Senate passage of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014, a bipartisan reauthorization that will expand access to and improve the quality of child care for the more than...

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) 2014 Annual Report. Congress requires the agency to provide the Annual Report so that policymakers and the general...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, applauded Congressional passage of two bipartisan health bills: the Sunscreen Innovation Act and the Traumatic Brain Injury Reauthorization Act of 2014. Led by Harkin as chairman, both bipartisan bills were passed...

WASHINGTON D.C. – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today issued the following statement as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the 2013 National Youth Tobacco Survey. The survey shows that tobacco use among young people is decreasing,...

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, delivered the following statement at the HELP Committee hearing on two Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) nominees. The EEOC nominees include P. David Lopez, nominated to serve as General...

WASHINGTON, D.C. —Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released the following statement on today’s announcement from the White House regarding the administration’s withdrawal of Sharon Block’s nomination to serve on the National Labor Relations...

WASHINGTON, D.C. —Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Ranking Member Lamar Alexander (R-TN), along with several other HELP Committee cosponsors introduced a bill to incentivize the development of treatments and vaccines for Ebola by adding the disease to the...

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 October employment report showing that the economy added 214,000 jobs last month, with the national unemployment rate continuing to decrease, falling from 5.9 percent to...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Representative Elijah Cummings (D-MD) today released the following statement regarding the Department of Education’s final gainful employment...

WASHINGTON, D.C. —Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Ranking Member Lamar Alexander (R-TN) announced their intention to introduce a bill to speed the development of treatments and vaccines for Ebola by adding Ebola to FDA’s priority review...