Chair's Press

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) today sent letters to the CEOs of four pharmaceutical companies launching a major investigation into the extremely high prices...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released the following statement after 1,700 nurses at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Jersey secured a historic union contract – after 5 months on the picket line – that will improve dangerous and...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, on Thursday issued the following statement after the White House announced that the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) would make “fair pricing” a standard part of contract negotiations for...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today led a committee hearing on the diabetes epidemic and obesity epidemic in America, what is fueling these crises, and what must be done to address them. Sanders’ opening remarks, as prepared for delivery, are below...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 11 – The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, chaired by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), will hold a hearing Thursday, December 14 at 10:00 a.m. ET titled, “What is Fueling the Diabetes Epidemic?”The type-2 diabetes epidemic and the obesity epidemic are directly related and both epidemics are getting worse....

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, on Thursday issued the following statement after the White House announced a new framework to help guide the use of march-in rights to break the patent monopoly on some taxpayer-funded prescription drugs: The...

A discussion draft containing technical corrections and other clarifications with respect to the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, has been released by Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chair Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont) and Ranking Member Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-Louisiana) along with Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Oregon)...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 – Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Ranking Member Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-La.) announced today that they have reached an agreement to markup legislation reauthorizing the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT)...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 – In letters signed by every Democratic member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Ben Ray...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 – Ahead of a vote on Senate Joint Resolution 43, that would deny student debt relief to millions of Americans, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, gave remarks today on the floor of the U.S. Senate urging his colleagues to vote "no" and instead work to...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today led a committee hearing titled, “Standing Up Against Corporate Greed: How Unions are Improving the Lives of Working Families,” which heard testimony from UAW International President Shawn Fain, Teamsters General...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 – With growing reports of horrific anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and racism occurring on college campuses and in schools across the U.S. since October 7, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today released the following statement: Given the horrific war taking...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), on Wednesday announced the committee will hold a hearing next week entitled, “Standing Up Against Corporate Greed: How Unions are Improving the Lives of Working Families.” Union leaders representing working people who...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 – As negotiations on new rules for addressing pandemics are underway at the World Health Organization (WHO), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today sent a letter to Ambassador Pamela Hamamoto urging her to push for the inclusion of strong reasonable...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 – Ahead of the final Senate confirmation vote today on nominee Dr. Monica Bertagnolli to serve as the Director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, spoke on the floor of the Senate on the need to lower the cost...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 – A new report released today by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that financial aid provided by the federal government during the COVID-19 pandemic helped millions of working-class Americans reduce their credit card debt. It was the first time in nearly a decade that the share of active credit card accounts with...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 – Ahead of tomorrow’s Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee field hearing in New Brunswick, New Jersey on the national nursing crisis, Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) asked Mark Manigan, the CEO of RWJBarnabas Health, and Alan Lee, the CEO of the non-profit Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, to...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today released the following statement ahead of tomorrow’s committee markup of Dr. Monica Bertagnolli’s nomination to serve as Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH): Our health care system is broken and...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 – The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) on Wednesday, October 25, at 10:00 a.m. ET, will hold a markup on the following nominations: Nomination of Monica Bertagnolli to be Director of the National Institutes of Health     Nomination of Charlotte Burrows to be Chair of the Equal Employment...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today sent a letter to Christi Grimm, Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), urging a thorough investigation into the National Institutes of Health (NIH) after the NIH proposed, in...