Chair's Press

In letter to Secretary DeVos, Senator Murray and colleagues ask Department to postpone alarming draft regulation and take time to engage with students and stakeholders about their concerns   Draft regulation would weaken responsibility for colleges to address sexual assault, restrict protections for students by adopting dangerous and...

Following report showing increase in STDs, Senator Murray sends letter demanding Surgeon General take action   Nearly 2.3 million cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2017, a 9 percent increase from 2016   Murray calls for response that also addresses large health...

Murray urges colleagues to support effort to overturn President Trump’s junk plans rule   Murray outlines how rule that went into effect last week gives insurance companies more power to sell junk insurance plans and ignore protections for people with pre-existing conditions   Democrats have led the charge against President...

Senator Murray cheers passage of sweeping package to tackle growing opioid epidemic, bill on track to be signed into law   Package includes legislation Senator Murray championed in Senate HELP Committee   In her remarks Senator Murray spoke about the challenges she heard from families in Washington state and provisions in the opioid...

Department’s final rules to deny debt relief and roll back protections against predatory career training programs will not be published by crucial November 1st deadline   Failure to meet the deadline follows outpouring of comments to the Department and widespread opposition from students and families to proposed changes   Missing...

At Senate HELP Committee hearing on implementation of ESSA, Senator Murray stressed the negative impacts on students due to Secretary DeVos’ approval of state plans that do not comply with all of the law’s equity guardrails    Murray also said DeVos’ decision to allow states to use federal funds to purchase guns and...

Murray asks Government Accountability Office to look into process of obtaining paperwork required to divide pensions or retirement accounts following a divorce   Women’s economic security is negatively impacted by divorce, and women are more likely to face poverty in retirement   In 2015, Senator Murray released a...

Newly released data shows Department of Education has not processed more than 105,000 borrower defense claims   Students who were cheated or defrauded by predatory for-profit colleges are entitled to relief under the law   Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor,...

At latest HELP hearing on health costs, Murray stressed importance of transparency to improve health care   Since taking office, President Trump has cut program to help people navigate complexity of health care system from $63 million to $10 million   Murray: “Unfortunately, instead of taking steps toward greater transparency,...

In comment letter, 32 Senate Democrats and 76 House Democrats urge DeVos to suspend sweeping rulemaking process that could undermine protections for students   Protections at stake include preventing unaccredited education providers from receiving taxpayer funds and ensuring students are able to receive substantive faculty instruction and...

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released the following statement today on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) proposal to rewrite the joint employer standard. The current standard requires all corporations with control over...

In comment letter, 31 Senate Democrats urge Secretary DeVos to reverse course on her proposal to rescind Obama Administration “gainful employment” rule   Gainful employment is intended to hold predatory career training programs accountable when they fail to serve students and give students upfront information about their debt and...

Women’s Pension Protection Act addresses set of retirement security challenges disproportionately affecting women   Women are 80 percent more likely than men to face poverty in retirement   Legislation extends spousal protections to prevent one spouse from undermining a couple’s retirement resources without the other’s...

Food and Drug Administration issued over 1,300 warnings and fines for illegal sale of e-cigarette products to minors, warned that e-cigarette use among youth has reached “epidemic proportions”   FDA sent letters to e-cigarette manufacturers demanding plan to reduce youth use, is considering ban of flavored products   Murray:...

Package includes over 70 proposals from five Senate committees   Washington, D.C. – Last week, the Senate agreed to vote on the Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018 (OCRA)—a bipartisan package of over 70 proposals recommended to the full Senate by five committees: Health, Finance, Judiciary, Commerce and Banking—this...

Senators and advocates shared personal stories about the impact of Roe v. Wade and the stakes of Judge Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination   Murray: “Women and men across the country are sharing these deeply personal stories because they want to be sure there is no question about what’s at stake here. Women’s rights...

In hearing, Murray highlights impacts of President Trump’s trade war on workers in Washington state, across the country   Murray also called for fair trade policies that lift up workers here and abroad   Murray: “President Trump is playing a very dangerous game right now and it’s the American workers who are being forced...

In comment letter, 45 Senate Democrats urge Secretary DeVos to abandon her proposed “borrower defense” rule   Proposed rule is the latest in a number of steps taken by Secretary DeVos to make it harder for cheated or defrauded students to get the relief they are entitled to under law   Senators: Proposed rule “fails to...

Last week, the New York Times reported that Secretary DeVos is proposing allowing states and school districts to purchase firearms and firearm training with federal funds   Senators: “This plan runs counter to the bipartisan Every Student Succeeds Act and will make our schools more dangerous, and our students less...

Health Department plans to announce Title X family planning grants with shortened six-month duration, half that of past funding cycles   Decision will hasten Trump Administration’s ability to implement its damaging proposed changes to the program which will restrict access to care for women and institute a domestic gag rule on care...