Senator Murray Reflects on Her Time Leading Senate HELP Committee
***WATCH: Senator Murray’s floor speech***
(Washington, D.C.) – Today, in remarks on the Senate floor, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), reflected on her tenure as the top Democrat on the Committee and all the progress made over eight years to address challenges families across the country face—and recognized the tireless work of both her colleagues on the Committee and her staff, which made it all possible.
Senator Murray’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, are below:
“Thank you M. President.
“I’ve had the honor over the past several years to lead the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.
“It’s a Committee I truly feel represents the heart and soul of our country’s values.
“And as I prepare to hand over the gavel to my colleague Senator Sanders in the new Congress, I want to take a moment to reflect on the incredible work we’ve done on the Committee, and recognize the many people who have made it all possible.
“Especially my colleagues on the Committee over the last eight years who worked time and time again across the aisle to solve tough problems together.
“From health care, to education, to supporting workers and retirees, and working to ensure everyone can live with dignity and respect, the issues we tackle are the issues families across this country face in their everyday lives.
“They are the issues I constantly hear about when I’m talking with people back in Washington state.
“And, during my time as the top Democrat on this Committee—spanning three presidential administrations—we’ve had so much to talk about.
“After all, a lot can happen in eight years—especially when you push every day to work with your colleagues and make progress for families.
“We’ve made sweeping changes to help students and families, defended and expanded health care coverage and worked to bring down drug costs, updated and expanded worker training, helped expedite and expand our national efforts to bring cutting edge medicine to millions, addressed the unfair practice of surprise medical bills, and more… all before we worked to face the COVID pandemic.
“During our COVID response efforts we were able to bring about: the largest federal investment in child care ever. We provided significant resources to get all kids safely back in the classroom and address students’ academic and mental health needs—which the pandemic worsened. We made historic investments to ensure seniors and people with disabilities can get the care they need to live independently, and we saved the pensions of over half a million workers and retirees and counting.
“But M. President, if I had to pick one moment that set the tone for my time leading this Committee, I’d have to say it was right after the 2014 election when I was preparing to take over as Ranking Member, and Senator Alexander was the incoming Chair.
“As every colleague in this this chamber knows, Senator Alexander was a true partner in always wanting to sit down and find solutions to problems.
“And for six years, we continued the long-standing HELP tradition of finding bipartisan solutions to issues large and small.
“Early on we sat down and found we both were hearing from schools, educators, parents who all agreed: No Child Left Behind was not working. We had to do better.
“It was time to replace the No Child Left Behind Act.
“Now, Senator Alexander, my partner across the dais for six years, has said before, he had initially been thinking of moving forward on a partisan bill.
“But thank goodness—that’s not what happened.
“He chose to work with me. Together, we followed his old 80-20 rule of finding the 80 percent where we could agree and working on that to help American families.
“And instead of staking out partisan positions, we staked out common ground with a bipartisan draft bill—which ultimately became the Every Student Succeeds Act.
“That was one of the first of many bipartisan breakthroughs HELP has made over the last eight years.
“But following that model, it was far from the last.
“In fact, one year—and three days—after President Obama signed ESSA into law.
“He was signing another massive, bipartisan HELP bill—the 21st Century Cures Act, a package of policies focused on advancing biomedical innovation for patients and families. Our bill also included sweeping mental health reforms championed by Senators Murphy and Cassidy. It focused on addressing the opioids crisis, and it created the Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot.
“We built on that work even further with our 2017 FDA user fee package, and even now, Senator Burr and I are strengthening that legacy in the end-of-year package.
“Senator Alexander and I also worked with Senator Casey, Senator Enzi, and others to strengthen our workforce with a bipartisan reauthorization of the Perkins Career and Technical Education Act which invests in students and workers by giving them the education, skills, and training they need to get better jobs and higher wages, and includes accountability measures to help improve programs and ensure people aren’t falling through the cracks.
“And working with Senator Hassan and Senator Cassidy, we passed the No Surprises Act to finally end surprise medical bills and establish new price transparency rules for hospitals.
“Our legislation has already stopped millions of people from getting hit with exorbitant bills for care they thought was covered—including two million patients in Washington state.
“Senator Alexander and I also passed the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act to fight the opioid crisis, and help those on the frontlines of this effort.
“And it’s painfully clear in light of the sharp rise in youth mental health crises, and the deadly new threat of fentanyl, there is more to do here.
“Which is why Senator Burr and I have been working around the clock this year on the bipartisan package of mental health and substance use disorder policies we included in the omnibus.
“And then, of course, there was COVID-19.
“On the HELP Committee, we worked quickly to respond to the pandemic in the spring of 2020—with historic, bipartisan relief bills.
“And regular, bipartisan briefings and oversight hearings to press the Administration about the issues with our pandemic response.
“The many packages we put together addressed so many facets of our response from: getting shots in arms, getting kids safely back in school for in-person learning, getting businesses open, and getting people back to their daily lives.
“And Senator Burr and I have continued to work to provide oversight of our COVID response, and craft bipartisan legislation to make sure we fully learn the lessons of this pandemic.
“This has been a life passion for him—even before the pandemic Senator Burr was a leader on these issues.
“As a hearing witness once put it, he is the ‘papa of PAHPA’—the bill which is the foundation of our public health and pandemic preparedness system.
“And I could not have asked for a better partner across the aisle to work with me on strengthening that foundation these last two years.
“I will miss Senator Burr and his passion and desire to get things done.
“I join all of my colleagues in wishing him the best as he gets some well-earned grandparent time, and being jealous of how much fishing he will be fitting in over the next few years.
“Thanks to our joint focus we were able to include most of our bipartisan PREVENT Pandemics Act in the end-of-year omnibus, along with an impressive suite of other bipartisan bills.
“Like the FDA package I alluded to earlier which, among other steps, includes policies to address the infant formula shortage, reform accelerated approvals, and improve diversity in clinical trials.
“Our FDA package includes bipartisan cosmetics reform as well.
“This is something we have been trying to get done since Senator Kennedy was chair—and I am so glad we are finally getting it across the finish line.
“The omnibus also includes bipartisan deals we negotiated to bolster families’ financial security through greater access to retirement plans, better information about fees and lump sum pension buyouts, and new emergency savings accounts.
“And to respond to our nation’s mental health and substance use disorder crisis—which the rise of fentanyl has made so much worse.
“M. President this is so important.
“I’ve heard from too many heartbroken parents who lost a child to suicide or drug use, too many first responders who are feeling overwhelmed by the sharp rise in overdoses, too many kids struggling with depression, stress, and anxiety.
“Getting them help has been a priority for me all year.
“And the package Senator Burr and I negotiated includes valuable steps to strengthen the new 9-8-8 suicide hotline, make it easier for people to get substance use disorder treatment, help states tackle the opioid crisis head on, support mental health care for kids, and more.
“And, amid all this work on the HELP Committee, I’ve also been fortunate to have Senator Blunt as my partner on the LHHS Appropriations subcommittee.
“We’ve worked on a parallel track, in a bipartisan way, to provide historic support for biomedical research, more than triple the size of our child care programs, fund new CDC programs to look at issues like maternal mortality and gun violence, make progress toward my goal of doubling Pell grants, and so much more.
“I’m honored to have played a part in so much progress over the past few years.
“Of course, I could not have done it without willing partners down the dais and across the aisle.
“I didn’t always agree with Senator Alexander, or Senator Burr, or Senator Blunt.
“But I always trusted them to hear me out, to understand families sent us here to fight problems, not each other, and to make a sincere effort to find common ground.
“And speaking of common ground—Senator Burr had several lessons he shared in his farewell speech last week, and I’d like to take a moment to heed one of those lessons now: “Thank your staff. They are actually the reason you are here—it isn’t you.”
“I couldn’t agree more.
“We couldn’t hold a single hearing, confirm a single nominee, pass a single bill without them.
“Simply put? We couldn’t do our jobs without the many staff members who are so dedicated to doing theirs.
“So I’d like to thank the nonpartisan Committee staff, led by the Chief Clerk, Chung Shek, who have supported both sides over the past eight years, helped us put together so many hearings, and allowed us to make unprecedented adaptations during the COVID pandemic.
“I would like to thank the staffs of Senators Alexander and Burr for their cooperation and collegiality, in particular David Cleary and Lindsey Seidman.
“And, most of all, I’d like to thank so many members of my team, past and present, who have done so much.
“There are too many to name, so I will name just a few and submit the full list for the record: Nick Bath, my Health Policy Director for all eight years; Kara Marchione, my Education Policy Director; Amanda Perez, my Labor Policy Director; Kendra Isaacson, my Pensions lead; Amanda Lowe, my Disability lead; Carly Rush, my Oversight lead and General Counsel; Anali Alegria, my HELP Communications Director; and so many others, current and past.
“And of course, our ‘fearless leaders’: my Staff Director, Evan Schatz, and Deputy Staff Director, John Righter, who have done a fantastic job steering my team over the past eight years.
“Thank you all. I am so grateful for all you have done for me, and for all we have been able to do for the American people.
“It’s clear you understand we aren’t just writing words on a page. We are writing policies that shape the lives of families across the country, and the future of our nation.
“And that means so much to me—because I know what it’s like to be one of those families hanging on by a thread.
“I know just how personal the HELP Committee’s work can be—what it’s like to try and get by on a tight budget.
“My dad got sick with multiple sclerosis and that meant he couldn’t work—but thank goodness VA helped cover his medical bills.
“So with my dad sick, my mother had to work while raising seven children. And to make ends meet she was able to take advantage of a federal work program so she could get a decent job as a bookkeeper.
“And my siblings and I were all able to afford college thanks to federal grants and student loans.
“I also remember in the days before Roe, my friend wasn’t able to safely get an abortion and ultimately lost her ability to have kids—because politicians put their ideology ahead of her health.
“And as a mom in tennis shoes, I got into politics to advocate for a preschool program my kids were in that our state was threatening to cut.
“This work is deeply personal to me. As a former preschool teacher, a mother, and a grandmother, it has meant so much to me to have this opportunity to lead us forward on so many of the issues that motivated me to get involved in politics in the first place.
“And I look forward to continuing that work in the new Congress both as a member of the HELP Committee under Chair Sanders and Ranking Member Cassidy, and as the Chair of the Appropriations Committee, working alongside my friend Senator Collins.
“I plan to tackle that new role, with the same approach that has proven so effective these past eight years leading the HELP Committee.
“Because there is still so much more work to do to ensure health care is truly a right not a privilege, every kid can get a high quality, public education, every parent can get child care, every worker has a living wage, a safe workplace, paid leave, and a secure future, every woman can get abortion care and make their own health care decisions, and to tackle the harsh realities of unequal or downright unfair systems that have held too many families back.
“Our nation is facing so many crises at this moment: the child care crisis, the mental health and substance use disorder crisis, the economic challenge of recovering from the pandemic, and global challenges like supporting our allies and standing up for democracy.
“And M. President— we aren’t going to solve them by fighting each other.
“Our best bet for meaningful progress next Congress, is to work together and listen to each other.
“So I’m going to continue listening to the people of Washington state, bringing their voices and concerns here to Washington, D.C., and urging my colleagues to work with me to focus on making their lives a little easier.
“And I’m going to continue coming to work every day asking how do we help the people we represent? How do we solve problems for everyone? And who is willing to work with me on this?
“Thank you.”
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