Chair's Press

Harkin Statement on Senate Passage of Animal Drug User Fee Bill  WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, applauded the Senate’s passage of the Animal Drug User Fee Agreement (ADUFA) and Animal Generic Drug User Fee Agreement (AGDUFA) reauthorizations....

WASHINGTON—Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, spoke on the floor of the Senate about Republican obstructionism that has prevented a scheduled Committee vote this afternoon on the nomination of Thomas Perez to be Secretary of Labor. Below is the full text of Harkin’s...

WASHINGTON – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Representative Jan Schakowsky (IL-9) have introduced companion resolutions in the Senate and House to express support for expanded home health care services. Long-term services and supports for seniors and individuals with disabilities are proven to be cost-effective, and they enable Americans to...

WASHINGTON--Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committeeand of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies—and author of the prevention and public health title of the Affordable Care Act—spoke on the floor of the Senate...

Washington, D.C., April 26– Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Ranking Member Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), with Senators Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and other members of the HELP Committee, today released draft legislation that would improve the...

This discussion draft reflects bipartisan efforts to develop consensus policy proposals regarding appropriate regulation of pharmaceutical compounding. Our goal is to solicit feedback on the policy merits, potential unintended consequences, and potential opportunities to improve the legislative language. The discussion draft is available...

This discussion draft reflects bipartisan efforts to develop consensus policy proposals regarding appropriate regulation of pharmaceutical compounding. Our goal is to solicit feedback on the policy merits, potential unintended consequences, and potential opportunities to improve the legislative language. The discussion draft is available...

Washington, DC - Today, bipartisan coalitions in the Senate and House introduced the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) to prohibit job discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The Senate bill is sponsored by Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Tammy Baldwin...

This discussion draft reflects a yearlong effort to find bipartisan, consensus policy on drug distribution security. Chairman Harkin, Ranking Member Alexander, and Senators Bennet and Burr request that stakeholders provide written responses, including their level of support for the overall proposal in addition to any comments regarding the...

This discussion draft reflects a yearlong effort to find bipartisan, consensus policy on drug distribution security. Chairman Harkin, Ranking Member Alexander, and Senators Bennet and Burr request that stakeholders provide written responses, including their level of support for the overall proposal in addition to any comments regarding the...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released the following statement on the adoption of the Mental Health Awareness and Improvement Act as an amendment to S.649, the Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act of 2013. The mental health...

*As Prepared for Delivery* “I am pleased to welcome our distinguished nominee for Secretary of Labor, Thomas Perez, and I thank our two Senators from Maryland for their gracious introductions.  "As we have just heard, Tom Perez’s life is the story of the American Dream.  The child of immigrants from the Dominican Republican,...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Ranking Member Lamar Alexander (R-TN) today urged the Senate to pass the Mental Health Awareness and Improvement Act, a mental health package passed by the Committee this morning that reauthorizes and improves programs administered...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) and HELP Committee Ranking Member Lamar Alexander (R-TN) today introduced the Mental Health Awareness and Improvement Act, a mental health package that reauthorizes and improves programs administered by both the Departments of Education...

WASHINGTON—Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, released the following statement in reaction to President Obama’s decision to nominate a full slate of board members for the National Labor Relations Board:   “I am pleased that President Obama has put forth a...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – America’s workers are often presented with false and misleading information regarding fees and their options on what to do with their 401(k) assets when they leave an employer, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation released today by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), Rep. George Miller (D-CA), and...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), Chairman of the HELP Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety, have signed on as original cosponsors of the recently-introduced Protecting America’s Workers Act (PAWA). The...

WASHINGTON—Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, released the following statement on the third anniversary of the enactment of the Affordable Care Act: “Three years after we passed the most significant health care law since the creation of Medicare, American families are...

WASHINGTON--Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee,  issued the following statement in response to the House Education and Workforce Committee's passage of a bill to prevent the National Labor Relations Board from conducting its work: "This bill is just the latest front in the...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) today reintroduced the Healthy Families Act, legislation that would allow workers to earn paid sick leave to use when they are sick, to care for a sick family member, to obtain preventive care, or to address the impacts of domestic violence. “A full forty percent...