Chair's Press

Murray outlines priorities to ensure all students have access to a quality education Murray: “Everyone should be able to agree that this law needs to provide every student, in every school, in every state a quality education. And that’s exactly what I’m going to be fighting for.” (Washington, D.C.) – Today, Senate...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Ranking Member of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released the following statement on the Obama Administration’s proposal to make two years of community college free for qualifying students. “Expanding access to college and making it more...

Washington, D.C—Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) released the following statement on her intention to serve as Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee when the new Congress convenes in January. Senator Murray served as Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee this past Congress and will...

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Capping two years of the HELP Committee’s bipartisan accomplishments, Congress this week sent to the President for his signature two additional bills under the jurisdiction of the HELP Committee. When both are signed by the President, they will be the 25th and 26th bills under the jurisdiction of the...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Prescription drug overdose death rates in the United States have more than tripled since 1990 and prescription opioid abuse is an ever-growing problem. Following on their creation of a bipartisan Prescription Drug Abuse Working Group earlier this year, Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, issued the following statement today in support of the National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) final rule to reform and modernize the union representation process. “Today the NLRB has taken an important step in...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today applauded House passage of the bipartisan Newborn Screening Saves Lives Reauthorization Act. Led by Harkin as chairman, this bipartisan health bill was passed by the HELP Committee in December 2013 and...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, joined Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) to announce their introduction of the Students Before Profits Act to help protect students from deceptive practices and bad actors in the for-profit college sector. The...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today issued a statement in response to the proposed cuts to multiemployer pensions programs included in the fiscal year 2015 Omnibus by the U.S. House of Representatives. “We in Congress should have done more to help working people in recent years as the middle class has been squeezed by...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, applauded today’s release of a new study highlighting the outstanding return on investment of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Tips From Former Smokers campaign. According...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA), Ranking Member Lamar Alexander (R-TN), and HELP Committee members Sens. Kay Hagan (D-NC) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) today praised unanimous passage in the Senate of the bipartisan Newborn Screening Saves Lives Reauthorization...

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today applauded Senate approval of National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) nominee Lauren McGarity McFerran to serve as a Member of the NLRB. “Today I am pleased the Senate took the important step of approving...

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 Adding Ebola to the FDA Priority Review Voucher Program Act and the Sudden Unexpected Death Data Enhancement and Awareness Act. Led by...

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today applauded Senate approval of two Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) nominees – P. David Lopez to serve as General Counsel of the EEOC and Charlotte Burrows to serve as a Member of the EEOC....

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 unanimous Senate passage of the Adding Ebola to the FDA Priority Review Voucher Program Act. The bill was unanimously approved by the HELP Committee in...

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...