Ranking Member's Press

“In 2016, there were almost 884 million visits nationwide between patients and physicians... If 15-20 percent of those were to become remote permanently due to telehealth expansion during COVID-19—that would produce a massive change in our health care system. Our job should be to ensure that change is done with the goals of better...

WASHINGTON, June 11, 2020 — Senate health and education Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today said “the single best thing that we could do to help minority children and minority families is to help them go back to school safely in August and September.”   Alexander said on the Senate floor this morning that our...

“Any teacher can explain the risk of emotional, intellectual and social damage if a child misses a school year. 91.3 percent of families with children have at least one parent employed, and among married families with children, 64.2 percent had both parents employed. Many children live in environments where the school is the safest place...

“In this internet age attention spans are short. Even with an event as significant as COVID-19, memories fade and attention moves quickly to the next crisis. That makes it imperative that Congress act on needed changes this year in order to better prepare for the next pandemic.”  WASHINGTON, June 9, 2020 — Senate health...

“President Trump and Congress should not be telling the California State University System that it must open its classes in person, or telling Notre Dame it cannot—or telling UT-Knoxville that it must test everyone on the campus or telling Brown University that it cannot. Colleges themselves, not Washington D.C., should make those...

MARYVILLE, Tenn., May 14, 2020 — U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today spoke to National Public Radio’s (NPR) Mary Louise Kelly to discuss efforts to ramp up COVID-19 testing to allow students to go back to school this fall and his work as chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee during the...

MARYVILLE, Tenn., May 13, 2020 — U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today joined FOX News’ “America's Newsroom” to discuss efforts to ramp up COVID-19 testing to allow students to go back to school this fall, and his work as chairman of the Senate health committee during the COVID-19 pandemic. Transcript of the interview...

MARYVILLE, Tennessee, May 12, 2020 — Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today said “interest rates on new federal student loans will drop to historic lows on July 1st.  “This rate drop is a result of Congress working together in 2013 with President Obama to tie student loan rates to actual...

MARYVILLE, Tennessee, May 12, 2020 — Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today said that COVID-19 testing in the United States is “impressive” and “enough to begin going back to work.” “But millions more rapid tests created by new technologies are needed to...

WASHINGTON, D.C., May 10, 2020 — David Cleary, chief of staff for United States Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), today released the following statement: “Today, Sunday, May 10, a member of Senator Lamar Alexander’s staff tested positive for COVID-19. The staff member is recovering at home and is doing...

MARYVILLE, Tenn., May 10, 2020 — U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today joined Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press” to discuss efforts to ramp up COVID-19 testing and his work as chairman of the Senate health committee during the COVID-19 pandemic. Transcript of the interview...

Alexander Statement on Administration Witnesses for Upcoming Hearing “COVID-19: Safely Getting Back to Work and Back to School” MARYVILLE, Tenn., May 9, 2020 — Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement regarding the upcoming committee hearing “COVID-19: Safely Getting...

WASHINGTON, May 7, 2020 — Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today said “all roads back to work and back to school lead through testing.” Alexander made his remarks during the Senate health committee hearing—“Shark Tank: New Tests for COVID-19”—which featured testimony from Dr....

WASHINGTON, May 6, 2020 — U.S. Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement after the U.S. Department of Education made final its rule clarifying Title IX — a federal law protecting students from sex discrimination in education programs or activities that receive federal...

WASHINGTON, May 5, 2020 — United States Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement: “With the increasing number of diagnostic tests available, I expect attitudes to change quickly about accepting the president’s offer to test members of Congress for COVID-19, especially as the House of...

 WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.), Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies, and U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, applauded an announcement from the National...

MARYVILLE, Tenn., April 23, 2020 – United States Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) made the following statement on the 2018 results released today from the “Nation’s Report Card:” "These results from the ‘Nation’s Report Card’ are sobering. They remind us that the worst...

MARYVILLE, Tennessee, April 21, 2020 — U.S. Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today said that the Senate has “pulled out all the stops” to help increase COVID-19 diagnostic testing in order to contain the disease and give Americans the confidence to go back to work and back to school. Senator Alexander...