Ranking Member's Press

WASHINGTON, March 16 – The Senate health committee today passed legislation to help address the country’s mental health crisis and help ensure Americans suffering from mental illness and substance use disorders receive the care they need. The committee also passed additional legislation to help tackle the opioid epidemic by...

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 14 – Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today made the following statement after the Senate voted to approve the nomination of Dr. John King Jr. to serve as U.S. Secretary of Education: “We need an education secretary confirmed by and accountable to the United States Senate so...

WASHINGTON, March 10 – U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said today the Senate’s passage of legislation to address heroin and prescription drug abuse is “an important step in addressing this fast-growing epidemic that is claiming the lives of more than 1,000 Tennesseans each year.” The legislation passed the Senate by...

“I think we can produce the most important bill of the Congress this year because our work on this bill will affect virtually every American – and I look forward to doing it promptly.” Senator Alexander also delivered remarks on #Innovation2016 this afternoon on the Senate floor. Click HERE for full video of those...

“Last year, No Child Left Behind was the law everyone wanted fixed – this year, biomedical innovation is the opportunity everyone wants to take….Virtually every American could be helped by what we do.” WASHINGTON, D.C., March 9 – Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today said that...

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 9 – Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) made the following statement after the Senate education committee voted to approve the nomination of Dr. John King Jr. to serve as U.S. Secretary of Education: “The new bipartisan law fixing No Child Left Behind represents a dramatic change in direction for...

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 7 – A bipartisan group of Senate health committee members, including the Chairman and Ranking Member, today announced their plan to address the country’s mental health crisis and ensure Americans suffering from mental illness and substance abuse disorders receive the care they need. The bipartisan draft...

“This new law reverses the trend toward what had become, in effect, a national school board, and restores to those closest to children the responsibility for their well-being and academic success.” WASHINGTON, D.C., February 25 – The chairman of the Senate education committee today told the president’s nominee for...

I’m committed to supporting the president’s precision medicine initiative through our Senate health committee’s innovation agenda to ensure that Americans can take advantage of this remarkable time in science.” WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb. 25 – Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released...

WASHINGTON, February 24 – Below are prepared remarks from Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) for today’s hearing – Zika Virus: Addressing the Growing Public Health Threat: Earlier this month, Senator McConnell hosted a briefing on the Zika virus with Secretary Burwell. Two weeks ago, the Senate...

WASHINGTON, February 24 – Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today made the following statement after the Senate approved Dr. Robert Califf to lead the Food and Drug Administration (FDA): “Dr. Califf is now in place to lead an agency that regulates over $4 trillion annually and affects the lives of...

“The failure of Obamacare’s online insurance marketplace – which, according to today’s report, cost taxpayers twice what was budgeted and still isn’t operating the way the administration claimed it would – is just one symptom of an all too common affliction in Washington, D.C.: trying to address complex issues...

“I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today about how we implement this law to spur a period of innovation and excellence, that I'm sure will be the result of this new era of accountability and responsibility and opportunity placed in the hands of those who should have the responsibility for our children and our schools: …...

“There’s no doubt, as the Wall Street Journal said, that this is the ‘largest devolution of federal control to the states in a quarter-century.’ There also is no doubt that a law is not worth the paper it’s printed on unless it’s implemented properly.” WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 — The chairman of the U.S....

WASHINGTON—At the closing session of the National Governors Association (NGA) Winter Meeting on Monday, Feb. 22, NGA Chair Utah Gov. Gary Herbert will award Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander with the first-ever James Madison Award. The James Madison Award recognizes a prominent public figure for advancing the principles of federalism and...

“Last year Congress saw an urgent need and passed a bill to fix No Child Left Behind with broad support from Republicans and Democrats. This year, the urgent need is higher education.” Nashville, Tenn., February 16 – Congress should this year help more students attend college by simplifying the “dreaded”...

“The backlash against Washington trying to tell 100,000 schools what they should be doing caused people on both the left and the right to remember that the path to higher standards and better teaching and real accountability is community by community, classroom by classroom, state by state, and not through the federal government dictating the...

“Obamacare was a takeover of the health care system, the federal pocketbook, and the family budget.” WASHINGTON, D.C., February 11 – A new study of Obamacare by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office requested by Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) finds that health insurance premiums will...

WASHINGTON, February 11 – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate education committee, released the following statement on the White House announcement that the president intends to nominate John King Jr. to serve as U.S. education secretary: “I have urged the president to nominate an education secretary, and...

WASHINGTON, February 9 – Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) today announced that the Senate health committee has unanimously passed bipartisan legislation that will improve health information technology. Alexander said: “Our goal is to make our country's electronic health record system...