Ranking Member's Press

“The Senate Health, Education, and Labor Committee has produced some of the most significant legislation of any Senate committee this year. In a dysfunctional Congress, among senators with profound ideological differences, our work shows what can happen when you focus on getting results on issues important to the American people."...

WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 19 – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) made the following statement on the complaints filed today by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) general counsel, which hold McDonald’s brand corporation liable as a “joint employer”:  “The NLRB general counsel’s complaints...

WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 19 – House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN) and Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Ranking Member Lamar Alexander (R-TN) issued the following statements after the Department of Education released the framework for an unprecedented college ratings system: “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...

*** “The surgeon general is known as ‘the nation’s doctor.’ He leads a professional corps of 6,800 commissioned public health officers. …Unfortunately, Dr. Murthy’s experience does not demonstrate the leadership and knowledge of public health that we expect from our surgeons general.”  –Lamar...

WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 12 – Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) made the following statements after the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) released its final rule today authorizing “ambush elections,” which shorten the length of time in which a labor union certification is...

WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 9 – 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...

“Mr. Lopez has been chiefly responsible for the agency’s pursuit of high-profile lawsuits that have been rebuked by the courts."   –Lamar Alexander  WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 3 –U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today voted against the president’s nominee for general counsel of the Equal...

WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 2— 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...

*CLICK TO READ REPORT* WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov. 24  –U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the senior Republican on the Senate labor committee, today released a staff report that finds litigation missteps at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission are costing taxpayers millions while EEOC faces a deep backlog of discrimination...

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 HELP Committee approval of the Adding Ebola to the FDA Priority Review Voucher Program Act. “As the U.S. continues to respond to Ebola, it is...

WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov. 19 –In today’s committee meeting, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) voted against the re-nomination of P. David Lopez as general counsel to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). “During his time as general counsel, Mr. Lopez has been chiefly responsible for the agency’s pursuit of...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), and Richard Burr (R-NC) today applauded Senate passage of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014, a bipartisan reauthorization that will expand access to and improve the quality of child care for the more than...

WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov. 13 – At a hearing today on the nominations of P. David Lopez and Charlotte Burrows to serve as general counsel and member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) called on the nominees to say how they would address EEOC practices that “cost taxpayers and...

WASHINGTON, D.C. —Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Ranking Member Lamar Alexander (R-TN), along with several other HELP Committee cosponsors introduced a bill to incentivize the development of treatments and vaccines for Ebola by adding the disease to the...

Knoxville, Tenn., Nov. 5 —U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) today released the following statement on the results of yesterday’s midterm elections: “Yesterday Americans elected a new Senate majority determined to fix our broken system and move our country in a new direction. I intend to help do this in...

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn., Oct. 30 – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement on the Obama administration’s new rule on gainful employment: “If the administration wants to weed out bad actors among the 6,000 public and private colleges and universities, this is not the way to do it. This regulation...

WASHINGTON, D.C. —Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Ranking Member Lamar Alexander (R-TN) announced their intention to introduce a bill to speed the development of treatments and vaccines for Ebola by adding Ebola to FDA’s priority review...

KNOXVILLE, Tenn., Oct. 22 –U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement on Governor Haslam’s announcement of a public review of the state’s K-12 academic standards in English language arts and math: “My bill to end the National School Board and return decisions over standards and curriculum...

Memphis, Oct. 17 - U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement about the president’s appointment of Ron Klain to serve as coordinator of the administration’s Ebola response: “The president already has too many White House staff 'czars' who are not accountable to Congress. I urged the president two...