Ranking Member's Press

WASHINGTON, D.C., May 15 – U.S. Senators Roy Blunt (Mo.) and Lamar Alexander, Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), sent a letter to the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) this week pressing for...

*** “Under my proposal, in Tennessee, we’d have about $440 million a year. If we were given this kind of flexibility, we could increase the vouchers for child care from 39,000 to 139,000; or the state-funded voluntary preschool program, from 18,000 4-year olds to 109,000; or we could expand Head Start, from 17,000 children to 56,000; we...

Nashville, Tenn., May 9 – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the senior Republican on the Senate education committee, today praised the House of Representatives’ passage, by a vote of 360 to 45, of legislation to encourage the replication and expansion of charter schools, and urged Senate action on a similar bill he cosponsored...

*** “Republicans want to repair the damage Obamacare has done and prevent future damage.  As responsibly and rapidly as we can, we want to move in a different direction to put in place proposals that provide more freedom, more choices and lower costs. We trust Americans to make these decisions for ourselves. That is the American...

WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Senators Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.; Mark Kirk R-Ill.; Mary L. Landrieu, D-La. and Michael Bennet, D-Colo. introduced the Expanding Opportunity Through Quality Charter Schools Act -- which makes smart updates to the federal Charter Schools Program (CSP) that provides startup, replication and expansion...

*** “We have Article I of the Constitution for a reason. We represent the people for a reason. We are here, ready to do our jobs, and I am extremely disappointed that the secretary of health and human services, who helped write this budget over the last six months, is not here to do her job.” –Lamar Alexander Washington, D.C., May...

*** “Please explain to me how using your waiver authority to place conditions on states about common standards, about performance targets, about teacher evaluation systems that are not otherwise required by federal law and in the case of standards, in my opinion, is prohibited by the law—how does that not amount to, in effect, a...

Washington, D.C., April 30 – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the senior Republican on the committee that oversees labor policy, today released the following statement on his vote against moving to the Democrats’ minimum wage proposal: “Surely Senate Democrats could come up with a better jobs program than one that the...

*** “On the most important issue facing the country, surely we can do better than the stale, bankrupt idea that according to the Congressional Budget Office would destroy 500,000 jobs.” –Lamar Alexander Washington, D.C., April 30 – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the senior Republican on the committee that oversees...

*** “In his new book, Dr. Weil suggests the Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division—the division he is nominated to lead—could look for ways to expand its current interpretations of labor law and should target employers who use certain business models.” –Lamar Alexander   Washington, D.C., April...

NASHVILLE, April 22 – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the senior Republican on the Senate education committee and former U.S. Secretary of Education under George H.W. Bush, released the following statement on the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold a Michigan ballot initiative banning affirmative action in admissions decisions at...

MEMPHIS, April 21 – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the senior Republican on the Senate labor committee, released the following statement on the announcement today by the United Auto Workers that the union is withdrawing its objections to the lost election at the Chattanooga, Tenn., Volkswagen plant: “The employees have made...

“Republicans want to enable and empower you. We want to be the iPhone party. We believe government ought to be a platform that gives you more opportunity and freedom to create a happier, more prosperous and safer life. Usually in Washington, Republicans are the enablers and Democrats are the mandators.” NASHVILLE – U.S. Senator...

Washington, D.C., April 17 – U.S. Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), John Thune (R-S.D.), and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) today sent a letter to Census Bureau Director John H. Thompson urging the administration to continue asking the existing health insurance coverage questions in the Census Bureau’s annual survey, along with its planned new...

Crossville, Tenn., April 16 – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the senior Republican on the Senate health committee, today released the following statement on reports that the administration is revising the Census Bureau’s annual Current Population Survey questions on health insurance coverage: “After unilaterally decreeing...

WASHINGTON, April 11 – In a discussion on the floor of the United States Senate (VIDEO HERE), Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), and Senator Richard Burr (R-N.C.) last night warned that the unionization of college athletes, as permitted by a recent National Labor Relations Board regional director’s decision, would destroy college sports...

WASHINGTON, April 10 – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the senior Republican on the Senate health committee, released the following statement on reports that U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius will resign and that the president will likely nominate Office of Management and Budget Director Sylvia Burwell to...

*** “Enabling states and parents will get better results than creating a national school board for early childhood education.” –Lamar Alexander Washington, D.C., April 10 – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the senior Republican on the Senate education committee, today said he was developing legislation that would...

Washington, D.C., April 9 – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the senior Republican on the Senate labor committee, today released the following statement on his vote against Senate Democrats’ so-called “Paycheck Fairness” legislation that would increase litigation and limit the ability of employers to give working...

WASHINGTON, April 7 – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement on his vote against Democratic legislation that would extend unemployment benefits without considering Republican proposals to help unemployed Americans: “This bill does not contain a single proposal to help grow the economy or encourage...