Ranking Member's Press

Washington, D.C., June 15, 2017 – Today Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) told HHS Secretary Tom Price that each year there are billions in fraudulent Medicare and Medicaid claims, and supercomputers at our national laboratories can be used as a “secret weapon” in the effort to combat...

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 15 – Senate labor committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement after President Trump signed an executive order that will expand and increase funding for Department of Labor apprenticeship programs:   “In today’s rapidly changing workplace, the challenge for...

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 14 – Senate labor committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today led 15 Republican senators in introducing legislation that will protect the rights of workers and employers by rolling back the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) controversial ambush election rule. "The ambush elections rule...

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 13 — United States Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today chaired a bipartisan Senate health committee hearing to examine the path a FDA-approved prescription drug takes from the manufacturer to patient, and how this path affects what the patient pays, saying “Americans want to know who pays for prescription...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., today reintroduced legislation to fight implementation of a misguided, big-government Obama-era rule that is scheduled to take effect tomorrow, June 9, that would harm retirement planning access for hardworking Americans. Known as the “fiduciary rule” and found in the fine print of...

WASHINGTON, June 7, 2017 – Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn) released the following statement after the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed – by a vote of 54-0 – bipartisan legislation reauthorizing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) user fee agreements: “If you have a family member with...

WASHINGTON, June 7 — The Senate labor committee chairman today praised the decision by Labor Secretary Acosta to withdraw Obama administration guidance that had instructed investigators with the Wage and Hour Administration – which is focused on worker protections – to instead ask questions to determine whether a franchisee and...

WASHINGTON, June 6 — The chairman of the Senate health committee today released the following statement about the announcement that President Trump will retain Francis Collins as the director of the National Institutes of Health: “This is good news for the country and one of President Trump’s best appointments. There’s...

WASHINGTON, June 6 — Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement on President Trump’s selection of Peter Oppenheim to serve as Assistant Secretary for Legislation and Congressional Affairs at the Department of Education: “Peter Oppenheim is the kind of hardworking and thoughtful person who knows how...

WASHINGTON, D.C., May 25, 2017 – The chairman of the Senate health committee today said lifting the hiring freeze at the Food and Drug Administration meets a top bipartisan Senate priority in the 21st Century Cures law. “We asked the Food and Drug Administration last year to tell us the single most important thing we could do to help...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., today reintroduced legislation that would reverse a federal labor board’s Obama-era decision that allows unions to handpick small numbers of employees within a company in hopes of organizing them into small bargaining units, or “micro-unions,” that fragment the workplace and...

WASHINGTON, May 11 — The Senate’s health committee today overwhelmingly approved—by a vote of 21 to 2—the bipartisan Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Reauthorization Act of 2017—legislation sponsored by Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) that includes four different...

WASHINGTON, D.C., May 10 – The Senate health committee markup of the Food and Drug Administration user fee reauthorization scheduled for 10 a.m. today has been delayed temporarily. The HELP Committee has been working in a bipartisan way for 15 months on the FDA user fee agreements, and Chairman Alexander, after conferring with Ranking...

WASHINGTON, D.C., May 9 – Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said that Dr. Scott Gottlieb, confirmed by the Senate today by a vote of 57-42 to lead the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), “will help American families benefit from the promise of 21st Century Cures.” “The FDA has always...

WASHINGTON, May 8 —Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said the Senate is now poised to confirm Dr. Scott Gottlieb to serve as Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after the Senate today voted to end debate on his nomination. “With the remarkable discoveries our nation’s researchers are...

MEMPHIS, Tenn., May 5, 2017 – U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today told cancer researchers in Memphis that Congress just delivered a $2 billion increase for medical research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the second consecutive year. “This bill provides a major boost for programs like the ‘Cancer...

MEMPHIS, Tenn., May 5, 2017 – U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today said that unless Congress acts on the health care law, 29,000 Memphis area residents may be unable to buy insurance with their Affordable Care Act subsidy in 2018.  “Memphis area residents currently have one choice of insurer on the Affordable Care Act...

WASHINGTON, D.C., May 4, 2017 – Senate health committee chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement on House passage of the American Health Care Act: "I congratulate the House on passage of its bill. The Senate will now finish work on our bill, but will take the time to get it right. My own goals for a Senate...

WASHINGTON, May 4, 2017 — Senate HELP Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today said the Fiscal Year 2017 Omnibus Appropriations bill—which today passed the Senate—delivers increased funding for breathtaking advances in biomedical research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by $2 billion for the second consecutive...

(Washington, D.C.) –Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Patty Murray (D-WA), the Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, respectively sent a letter to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos yesterday requesting regular briefings from the Department of Education on the outage of the...