Ranking Member's Press

WASHINGTON, January 10 — Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today met with Betsy DeVos – President-elect Trump’s nominee to become Secretary of Education. Senator Alexander said: "Betsy DeVos and I had a great meeting today, and she is going to make an excellent Secretary of Education. I'm...

WASHINGTON, January 10, 2017 – Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today proposed a three-step plan for repealing and replacing Obamacare simultaneously and concurrently, as President-elect Trump and Speaker Paul Ryan have suggested. “To me, ‘simultaneously’ and ‘concurrently’ mean...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 – Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) today announced the committee will move its confirmation hearing for Betsy DeVos to January 17. Alexander and Murray said: “At the request of the Senate leadership to accommodate the Senate schedule, we have...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 4, 2017 – Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today welcomed freshman Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, after Senate Republicans announced committee assignments for the 115th Congress: “I welcome Sen. Young to our committee and look forward to working with him on...

NASHVILLE, December 20 – Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today highlighted the committee’s accomplishments for 2016 saying that it “was one of the most productive in the Senate, with 24 significant, bipartisan bills now signed into law – including legislation...

WASHINGTON, December 13 — Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today said President Obama signed into law a “Christmas Medical Miracle,” the 21st Century Cures Act, which has been called “the most important legislation of the year” by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and has the potential to help virtually...

WASHINGTON, December 13 — Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today said President Obama signed into law a “Christmas Medical Miracle,” the 21st Century Cures Act, which has been called “the most important legislation of the year” by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and has the potential to help virtually every...

NASHVILLE, December 12 – United States Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement after meeting this afternoon with respected Tennessee businessman Andy Puzder – President-elect Trump’s nominee to become the next Secretary of Labor: “Andy Puzder and I had an excellent meeting this...

WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 10, 2016 – U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today said the Senate’s vote to fully fund the government through April and keep national parks open would also fully fund his 21st Century Cures bill for next year, “sending $500 million in state grants to boost the front lines in the opioid...

WASHINGTON, December 8 — Senate labor committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement on President-elect Trump’s selection of respected Tennessee businessman Andy Puzder to become the next United States Secretary of Labor: “Mr. Puzder is a respected Tennessee business leader who understands how...

WASHINGTON, D.C., December 8, 2016 – U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) released the following statement after meeting this afternoon with nominee for Health and Human Services Secretary Rep. Tom Price: “I spent an hour with Dr. Tom Price this afternoon and was greatly impressed with his understanding of the need to begin immediately...

WASHINGTON, December 7— Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today said “the most important bill of the year is headed towards the President’s desk,” after the United States Senate passed the 21st Century Cures Act by a vote of 94 to 5: “For the second consecutive year, the Senate is sending the...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 6, 2016 – U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today said a health care bill he cosponsored in the Senate that will help make the medical brain power of institutions like Vanderbilt University Medical Center available to doctors in rural parts of Tennessee and other rural areas of the country is ready for the president’s...

“For the second year in a row, the Senate is poised to send the President another Christmas miracle for his signature—one that will help virtually every American family… I am looking forward to another successful vote in the Senate tomorrow, so we can send this legislation to the White House where the president has his pen ready...

WASHINGTON, December 5 – Ahead of today's Senate vote to move forward on the 21st Century Cures Act, Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) announced more than 320 organizations – from leading research hospitals to organizations representing patients with rare diseases – are urging Congress...

WASHINGTON, December 2 — Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement on the selection of Representative Greg Walden (R-Ore.) by his caucus to become the next Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee: “I look forward to working with Representative Walden on repealing...

WASHINGTON, December 2 — Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement on the selection of Representative Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) by her caucus to become the next Chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee: “I look forward to working with Representative Foxx, who is...

“This legislation will help us seize on the breathtaking advances in biomedical research and bring those innovations to doctors’ offices and patients’ medicine cabinets around the country. It will advance Vice President Biden’s moonshot to find cures for cancer, President Obama’s Precision Medicine Initiative, and...

“The real winners today are American families whose lives stand to be improved by the Cures legislation passed overwhelmingly today by the House and that we should pass by a wide margin in the Senate. This bipartisan legislation – which Majority Leader McConnell has called “the most important legislation Congress will pass this...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 29, 2016 – U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) released the following statement today after the Senate passed the Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) Act, which Alexander cosponsored: "This bill will help provide a way for people who live in rural Tennessee and other rural and underserved areas who are...