Ranking Member's Press

WASHINGTON, July 24—The Senate today passed a bill sponsored by Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) that would lower student loan interest rates for 200,000 Tennesseans going to college this fall. Rates on all new undergraduate loans taken out this year since July 1 will be 3.86 percent, cutting the current rate nearly in half. Alexander, the...

WASHINGTON, July 24—The senior Republican on the U.S. Senate committee overseeing labor policy today voted against President Obama’s two labor board nominees, citing their history of work as advocates for labor unions. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R. Tenn.) said:  “My primary concern is the ability of these two to set aside their...

Washington, D.C., July 23 –The senior Republican on the Senate committee overseeing labor policy today pressed President Obama’s two nominees to the National Labor Relations Board to protect state right-to-work laws. U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) warned against the board making an end run around Congress to undermine the laws,...

WASHINGTON, July 22—The senior Republicans on the U.S. Senate and House health policy committees and subcommittees today pressed the White House to release data it has collected on health insurance premiums in 34 states, after the administration released a report last week highlighting premium information in just 11...

WASHINGTON, July 19—The senior Republican on the U.S. Senate education committee today said the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act passed by the House of Representatives is a “kissing cousin” of the bill supported by all 10 Republicans on the Senate education committee, and urged the Senate to approve...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV), Richard Burr (R-NC), Angus King (I-ME), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Tom Carper (D-DE), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), and Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced a bipartisan compromise, the Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act, to lower interest rates for 100% of borrowers who have taken...

WASHINGTON, July 17—The senior Republican on the U.S. Senate committee on labor policy said today that he would vote against confirmation of President Obama’s nominee for U.S. Secretary of Labor, Thomas Perez. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said: “Mr. Perez’s involvement in a quid pro quo arrangement between the Department...

WASHINGTON, July 16—The senior Republican on the U.S. Senate committee on labor policy today released the following statement on the agreement reached by Senate leadership and the White House that the administration will send two new nominees to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), replacing Sharon Block and Richard Griffin, Jr.: Sen....

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senators John Thune (R-S.D.), Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Ranking Member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, were joined today by several of their Republican Senate colleagues in sending a letter to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan questioning the...

WASHINGTON, July 11—The senior Republican on the U.S. Senate committee on health policy today voted to delay the new health care law’s employer mandate and individual mandate. The votes, on amendments offered in a Senate Appropriations Committee markup of the Senate Labor-Health and Human Services-Education appropriations bill for...

WASHINGTON, July 10 – Senator Lamar Alexander, the senior Republican on the Senate’s education committee today released the following statement about the Senate voting down a student loan proposal supported by some Democrats: “Today’s vote was the failure of a bad idea—the Senate voted against a short-term political...

WASHINGTON, July 9—The senior Republican on the U.S. Senate education committee today in a speech on the Senate floor (Video HERE) called on Senate Democrats to support a proposal to lower student loan rates for all student borrowers, rather than the Democratic proposal scheduled for a vote tomorrow that will lower rates only on subsidized...

July 3 –U.S. Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) announced today they have introduced legislation to ensure Medicare beneficiaries in Tennessee continue to have access to medical equipment. The bill would require the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to conduct a rebid for contracts to supply...

*** "This is the train wreck that the senator who wrote the law predicted was coming. The new health care law should be repealed and replaced with effective legislation that will reduce costs by involving patients more in health care decision-making." –Lamar Alexander   MARYVILLE, Tenn., July 2—The...

Washington, D.C., July 2 – The lead Republican on the U.S. Senate health committee today called for the full Senate to vote “as soon as possible” on legislation unanimously approved by the health committee in May to clarify oversight of drug compounders, as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)...

MARYVILLE, Tenn., July 1—The senior Republican on the U.S. Senate education committee said that if Congress acts next week, there is still time to avoid today's automatic increase in interest rates from 3.4 to 6.8 percent on 40 percent of all new government loans for college students.   Sen. Lamar...

Washington, D.C., June 27 – A group of 28 Republican senators today sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius asking for documents and answers previously requested by Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Senate Finance Committee Republicans. Alexander and Senate Finance members sent separate letters in May to...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV), Richard Burr (R-NC), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Angus King (I-ME), and Tom Carper (D-DE) officially introduced today the Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act, a compromise bipartisan solution that would avert student loan interest rates from doubling on July 1st and provide...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV), Richard Burr (R-NC), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), and Angus King (I-ME) plan to introduce tomorrow a bipartisan compromise, the “Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act,” to avert student loan rates from doubling on July 1st and provide a permanent solution that...

Washington, D.C., June 25 –U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the senior Republican on the committee overseeing labor policy, today said the committee’s hearing on minimum wage was “on the wrong subject—on fewer jobs—and I’d like to see it on creating more jobs.” Alexander said: “My problem with...