The Public Record
Tom Harkin is a former U.S. Senator from Iowa who served from 1985 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, Harkin was known for his advocacy on disability rights and health care reform. He played a significant role in the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act and was a strong proponent of mental health services and education initiatives. Throughout his tenure, Harkin focused on issues affecting working families and rural communities in Iowa.
We might as well have a dictatorship if we cannot do anything unless the President first says we are allowed to do it. I hope I am wrong. I refrained from saying anything about it since this afternoon, but it appears to me there may be a…
The bill reported from the Agriculture Committee meets everything in this letter, signed by all these Senators, sent to Senator Domenici. We have met the need. We have provided for the same market loss assistance payment this year as…
Dear Senator Harkin: I am writing to you today to express my support for the comprehensive approach you have taken in drafting the Senate agricultural economic assistance bill. In providing important funds for nutrition and conservation…
I have a letter from the Food and Research Action Center. We urge you to continue your leadership in support for the nutrition programs contained in S. 1246. Our bill does it. The House bill doesn't. It is signed by James D. Weill…
The National Farmers Union today applauded the Senate Agriculture Committee on its approval of $7.4 billion in emergency assistance for U.S. agriculture producers. The bill provides supplemental income assistance to feed grains, wheat…
to sum up--and I will come back to this later on--we looked at the Nation as a whole. We looked at all farmers in this country. All farmers need help, plus there are others in rural communities who need help. There are conservation…
I believe the $5.5 billion passed by the House is inadequate. I am not just saying that. Read the letters I have had printed today from the American Farm Bureau, the National Wheat Growers, the National Corn Growers, the National Soybean…
I wish to, again, respond to my friend from Pennsylvania and to a Statement of Administration Policy that we have just received. It is not from the President. I don't really know what to make of this letter. It said they opposed the bill…
There are farmers who are hurting all over this country-- not just in Iowa, or North Dakota, or Kansas but even in Idaho. Quite frankly, this Senator went out of his way to accommodate the wishes of Senators in this Chamber representing…
I rise today to call to your attention the retirement of one of our country's finest public servants. Jess Aragon, the Budget Officer of the Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration, is leaving after 33 years of Federal…
the Missouri River is a tremendous resource for the Midwest. It is used for recreation and for transportation. It supplies water for drinking, for irrigation, to cool power plants, and it can, at times provide far too much water resulting…
I want to briefly discuss with my honorable colleagues an important conservation and recreation project that is of great interest to me and request their favorable consideration of $5 million for this project in the fiscal year 2002…
Fuel cells, a family of technologies that produce energy electochemically, without combustion, are being developed for a exciting variety of applications. Some of these applications were not contemplated in 1992 when Congress authorized…
Our goal with respect to the Dislocated Worker Program has always been to try to ensure that no state finds itself without the resources to meet its obligations. We believe that is accomplished through the ``hold harmless'' provisions.
Yes, my good friend is correct. We are now having to make some very, very difficult choices--really impossible choices--because the pot of resources we are working with is too small. And you have correctly stated both what the committee…
Again, my good friend is absolutely correct. Many of us predicted during the debate on the tax cut that we would be facing precisely these impossible choices. It is upon us and it will only get worse.
I, along with 15 of my colleagues are introducing a bill today that addresses an issue we haven't talked enough about in the Senate in recent years--but it's a critically important issue that we cannot continue to ignore. I'm talking about…
I first say a big thank you to Senator Kennedy for his many years of leadership on this issue, and also thank Senator Edwards for his leadership and sponsorship of this bill, along with Senator McCain. This is not a new issue in this…
I will finish with 1 more minute. As I was saying to my friend from Massachusetts, many people with disabilities have to see a specialist, but so many times it is hard for a person with a physical disability to get out, get the bus, get…
I don't want my doctor doing my taxes, and I don't want my accountant deciding my health care needs. To me, that sort of brought it all home and pointed out what we are trying to do: let the doctors and health care professionals make the…
A patient should have the right to appeal an HMO's decision to deny or delay care to an independent entity and to receive a binding and timely decision and, finally, the right to hold HMOs accountable when their decisions to deny or delay…
I want to know if those on the other side who oppose this are going to offer an amendment that says, no; if a woman is seeing an OB/ GYN, if she is having a difficult pregnancy--this may be a specialist in whatever the difficulty might be…
I know that all Senators--I talked with them in the well--are concerned about discipline in classes. This Senator is no different. I put two kids in public schools. We are all concerned about discipline in the classroom. But the Sessions…
as I was saying, we have come a long way, and we should not turn the clock back. On this very bill we are discussing, Senator Hagel and I offered an amendment that fully funds the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act that we passed…
I ask the Senator from Virginia if he would please provide to my office these specific examples and the schools because I would like to take a look at those. I would like to look at them because, under the 1997 bill that we passed, if you…
Politicians like Tom Harkin
