Tom Harkin

I come to the floor to state my vehement opposition to the agreement to extend the payroll tax cut and to slash the Public Health and Prevention Fund to help pay for the continuation of unemployment benefits. Let me preface my remarks by…

If someone is accusing this President of being a food stamp President, well, he ought to wear that as a badge of honor.

Chronic pain profoundly affects quality of life.

I have long encouraged a more ambitious emphasis on pain research at the National Institutes of Health.

More still needs to be done at NIH and across the Federal Government to address the unanswered questions surrounding diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of chronic pain.

Chronic pain is a significant public health challenge that has yet to receive adequate attention.

We implore, in Christy's memory and for all those who have been lost too early to these conditions, that today's hearing mark the beginning of serious action to address and curb the personal, family, community, State and national toll…

I wish to announce that the Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions will meet in open session on Thursday, February 16, 2012, at 10:00 a.m. in room SD-430 to conduct a…

I wish to announce that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions will meet in open session on Tuesday, February 14, 2012, at 2:30 p.m. in room SD-430 to conduct a hearing entitled ``Pain in America: Exploring Challenges to…

I watched many of the statements made by so many of our women Senators who came to the floor in the past hour to talk about this issue of women's preventive health services. I was unable to get to the floor at the time. I want to be here…

I thank the Senator. And second, in the amendments, Congress directed the Government Accountability Office to review certain NMB activities periodically, and in conducting these reviews, to consider whether the agency's actions are…

I thank the majority leader for that helpful clarification. I would like to raise two additional questions if I may, both related to whether usual rules of statutory interpretation are intended to apply here. First, am I correct that the…

I thank my colleagues and am reassured by their response. I can think of a number of dangers that would arise if the sufficiency of a showing of interest were litigated in court. The sad reality is that employees are regularly retaliated…

I would ask my friend, Senator Rockefeller, if this was his understanding as well?

My understanding is that there has been longstanding deference to the National Mediation Board regarding the findings it makes in the representation context. As the Supreme Court stated in Switchmen's Union v. NMB, after a NMB's decision…

I would like to ask a few questions of my friend the majority Leader and my friend Senator Rockefeller, Chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science, Transportation about the changes to the Railway Labor Act in the this bill. Because my…

I rise today to express my concern about provisions of this bill that amend an unrelated labor law statute--the Railway Labor Act. As the chairman of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, which has jurisdiction over this…

I wish to announce that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions will meet in open session on Tuesday, February 7, 2012, at 2:30 p.m. in SDG-50 to conduct a hearing entitled ``The Promise of Accessible Technology: Challenges…

As the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, I wish to respond to some of the shrill rhetoric and outright misinformation regarding President Obama's recent recess appointments to the National Labor Relations…

I wish to announce that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions will meet in open session on Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 10 a.m. in SD-430 to conduct a hearing entitled ``Innovations in College Affordability.'' For…

It was organized labor that went out there and fought and bled and got beat up and all kinds of things to secure better wages, hours, and conditions of employment.

We need to make investments in key areas of our economy.

The middle class has been eroded for years, and I hear from people when I'm home working every weekend that the opportunities and the quality of life that we enjoyed are slipping away for far too many families.

It's not about a hand out, it's about a hand up, and it's about ladders of opportunity.

It seems it's just a fundamental right that people should have, and they shouldn't be punished for it.