Tom Harkin

There's been a great deal of talk lately about promoting innovation, and I'm all for that, especially when innovation leads to the creation of jobs and even entirely new industries.

I think most Americans would be alarmed if they understood the current process we use to approve most medical devices.

I wish to announce that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions will meet in open session on Thursday, November 17, 2011, at 10 a.m. in SD-430 to conduct a hearing entitled ``The Americans with Disabilities Act and…

I rise today to honor my friends Gerry and Lilo Leeds for their passionate commitment to improving the Nation's education system and helping all students reach their maximum potential. Gerard and Lilo Leeds arrived in the United States…

I would like to take this opportunity to talk about a bipartisan bill that was recently passed out of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, the HELP Committee, which I chair and of which Senator Mike Enzi of Wyoming is the…

I wish to announce that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions will meet in open session on Tuesday, November 15, 2011, at 2:30 p.m. in SD-430 to conduct a hearing entitled ``Medical Devices: Protecting Patients and…

I think it represents a fair representation of where the principle stood.

I don't see this as a philosophical debate at all. I see it as a practical debate affecting real live students.

I believe the committee's bill takes several important steps forward by, first, resetting our national goal from students attaining proficiency to ensuring that students graduate from high school prepared for college and a career.

I thank the Senator. Investments such as these, investments such as what Abraham Lincoln did or what Eisenhower did or Franklin Roosevelt did, investments that were led by Lyndon Baines Johnson to educate our workforce and to retrain our…

I would say to my friend from Arizona, less than 10 minutes, about 7 minutes. Mr. McCAIN. I thank the Senator.

I wish to announce that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions will meet in open session on Tuesday, November 8, 2011, at 10 a.m. in SD-106 to conduct a hearing entitled ``Beyond NCLB: Views on the Elementary and Secondary…

I will yield the floor very soon. I say to my friend from Kentucky, I will say again: We put this bill online 1 week ago Tuesday. Some of the mail the Senator is talking about, the letters came in after that because they read the bill. I…

I did not know if the Senator from Kentucky wanted me to yield to him for a question to get involved in the colloquy or the Senator from North Carolina.

I say to my friend from Minnesota, I think that is right. If the Senator wants to be engaged in the process of legislation, then, as I say, the Senator from Minnesota has talked to me many times about what he wants in the bill. The Senator…

I am sorry the Senator from Kentucky is objecting to our meeting. I say to my friend from Kentucky, the one thing I believe both Senator Enzi and I did and other members of our committee on both sides of the aisle did to get this bill to…

I have said on a number of occasions that trade is an incredibly important part of our economy, especially in my home State of Iowa. For this reason, I am a longtime supporter of policies designed to open foreign markets to our Nation's…

I wish to announce that the Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions will meet in open session on Tuesday, October 18, 2011, at 10 a.m. in SD-430 to conduct a hearing entitled…

Thank you for the opportunity to testify in front of you today.

I will let the interpreter work, OK?

For people with disabilities, it is over 60 percent unemployment, and for people with hearing disabilities, it is, about 52 percent.

Strong transition services from school-to-work, with a clear focus on community employment are also critical.

Barriers to their success must also be removed.

We applaud your continued efforts to address the deplorable state of labor force participation rate among Americans with disabilities.

It is awful when we hear unemployment statistics that we have, what, 9 percent unemployment.