Tom Harkin

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Todd A. Batta of Iowa on his confirmation as Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Congressional Relations. I can personally attest that he is very well qualified and will undoubtedly…

today, June 12, 2014, is the day set aside by the International Labor Organization to bring attention to the tragic predicament of millions of children across the globe who continue to be trapped in forced and abusive labor, often in…

I ask unanimous consent that Elizabeth Larson, Casey Brynn DiNino, and Jackson O'Brien, interns in my office, be granted floor privileges for the remainder of today's session. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

I want to speak for just a few minutes in favor of the Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act, which is the measure before the Senate now, also referred to as the Fair Shot for College Affordability. We have been calling this…

I ask unanimous consent that Ray Li, Jacklyn Vasquez, and James Gulbranson, interns with my office, be granted floor privileges for the remainder of today's session. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

today we consider the nomination of Sylvia Mathews Burwell to be the next Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Ms. Burwell currently serves as Director of the Office of Management and Budget, a position to which she…

I wish to announce that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions will meet on May 22, 2014, at 10 a.m. in room SD-430 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, to conduct a hearing entitled ``Examining Access and Supports for…

We want to make sure that they are aware of what they are entitled to.

I have often said is not good enough for us at the time of a military engagement to pray for veterans.

It is also our obligation to make sure that we are worthy of their valor.

I think we have a responsibility as a Federal Government to respond to a national, I think, crisis that we have in families, especially with women and single mothers and single parents in this country.

Raising the minimum wage, as proposed by Sen. Harkin, would give 15.4 million women a raise.

Raising the minimum wage to $10.10 would increase yearly earnings to $19,777.

The Fair Pay Act, introduced by Chairman Harkin and Representative Holmes Norton, would address the devaluation of women's work.

The Healthy Families Act... would ensure workers have access to paid sick days and would no longer have to worry about taking a financial hit if they or their children fall ill.

I think this is one of the areas where we're way behind. Paid sick leave, I think, maternity leave, Senator Casey's bill on the pregnancy act are just things I think that make our society more caring, more inclusive, and more considerate…

The Healthy Families Act, introduced by Senator Harkin, would allow workers to earn paid sick days.

We can't afford it? We're the richest nation in the world. We're the richest nation in the history of the world.

I want to correct this, though. CBO did not do their own study.

It seems to me that we need to have some societal type agreements that put some floors underneath this.

The fact is we have better and more accurate studies that have been done in the last few years.

We should raise the Federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour.

I joined with 10 of my colleagues to release an investigative report revealing that manufacturers are devoting massive resources to the marketing of e-cigarettes and their marketing strategies are expressly designed to appeal to kids.

Tobacco use remains the No. 1 preventable cause of death in the United States.

I authored provisions in the Affordable Care Act that ensure every American has access to tobacco cessation services without co-pays or deductibles.