Bingaman Replaces Clinton, Joins Dodd, Harkin and Mikulski in Expanded Roles

Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), today announced that Senator Jeff Bingaman will lead the committee’s health care reform working group on insurance coverage. Senator Bingaman replaces Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, President-elect Barack Obama’s nominee for Secretary of State.

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), a senior member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, and Chairman of its Subcommittee on Children and Families, today issued the following statement on President-Elect Obama’s announcement of the nomination of former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle to be Secretary of Health and Human Services.  Daschle will also serve as Director of a new White House Office on Health Care Reform and Jeanne Lambrew will serve as its Deputy Director:

Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) today introduced the Best Buddies Empowerment for People with Intellectual Disabilities Act of 2008.  This bill seeks to expand the acclaimed Best Buddies program through federal grants, allowing the organization to raise awareness of their services and ultimately help many more Americans living with intellectual disabilities learn valuable social skills, obtain job coaching, and become more independent members of their communities.

Baucus, Kennedy, Grassley, Enzi, Rockerfeller, Hatch, Dodd met today to discuss prospects for advancing legislation in 111th Congress

Leaders of the Senate Finance Committee and the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee committed today to work together early in the 111^th Congress toward comprehensive health care reform.  Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and HELP Chairman Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) were joined at an afternoon discussion in the U.S. Capitol by Finance Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and HELP Ranking Member Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), as well as Finance Health Care Subcommittee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), Health Care Subcommittee Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), and HELP Children and Families Subcommittee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.).  The Senators issued a brief statement following the meeting today:

Senators Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), and Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) today praised final House passage of legislation that includes their bipartisan mental health parity agreement that will improve mental health coverage for an estimated 113 million Americans.

In approving the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (HR.1424) Friday, the House also agreed to a tax extenders package that includes the mental health parity legislation.  The package will now be sent to President Bush, who has indicated his support for the measure.

Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) today joined Senators Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), and Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) to celebrate Senate approval of a broad bipartisan mental health parity agreement and expressed their confidence the Congress would enact the legislation before the impending end of the 110th Congress.

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), a senior member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, the Chairman of its Subcommittee on Children and Families, and the sponsor of the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Management Act of 2007, made the following statement on the food allergy legislation approved by the House Tuesday. 

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), a senior Democrat on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) and Chairman of its Subcommittee on Children and Families, lauded last night’s passage of his amendment to the FY2009 Budget Resolution that increases funding for the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Block Grant by $184 million.  Under the President’s budget, the MCH Block Grant will be funded at $666 million for the second consecutive year.  This amount represents a cut of $65 million from five years ago when funding peaked at $731 million. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) joined Dodd as the lead co-sponsor of the amendment.

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), a senior Democrat on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) and chairman of its Subcommittee on Children and Families, lauded last night’s House passage of the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Parity Act.  If enacted into law, this legislation would help ensure that all Americans who have insurance coverage for physical ailments cannot be discriminated against for needing comparable insurance coverage for a mental illness.  The Senate approved mental health parity legislation last year, which Senator Dodd cosponsored.    

Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Jack Reed (D-RI) yesterday continued their years-long fight to ensure that Americans are adequately informed of the level of protection contained in sunscreen products against harmful UVA and UVB rays. In the latest of a series of correspondence between the Senators and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner, Dodd and Reed sent a letter urging the FDA to finalize a rule it has proposed that will strengthen labeling and testing standards for sunscreen products.  Currently, the FDA requires that sunscreen protect against UVB rays, known for causing sunburn and increasing the incidence of skin cancer, but does not require protection against UVA rays, which are a major cause of skin cancer and premature aging.