United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

The United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) generally considers matters relating to health, education, labor, and pensions. Its jurisdiction extends beyond these issues to include several more specific areas, as defined by Senate rules.

Jurisdictional areas

• Measures relating to education, labor, health, and public welfare
• Aging
• Agricultural colleges
• Arts and humanities
• Biomedical research and development
• Child labor
• Convict labor and the entry of goods made by convicts into interstate commerce
• Domestic activities of the American Red Cross
• Equal employment opportunity
• Gallaudet University, Howard University, and St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C.
• Individuals with disabilities
• Labor standards and labor statistics
• Mediation and arbitration of labor disputes
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration
• Mine Safety and Health Administration
• Private pension plans
• Public health
• Railway labor and retirement
• Regulation of foreign laborers
• Student loans
• Wages and hours of labor, including the federal minimum wage

Members, 111th Congress

The chairman of the committee is Democrat Tom Harkin of Iowa,^[1] and the Ranking Member is Republican Mike Enzi of Wyoming. The Committee was chaired by Democrat Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts until his death on August 25, 2009. Under seniority rules, Acting Chairman Christopher Dodd was next in line, but chose instead to remain chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.^[2] Tom Harkin, next in line for seniority, assumed the chairmanship on September 9, 2009,^[1] vacating his post as chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee.^[3]

Source: 2009 Congressional Record, Vol. 155, Page S730 , S9910

Subcommittees

Defunct subcommittees

The committee has had other notable subcommittees in the past, such as:

• the Subcommittee on Migratory Labor during the 1950s through 1970s.
• the Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research during the 1970s.

Chairmen

Education 1869–1870

• Charles D. Drake (R-MO) 1869–1870

Education and Labor, 1884–1947

• Frederick Sawyer (R-SC) 1870–1873
• James Flanagan (R-TX) 1873–1875
• John J. Patterson (R-SC) 1875–1877
• Ambrose Burnside (R-RI) 1877–1879
• James E. Bailey (D-TN) 1879–1881
• Henry W. Blair (R-NH) 1881–1891
• Joseph M. Carey (R-WY) 1891–1893
• James Kyle (PO–SD) 1893–1895
• George Shoup (R-ID) 1895–1897
• James Kyle (PO–SD) 1897–1901
• Louis McComas (R-MD) 1901–1905
• Jonathan P. Dolliver (R-IA) 1905–1909
• William E. Borah (R-ID) 1909–1913
• Hoke Smith (D-GA) 1913–1919
• William S. Kenyon (R-IA) 1919–1922
• William E. Borah (R-ID) 1922–1924
• Lawrence C. Phipps (R-CO) 1924–1926
• James Couzens (R-MI) 1926–1929
• Jesse H. Metcalf (R-RI) 1929–1933
• David I. Walsh (D-MA) 1933–1937
• Hugo L. Black (D-AL) 1937
• Elbert D. Thomas (D-UT) 1937–1945
• James E. Murray (D-MT) 1945–1947

Labor and Public Welfare, 1947–1977

• Robert A. Taft (R-OH) 1947–1949
• Elbert D. Thomas (D-UT) 1949–1951
• James E. Murray (D-MT) 1951–1953
• H. Alexander Smith (R-NJ) 1953–1955
• Lister Hill (D-AL) 1955–1969
• Ralph Yarborough (D-TX) 1969–1971
• Harrison A. Williams, Jr. (D-NJ) 1971–1977

Human Resources, 1977–1979

• Harrison A. Williams, Jr. (D-NJ) 1977–1979

Labor and Human Resources, 1979–1999

• Harrison A. Williams, Jr. (D-NJ) 1979–1981
• Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT) 1981–1987
• Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) 1987–1995
• Nancy Kassebaum (R-KS) 1995–1997
• James M. Jeffords (R-VT) 1997–1999

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, 1999–present

• James M. Jeffords (R-VT) 1999–2001
• Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) 2001
• James M. Jeffords (R-VT) 2001
• Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) 2001–2003
• Judd Gregg (R-NH) 2003–2005
• Michael Enzi (R-WY) 2005–2007
• Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) 2007–2009
• Tom Harkin (D-IA) 2009–

See also

• Health education

References

External links

• Official Committee Page