Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee

Standing committee
Active United States Senate 118th Congress
History
Formed	January 28, 1869
Leadership
Chair	Bernie Sanders (I) Since January 3, 2023
Ranking member	Bill Cassidy (R) Since January 3, 2023
Structure
Seats	21
Political parties	Majority (11)   Democratic (11) Minority (10)   Republican (10)
Jurisdiction
Oversight authority	Department of Education, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Labor
House counterpart	House Committee on Education and Labor
Meeting place
428 Senate Dirksen Office Building, Washington, D.C.
Website
help.senate.gov
Rules
Rule XXV.1.(m), Standing Rules of the Senate Rules of Procedure U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary

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

While currently known as the HELP Committee, the committee was originally founded on January 28, 1869, as the Committee on Education. Its name was changed to the Committee on Education and Labor on February 14, 1870, when petitions relating to labor were to its jurisdiction from the Committee on Naval Affairs.

The committee’s jurisdiction at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries focused largely on issues relating to federal employees’ working conditions and federal education aid. Prominent action considered by the committee in the 1910s and 1920s included the creation of a national minimum wage, the establishments of a Department of Labor, a Department of Education, and a Children’s Bureau. During the 1930s, the committee took action on the National Labor Relations Act, the Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act of 1936 and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.

In 1944, the jurisdiction of the Public Health Service was transferred from the Commerce Committee to the Committee on Education and Labor, adding issues relating to public health matters to its jurisdiction. The committee's name was changed during the 80th Congress to the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare as part of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (Public Law 79-601). The act further expanded the committee's oversight to include the rehabilitation, health, and education of veterans. Mine safety was also added to the committee’s jurisdiction in 1949.

During the Administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson, the committee took the lead in shaping legislation as part of Johnson's War on Poverty, resulting in the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. Through the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 (Public Law 91-510), certain issues pertaining to veterans were transferred to the newly created Committee on Veterans Affairs. In the 95th Congress, the Senate passed S. Res. 4, which renamed the committee to be the Committee on Human Resources. However, the name was again changed in the 96th Congress by S. Res. 30 to the Committee on Labor and Human Resources. On March 18, 1992, the committee’s jurisdiction was updated to include all of the areas listed below. The committee was given its current name, the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, on January 19, 1999, by S. Res. 20.^[1]

On July 25, 2024, the committee voted 16-4 to issue its first-ever subpoena, compelling the testimony of Steward Health Care's CEO Ralph de la Torre in relation to accusations of mismanagement of the health system.^[2]

Under the Rule 25^[3] of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following subject matters fall under the jurisdiction of the Committee:^[4]

• 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, including the welfare of miners.
• 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

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 Dodd chose instead to remain chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.^[9] Tom Harkin, next in line by seniority, assumed the chairmanship on September 9, 2009, vacating his post as chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee.^[10] Republican Mike Enzi of Wyoming continued to serve as Ranking Member.

Source: 2010 Congressional Record, Vol. 156, Page S6226 ,

Source: 2011 Congressional Record, Vol. 157, Page S557

Source: 2013 Congressional Record, Vol. 159, Page S296 to 297

Source ^[11]

Source: 2015 Congressional Record, Vol. 161, Page S67 to 68

^[12]

The committee has had other 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.
• the Subcommittee Investigating Violations of Free Speech and the Rights of Labor, informally known as the "La Follette Civil Liberties Committee"

• Charles D. Drake (R-MO) 1869–1870

• Frederick Sawyer (R-SC) 1870–1873
• James W. Flanagan (R-TX) 1873–1875
• Orris S. Ferry (R-CT) 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 H. Kyle (PO-SD) 1893–1895
• George Shoup (R-ID) 1895–1897
• James H. Kyle (PO-SD) 1897–1901
• Louis McComas (R-MD) 1901–1905
• Boies Penrose (R-PA) 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

• 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

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

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

• James M. Jeffords (R-VT) 1999–2001
• Ted Kennedy (D-MA) 2001
• James M. Jeffords (R-VT) 2001
• Ted Kennedy (D-MA) 2001–2003
• Judd Gregg (R-NH) 2003–2005
• Michael Enzi (R-WY) 2005–2007
• Ted Kennedy (D-MA) 2007–2009
• Chris Dodd (D-CT) 2009, acting
• Tom Harkin (D-IA) 2009–2015
• Lamar Alexander (R-TN) 2015–2021
• Patty Murray (D-WA) 2021–2023
• Bernie Sanders (I-VT)^[7] 2023–present

• List of current United States Senate committees
• Health education

• Official Committee Page (Archive)
• Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Legislation activity and reports, Congress.gov.