Senate HELP Leaders Harkin, Alexander Start Year With Teamwork
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
Sen. Lamar Alexander becomes top Republican on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, where all four new members are freshmen. HELP Chairman Tom Harkin says this is his last Senate term. The House Energy and Commerce Committee roster also is set.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee’s new top Republican, Lamar Alexander, and committee Chairman Tom Harkin started working early together on prescription drug issues.
The HELP Committee has key jurisdiction over FDA activities, as well as public health programs and biomedical research.
Tennessean Alexander replaces Mike Enzi of Wyoming as ranking Republican member, although Enzi remains the next most senior Republican on the committee. Alexander’s pre-Senate career focused on education, including stints as secretary of education for former President George H.W. Bush, as president of the University of Tennessee and also two runs for the GOP presidential nomination in the 1990s.
In the Senate, Alexander additionally has focused on energy and environmental issues, having served as the top Republican on the Appropriations Committee’s Energy Subcommittee and the Environment and Public Works Committee’s Children's Health and Environmental Responsibility Subcommittee.
Alexander does not see eye-to-eye with Harkin, of Iowa, on the major issue of the Affordable Care Act – Medicaid expansion and creation of state health insurance exchanges that go into effect in 2014. Harkin supports the requirements, while Alexander co-sponsored a current bill to repeal them.
However, the two are working together on health care bills. This year they and six other senators cosponsored the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Reauthorization Act, S. 242, to give FDA power to waive certain drug regulations in the case of a public health emergency. The committee voted to approve S. 242 on Feb. 13.
Alexander also took a leadership role on forging bipartisan legislation with Harkin on one of the committee’s recent health care priorities: FDA oversight of compounding pharmacies. Harkin is working on a plan to have FDA delegate authority to regulate large-scale compounders to all 50 state boards of pharmacy, with the right to remove that authority should the state fail to meet federal standards (Also see "Compounding The Problem: Congress, FDA Argue Over Regulatory Responsibility" - Pink Sheet, 19 Nov, 2012.). Alexander’s home state of Tennessee was among the hardest hit by the meningitis outbreak in 2012 that was linked to contaminated compounded products from a pharmacy in Massachusetts.
While Congress in 2012 cleared one big item off its agenda with passage of the FDA Safety and Innovation Act, incorporating agency user fees, Harkin and Alexander’s early work could set the tone for HELP’s health care focus this year as they tackle new issues. However, potential legislative proposals likely will be stymied, at least in the near term, by the pressing issue of deficit reduction.
The next two years will be Harkin’s last in the Senate. He recently announced he will not seek a new term in 2014. He has been in the Senate since 1984 and has chaired HELP since 2009 (Also see "Harkin Exit Intensifies Industry Need To Bolster Supplement Caucus" - Pink Sheet, 4 Feb, 2013.).
HELP has four new members this year, all freshman senators: Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.; Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Tim Scott, R-S.C. The three Democrats were elected in November, while Scott, who was formerly in the House, was appointed to fill the Senate seat left vacant with the retirement of Republican Jim DeMint (see HELP Committee chart).
With the usual jockeying for spots on committees and some unexpected vacancies post-election, congressional committee chairmen with jurisdiction over health care policy have used more time than usual to finalize their rosters.
Three senators who served on HELP in the previous Congress left the committee; Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Richard Blumenthal, R-Conn.; and John McCain, R-Ariz. Additional departures and retirements also affected the membership (Also see "Senate HELP And Finance Committees Change With Retirements" - Pink Sheet, 19 Nov, 2012.).
A second Senate committee with FDA oversight, Finance, also has chief jurisdiction over Medicare and Medicaid as well as tax issues, so its ACA oversight interest will be keen.
Finance features six new members in 2013, none of whom are freshmen, although several are in their first six-year term. Those first-termers are Michael Bennet, D-Colo.; Rob Portman, R-Ohio; and Pat Toomey, R-Pa. The other three new members are Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; Bob Casey, D-Pa.; and Johnny Isakson, R-Ga. (see Finance Committee chart).
Casey was named recently to replace former Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., on the committee following Kerry’s departure to become secretary of state. One other committee member from last year no longer on the committee, although he continues as a senator, is Tom Coburn, R-Okla.
A long-time member of the committee, Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., has announced he will not seek re-election in 2014. He is the most-senior committee member after Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and has long taken an active role in health care issues, including serving as the committee’s Health Subcommittee chairman.
On the House side, the Energy and Commerce Committee has 11 new members: six Republicans – Ralph Hall, Texas; Morgan Griffith, Va.; Gus Bilirakis, Fla.; Bill Johnson, Ohio; Billy Long, Mo., and Renee Ellmers, N.C.; and five Democrats – Jerry McNerney, Calif.; Bruce Braley, Iowa; Peter Welch, Vt.; Ben Ray Lujan, N.M.; Paul Tonko, N.Y. (see Energy and Commerce Committee chart).
Joe Pitts, R-Pa., remains chairman of the Health Subcommittee, with Frank Pallone, D-N.J., continuing as ranking member (Also see "Elections Shake Up Energy And Commerce Committee Membership" - Pink Sheet, 19 Nov, 2012.).