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

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, 115th Congress

Source

Members, 111th Congress

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. Tom Harkin, next in line for seniority, assumed the chairmanship on September 9, 2009, vacating his post as chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

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

Members, 112th Congress

The chairman of the committee is Democrat Tom Harkin of Iowa, and the Ranking Member is Republican Mike Enzi of Wyoming.

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

Members, 113th Congress

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

Defunct subcommittees

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"

Education 1869–1870

Charles D. Drake (R-MO) 1869–1870

Education and Labor, 1870 – 1947

Frederick Sawyer (R-SC) 1870–1873

James W. 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 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

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

Ted 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

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

Tom Harkin (D-IA) 2009–2015

Lamar Alexander (R-TN) 2015–present