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 transferred 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 National Minimum Wage Act 1998 creates a minimum wage across the United Kingdom.. E McGaughey, ''A Casebook on Labour Law'' (Hart 2019) ch 6(1) From 1 April 2022 this was £9.50 for people age 23 and over, £9.18 for 21- to 22-year-olds, £ ...

, the establishments of a

Department of Labor The Ministry of Labour ('' UK''), or Labor ('' US''), also known as the Department of Labour, or Labor, is a government department responsible for setting labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, training, a ...

, 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 The 80th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1947, ...

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 Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

, the committee took the lead in shaping legislation as part of Johnson's War on Poverty, resulting in the

Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 () authorized the formation of local Community Action Agencies as part of the War on Poverty. These agencies are directly regulated by the federal government. "It is the purpose of The Economic Opportunity Ac ...

. 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 95th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1977, ...

, 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 The 96th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from January 3, 197 ...

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.

Jurisdictional areas

Under the Rule 25 of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following subject matters fall under the jurisdiction of the Committee. *Measures relating to education, labor, health, and public welfare *Aging *

Agricultural college This article lists agricultural universities and colleges around the world, by continent and country. Africa Algeria * Higher National Agronomic School (French name: Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique) Benin * Agricultural University of ...

s *Arts and humanities *

Biomedical research Medical research (or biomedical research), also known as experimental medicine, encompasses a wide array of research, extending from " basic research" (also called ''bench science'' or ''bench research''), – involving fundamental scienti ...

and development *

Child labor Child labour refers to the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such ...

* Convict labor and the entry of goods made by convicts into interstate commerce *Domestic activities of the

American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desig ...

* Equal employment opportunity * Gallaudet University, Howard University, and

St. Elizabeths Hospital St. Elizabeths Hospital is a psychiatric hospital in Southeast, Washington, D.C. operated by the District of Columbia Department of Behavioral Health. It opened in 1855 under the name Government Hospital for the Insane, the first federally ope ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

*Individuals with disabilities *Labor standards and labor statistics *

Mediation Mediation is a structured, interactive process where an impartial third party neutral assists disputing parties in resolving conflict through the use of specialized communication and negotiation techniques. All participants in mediation are ...

and

arbitration Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that resolves disputes outside the judiciary courts. The dispute will be decided by one or more persons (the 'arbitrators', 'arbiters' or 'arbitral tribunal'), which renders the ' ...

labor dispute A labor dispute is a disagreement between an employer and employees regarding the terms of employment. This could include disputes regarding conditions of employment, fringe benefits, hours of work, tenure, and wages to be negotiated during col ...

s * Occupational Safety and Health Administration, including the welfare of miners. *

Mine Safety and Health Administration The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) () is a large agency of the United States Department of Labor which administers the provisions of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (Mine Act) to enforce compliance with mandatory safe ...

*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 A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. Be ...

Members, 117th Congress

Subcommittees

Historical members

110th Congress

111th Congress

The Committee was chaired by Democrat

Ted Kennedy Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Massachusetts for almost 47 years, from 1962 until his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic ...

of Massachusetts until his death on August 25, 2009. Under seniority rules, Acting Chairman

Christopher Dodd Christopher John Dodd (born May 27, 1944) is an American lobbyist, lawyer, and Democratic Party politician who served as a United States senator from Connecticut from 1981 to 2011. Dodd is the longest-serving senator in Connecticut's history. ...

was next in line, but Dodd chose instead to remain chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.

Tom Harkin Thomas Richard Harkin (born November 19, 1939) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as a United States senator from Iowa from 1985 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously was the U.S. representative for Iow ...

, next in line by seniority, assumed the chairmanship on September 9, 2009, vacating his post as chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. Republican Mike Enzi of Wyoming continued to serve as

Ranking Member In United States politics, a ranking member is the most senior member of a congressional or state legislative committee from the minority party. On many committees the ranking minority member, along with the Chair, serve as ''ex officio'' members ...

. Source: ,

112th Congress

Source:

113th Congress

Source: to 297

114th Congress

Source Source: to 68

115th Congress

116th Congress

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"

Chairmen

Education 1869–1870

* James Harlan (R-IA) 1869 *

Charles D. Drake Charles Daniel Drake (April 11, 1811 – April 1, 1892) was a United States senator from Missouri and Chief Justice of the Court of Claims. Charles Drake was successively a Whig, a Know Nothing, and a Democrat. Education and career Born o ...

(R-MO) 1869–1870

Education and Labor, 1870 – 1947

* Frederick Sawyer (R-SC) 1870–1873 * James W. Flanagan (R-TX) 1873–1875 *

Orris S. Ferry Orris Sanford Ferry (August 15, 1823 – November 21, 1875) was a Republican American lawyer and politician from Connecticut who served in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. He was also a brigadier gener ...

(R-CT) 1875 * John J. Patterson (R-SC) 1875–1877 *

Ambrose Burnside Ambrose Everett Burnside (May 23, 1824 – September 13, 1881) was an American army officer and politician who became a senior Union general in the Civil War and three times Governor of Rhode Island, as well as being a successful inventor ...

(R-RI) 1877–1879 *

James E. Bailey James Edmund Bailey (August 15, 1822December 29, 1885) was an American Democratic United States Senator from Tennessee from 1877 to 1881. Early life and education Bailey was born in Montgomery County, Tennessee. He attended the Clarksville Ac ...

(D-TN) 1879–1881 *

Henry W. Blair Henry William Blair (December 6, 1834March 14, 1920) was a United States representative and Senator from New Hampshire. During the American Civil War, he was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Union Army. A Radical Republican in his earlier political ...

(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 Boies Penrose (November 1, 1860 – December 31, 1921) was an American lawyer and Republican politician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After serving in both houses of the Pennsylvania legislature, he represented Pennsylvania in the Un ...

(R-PA) 1905 *

Jonathan P. Dolliver Jonathan Prentiss Dolliver (February 6, 1858October 15, 1910) was a Republican orator, U.S. Representative, then U.S. Senator from Iowa at the turn of the 20th century.Thomas Richard Ross, ''Jonathan Prentiss Dolliver: A Study in Political Int ...

(R-IA) 1905–1909 *

William E. Borah William Edgar Borah (June 29, 1865 – January 19, 1940) was an outspoken Republican United States Senator, one of the best-known figures in Idaho's history. A progressive who served from 1907 until his death in 1940, Borah is often con ...

(R-ID) 1909–1913 * Hoke Smith (D-GA) 1913–1919 * William S. Kenyon (R-IA) 1919–1922 *

(R-ID) 1922–1924 *

Lawrence C. Phipps Lawrence Cowle Phipps (August 30, 1862 – March 1, 1958) was a United States Senator representing Colorado from 1919 until 1931. Biography Lawrence Cowle Phipps was born on August 30, 1862 in Amity, Pennsylvania, the son of William Henry Phi ...

(R-CO) 1924–1926 *

James Couzens James J. Couzens (August 26, 1872October 22, 1936) was an American businessman, politician and philanthropist. He served as mayor of Detroit (1919–1922) and U.S. Senator from Michigan (1922–1936). Prior to entering politics he served as vice ...

(R-MI) 1926–1929 *

Jesse H. Metcalf Jesse Houghton Metcalf (November 16, 1860October 9, 1942) was an American politician, he served as a United States senator from Rhode Island. Early life Born in Providence, Metcalf was educated in private schools there, studied textile ma ...

(R-RI) 1929–1933 *

David I. Walsh David Ignatius Walsh (November 11, 1872June 11, 1947) was an American politician from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 46th Governor of Massachusetts before serving several terms in the United ...

(D-MA) 1933–1937 *

Hugo L. Black Hugo Lafayette Black (February 27, 1886 – September 25, 1971) was an American lawyer, politician, and jurist who served as a U.S. Senator from Alabama from 1927 to 1937 and as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1937 to 1971. ...

(D-AL) 1937 *

Elbert D. Thomas Elbert Duncan Thomas (June 17, 1883February 11, 1953) was a Democratic Party politician from Utah. He represented Utah in the United States Senate from 1933 until 1951. He served as the Chair of the Senate Education Committee. Biography Thomas w ...

(D-UT) 1937–1945 *

James E. Murray James Edward Murray (May 3, 1876March 23, 1961) was an American politician and United States Senator from Montana, and a liberal leader of the Democratic Party. He served in the United States Senate from 1934 until 1961. Background Born on a fa ...

(D-MT) 1945–1947

Labor and Public Welfare, 1947–1977

Robert A. Taft Robert Alphonso Taft Sr. (September 8, 1889 – July 31, 1953) was an American politician, lawyer, and scion of the Republican Party's Taft family. Taft represented Ohio in the United States Senate, briefly served as Senate Majority Lead ...

(R-OH) 1947–1949 *

(D-UT) 1949–1951 *

(D-MT) 1951–1953 * H. Alexander Smith (R-NJ) 1953–1955 *

Lister Hill Joseph Lister Hill (December 29, 1894 – December 20, 1984) was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Alabama in the U.S. Congress for more than forty-five years, as both a U.S. Representative (1923–1938) ...

(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 *

(D-MA) 1987–1995 *

Nancy Kassebaum Nancy Jo Kassebaum Baker (née Landon; born July 29, 1932) is an American politician who represented the State of Kansas in the United States Senate from 1978 to 1997. She is the daughter of Alf Landon, who was Governor of Kansas from 1933 to 19 ...

(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 *

(D-MA) 2001 * James M. Jeffords (R-VT) 2001 *

(D-MA) 2001–2003 *

Judd Gregg Judd Alan Gregg (born February 14, 1947) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 76th governor of New Hampshire from 1989 to 1993 and was a United States senator from New Hampshire; in the Senate, Gregg served as chairman of the S ...

(R-NH) 2003–2005 *

Michael Enzi Michael Bradley Enzi ( ; February 1, 1944 – July 26, 2021) was an American politician who served in the United States Senate from Wyoming as a member of the Republican Party from 1997 to 2021. Prior to his tenure in the United States Senate ...

(R-WY) 2005–2007 *

(D-MA) 2007–2009 *

(D-IA) 2009–2015 * Lamar Alexander (R-TN) 2015–2021 * Patty Murray (D-WA) 2021–present

References

External links

Official Committee PageArchive

Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee
Legislation activity and reports,

Congress.gov Congress.gov is the online database of United States Congress legislative information. Congress.gov is a joint project of the Library of Congress, the House, the Senate and the Government Publishing Office. Congress.gov was in beta in 2012, a ...

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