senator lamar alexander, we are sitting in the senate health education labor and pensions committee room. you have chaired this panel for about a third of your senate career. why this committee? sen. alexander: ted kennedy used to say there is a lot that comes through here. if you want to fix something, this is where you come. if you want to get medical miracles into the doctor s office rapidly, you come here to pass 21st century cures. the opioid crisis, here. the big argument over labor, here. a lot happens here. we have 23 members in the senate, from elizabeth warren to bernie sanders to rand paul. so, if we can get a consensus here, we figured the country can live with it as well. highlight your chairmanship over the years? sen. alexander: highlights? well, one emotional highlight was when i was sitting there at nd all 23 senators voted to report the bill fixing no child left behind. it may sound silly to viewers, but think about elementary and secondary education. i
miracles into the doctor s office rapidly, you come here to pass 21st century cures. the opioid crisis, here. the big argument over labor, here. a lot happens here. we have 23 members in the senate, from elizabeth warren to bernie sanders to rand paul. so, if we can get a consensus here, we figured the country can live with it as well. highlight your chairmanship over the years? sen. alexander: highlights? well, one emotional highlight was when i was sitting there at nd all 23 senators voted to report the bill fixing no child left behind. it may sound silly to viewers, but think about elementary and secondary education. i mean, everybody is an expert. it s like being at the university of tennessee s football stadium, with 100,000 people, all of whom have played a little football, so they know what play to call. that is the way they all were. everything from sexual orientation to common core. yet we were able to agree on a bill that the teachers unions and the governors asso
sen. alexander: ted kennedy used to say there is a lot that comes through here. if you want to fix something, this is where you come. if you want to get medical miracles into the doctor s office rapidly, you come here to pass 21st century cures. there s an opioid crisis? here. the big argument over labor? here. a lot happens here. we have 23 members in the senate, from elizabeth warren to bernie sanders to rand paul. so, if we can get a consensus here, we figure the country can live with it as well. highlights your chairmanship over the years? over the years? sen. alexander: highlights? well, one emotional highlight was when i was sitting there at nd all 23 senators voted to report the bill fixing no child left behind. it may sound silly to viewers, but think about elementary and secondary education. i mean, everybody is an expert. it s like being at the university of tennessee s football stadium, with 100,000 people, all of whom have played a little football, so they know
earlier as the governor of tennessee and the education secretary under george h w bush. this is about 30 minutes. senator lamar alexander, we are sitting in the senate health education labor and pensions committee room. you have chaired this panel for a third of your senate career. why this committee? sen. alexander: there is a lot that comes through here. if you want to fix something, this is where you come. if you want to get medical miracles into the doctor s office rapidly, you come here to past 21st century cures. the opioid crisis, here. the big argument over waiver, here. a lot happened here. we have 23 members in the senate, from elizabeth warren to bernie sanders to warn paul. to rand paul. if we can get a consensus here, we figure it will run well. highlight your chairmanship over the years? sen. alexander: one emotional highlight was when i was sitting there at all 23 senators voted to report the bill fixing no child left behind. viewers,und silly to but think
seating has been spaced so we are six feet apart and we have made it possible for senators and witnesses to participate by video conference if they choose to do so, and several have. to maintain social distancing, we have very limited seating and don t have room formulas of the public to attend, however this hearing is available to watch a live online and a recording will be available on the committee health. www. senate.gov. the hearing will be shown from gavel-to-gavel in its entirety, unedited by anyone from the moment that we start until the very end that we stop. due to the limited seating, representatives of the press are working as a pool to relay observations to their colleagues and senators and staff present have been reminded about the safety guidelines put in place by the attending physician. we all wore our masks. i m not going to wear mine during the hearing, since we are six feet apart, but senators may do whatever they choose to do. i would like to thank the ru