Important news from this past
week:
- I wrote an op-ed with Senator
Richard Burr of North Carolina on the Coronavirus that originated in
Wuhan, China, now called COVID-19. As chairman of the Senate health
committee, I will continue to monitor this outbreak, and I believe the
actions of our public health officials, state and local partners, and the
Trump administration are helping to prevent the spread of the virus in
the United States. Read more here.
- President Trump announced this
week his intent to nominate Tyreece Miller to
serve as the United States Marshal for the Western District of
Tennessee. Deputy Chief Miller knows how to get results and how to get local,
state and federal agencies to work together.
- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that construction of Chickamauga Lock in Chattanooga
will receive its sixth straight year of funding, which will help keep
up to 150,000 trucks off I-75 and keep the cost of shipping goods low
for manufacturers across the state.
- This week I voted to approve the Iran War Powers
Resolution. This vote is about the United States Constitution. It preserves
the commander in chief’s Article II constitutional responsibility
to defend the country and Congress’ Article I responsibility to
declare war.
Reviewing the president’s budget
recommendations
This week, President Trump announced his budget recommendations for fiscal year 2021. I
appreciate the president’s budget suggestions and will carefully
consider them as Congress begins the process of funding the federal
government for the next fiscal year. Under the Constitution, it is
Congress’ job to set spending priorities and pass appropriations bills,
and my priorities will continue to be making sure our national
defense, national laboratories, the National Institutes of Health and
national parks have the resources they need.
In his budget, the president called for ending the practice of
surprise medical billing. Ending surprise medical billing is a problem
almost everyone wants fixed, and is a perfect example of how Congress and
the president can work together to reduce out of pocket health care
costs for patients.
The president tweeted about the necessity of fixing this problem
earlier this week:
I am also glad to see the budget continues to include the
president’s proposal to rebuild our national parks. The Restore Our Parks Act, legislation that I introduced with
Senators Portman, Warner, and King, is based on the president’s
proposal and will cut in half the maintenance backlog at our national
parks. This legislation is the only way to address the deferred
maintenance backlog in our 419 national parks, and the Trump Administration
agrees. This is especially important for Tennessee, given that the
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited national park in
the country.
The budget proposes a
major increase in funding for career and technical education programs
to help train more workers for our growing economy. The budget
also proposes new education tax credit scholarships to give low-income
families more of the same choices that wealthier families already have
when choosing a school for their children.
I enjoyed meeting with the Tennessee Fraternal Order of Police this
week. I appreciate everything they do to keep our communities
safe.
Chickamauga
Lock construction will continue for sixth consecutive
year
Under the work plan released this week by
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Chickamauga Lock will receive
$101.7 million to continue construction for the sixth consecutive year.
This funding will keep construction of the new Chickamauga Lock on time
and schedule. This is great news for East Tennessee since it will help
keep up to 150,000 trucks off I-75 and keep the cost of shipping goods
low for manufacturers across the state. More U.S. senators ask to
increase funding for the Army Corps of Engineers than any other part of
the budget, and I worked hard to provide record funding for the Corps
to ensure we could keep federal lock and dam projects on track. The
work plan also provides $8.1 million for the J. Percy Priest project,
which includes an additional $2.2 million for maintenance of recreation
features and greenway trail improvements. The work plan also includes
$2.163 million for dredging at Memphis Harbor McKellar Lake, which is
good news for West Tennesseans.
Below are some articles from this
week I thought you would enjoy:
Fox News: Op-Ed by Sen.
Alexander & Sen. Burr: Coronavirus prevention steps the U.S.
government is taking to protect you
Tennessean: Op-Ed by
Brian Reisinger: How Sen. Lamar Alexander had his 'Howard Baker moment'
during the Trump impeachment trial
Chattanooga Times
Free Press: Chickamauga Lock gets more funding this year, but Trump
budget plan could end replacement work next
year
Listen to the Farm Bureau.
#240 in Lamar Alexander’s Little Plaid
Book
