Latest from Lamar, Notes from the Senate Desk
*Important News from
this week: *
-
Exciting news - The Look Rock Picnic Area in the
Great Smoky Mountains National Park has been reopened. The site was
closed in 2013 after the water utility systems failed.
-
Thirteen
Tennessee hospitals were designated as "high performing" in the U.S.
News and World Report's 2019-2020 Best Hospital Rankings.
-
The
United States Senate voted to pass a bipartisan budget agreement that
will fund our national defense and other important Tennessee priorities.
The bill is now headed to President Trump's desk for his
signature.
*Voting to fund national defense, national laboratories,
national parks and the National Institutes of Health*
This week, I voted
for and the U.S. Senate passed the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019, which
will help fund our national defense, national laboratories like the
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, national parks like the Great Smoky
Mountains National Park, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This
type of spending - discretionary spending - is under control and is
not the part of the federal budget that is driving our $22 trillion
federal debt. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO),
discretionary spending has risen at about the rate of inflation the past 10
years, and is projected to continue to rise at about the rate of
inflation over the next 10 years. The real driver of our out-of-control
federal debt is mandatory or entitlement spending - which is Social
Security, Medicare, Medicaid and interest, and is projected to account for
78 percent of all federal spending in 2029. Congress cannot balance the
budget with cuts to discretionary spending. We should consider a plan
like the Fiscal Sustainability Act, which Senator Corker and I
introduced last Congress, to reduce the growth of entitlement spending by
nearly $1 trillion over 10 years. The problem was that Senator Corker
and I were the only cosponsors. Take a look at the below chart to see a
visual representation of our federal government's runaway spending,
compared to our stable discretionary spending.
[image =
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*The
above chart illustrates all federal spending over the last 10 years and
the projected spending for the next 10 years. Discretionary spending
(blue line), is under control. Mandatory spending (red line), is causing
the out-of-control federal debt.*
*Three Senate committees
approved legislation to lower health care costs *
I often recommend
that Tennesseans look at the United States Congress as if it were a
split screen television set. Here's what I mean by that: during the last
month amid Washington's turmoil - Trump vs. The Squad, Mueller
testifying, impeachment votes, battles over the border - three Senate
committees, including the Senate health committee I chair, approved more than
80 bipartisan proposals from at least 75 senators to reduce the cost
of the health care that Americans pay for out of their own pockets.
Legislation to end surprise medical bills, increase transparency, and
lower prescription drug costs is looking like a train that will get to
the station when Congress reconvenes in September.
On June 26, after
17 hearings, six months of work, and recommendations from over 400
experts, my health committee voted 20-3 to recommend to the full Senate
55 proposals from 65 senators. For more information on what my
legislation will do to lower the cost of what you pay for your health care,
click here [link 1]. I look forward to continuing to work with my
Senate colleagues through August, and develop a package that can be voted
on by the full U.S. Senate, so we can bring a real result to our state
that will affect virtually everyone in Tennessee.
[image =
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This week, my staff played Senator Blackburn's staff in the
Crockett Cup - a tradition where Tennessee's two Senate offices face off
against each other in a game of softball. When our staffs play against
each other in these games, it's really the only time we're not on the
same team. As I like to say, when it comes to Tennesseans having a voice
in the United States Senate, one plus one equals three.
*Middle Tennessee Boulevard will make a great first impression at
MTSU*
Yesterday, I spoke at the opening of Middle Tennessee Boulevard, which
runs along Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. Middle
Tennessee Boulevard creates a great first impression for a great
university. According to landscape architecture professor Phillip Waite,
most prospective students decide within ten minutes of being on campus
whether the college they're visiting will stay on their list based on
how it looks. Roughly half of Davidson County high school graduates
attend MTSU. In addition, half of all MTSU students are the first in
their family to attend college and over 40 percent graduated in the top 25
percent of their high school. MTSU has proven over the last few years
that it is committed to high academic standards and helping students
complete their degrees. This new entrance will help attract even more
students. Congratulations to MTSU President McPhee and Murfreesboro
Mayor Shane McFarland - their leadership has helped make this
possible.
*Reopening Look Rock Picnic Area in the Great Smoky Mountains
National Park *
Exciting news - the Great Smoky Mountains National
Park reopened the Look Rock Picnic Area to the public! The site was
closed in 2013 after the water utility systems failed. Unfortunately,
too many of our national parks are in bad shape. That's why I was glad
to introduce the Restore Our Parks Act [link 2], which would cut in
half the maintenance backlog at our national parks and help restore our
419 national parks so Americans can enjoy them.
[image =
[link removed]]
I
always enjoy starting my Tuesday mornings with Marsha Blackburn and
meeting with Tennesseans who are visiting the nation's capital. This was
the last Tennessee Tuesday before the school year starts, so I got to
wish a few young Tennesseans good luck on the upcoming school year.
*The Trump Administration is working to reduce cost of
prescription drugs and help you know the price of your health care
*
This week, the Trump Administration took several important actions
that will address the high prices Tennesseans often pay for health
care. First, the administration released a proposal to give patients more
information about hospital prices. This step by the administration to
help patients know better what they are paying for health care
services is complementary to several provisions in the legislation I
introduced to reduce the cost of health care. Simply put, you can't reduce the
cost of what you pay for health care until you know the price of
health care. We will carefully review how the proposed rule and our
legislation interact.
Second, the administration released a plan for
allowing the safe importation of foreign drugs from Canada to reduce what
Americans pay out of their own pockets for treatment. This is the
first administration to take concrete steps to allow importation of
prescription drugs to reduce their costs, and I welcome it. The key for me
is whether this plan preserves the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's
(FDA) gold standard for safety and effectiveness. Millions of
Americans every day buy prescription drugs relying on the FDA's guarantee of
quality.
*Below are some articles from this week I thought you
would enjoy:*
*The Colombia Daily Herald: Column by Sen. Lamar
Alexander: Cut entitlements, not defense [link 3]*
*WKRN-ABC Nashville
Channel 2: Governor Lee on western swing looking for Tennessee jobs
[link 4]*
*Associated Press: US to set up plan allowing prescription
meds from Canada [link 5]*
Listen to the Farm Bureau.
*#240
in Lamar Alexander's Little Plaid Book*
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