Important news from this week:
- My thoughts and prayers continue to be with all of
those throughout East Tennessee and the Chattanooga-area who were impacted
by severe storms this week. The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency
and local first responders have been working to clear debris, restore
power, and provide assistance. Tennesseans are resilient, and we will
all work together to help our communities rebuild and
recover.
- Governor Bill Lee announced
Tennesseans can now be tested for COVID-19, regardless of traditional
symptoms. To learn more and find a testing site near you, visit the governor’s
website.
- According to the Small Business
Administration (SBA), over 34,000 Tennessee small businesses
have been approved for
more than $6.5 billion from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)
created by the CARES Act. On Thursday, April
16, this new program ran out of money. I support legislation to
provide an additional $250 billion for this program, and I am hopeful
that an agreement can be reached next week with Senate Democrats to
pass this legislation so we can continue to help small businesses keep
paychecks coming to hundreds of thousands of workers across the
country.
- The U.S. Department of Education
announced that 127 colleges and universities across our state would
receive $237 million to help students impacted by
COVID-19.
- The U.S. Department of Transportation
announced that 69 airports across our state will receive a combined $124
million—made available by the CARES Act—to help them continue
operations.
- Governor Bill Lee extended the statewide
safer at home order through April 30.
How can the CARES Act can help
you?
I encourage Tennesseans to visit
my website to learn more about
how you can take advantage of the federal assistance Congress passed and President Trump
signed into law that will keep paychecks coming, relieve
financial burdens and help contain COVID-19.
The “Volunteer Spirit” is on full
display
Last week, I
highlighted a few examples of how Tennesseans are supporting their communities
and the medical professionals on the front lines fighting to
contain the spread of COVID-19. Here are some more stories
to show how we are all #TennesseeStrong:
-
The CEO of Uncle Nearest Whiskey, in Fayetteville,
Tennessee, purchased over
$40,000 worth of N95 masks with the intention of donating them
to frontline workers.
- Medical
students across our state are stepping up and volunteering to
help their communities and health professionals respond to and recover
from the COVID-19 outbreak. Read some of these stories here.
- Despite having her home destroyed by the tornado in March, a Nashville
nurse volunteered her
time to serve at the Nissan Stadium testing
center.
- After seeing a customer struggle to pay his
$173 bill, a 17-year-old grocery store cashier in Georgetown,
Tennessee, volunteered to cover
the tab herself.
- Peyton and
Ashley Manning, working with The Loveless Cafe in Nashville, donated 600 meals to health
care workers at TriStar Summit Medical Center.
-
A business owner in Jackson is using her sewing shop to make face masks,
and she has already made over 300 masks.
- Dollywood donated 850 masks to the East Tennessee Children's
Hospital and 200 ponchos to local fire fighters and
EMTs.
- Pellissippi State Community College and
University of Tennessee students are using their schools' 3D printers to help make much-needed
personal protection equipment and medical supplies during the coronavirus
pandemic.
- A local resident of
Karns, Tennessee, started making fabric masks, and now she has the
help of about 250 volunteers that produce face masks to protect people from
COVID-19.
- The Tennessee Valley
Authority established the COVID-19 Community Cares Fund to provide $2 million to support
non-profits helping families and businesses affected by the global
pandemic.
- Ms. Cheap Pop-Up Penny Drive is
helping raise funds for the Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee, which is
especially important at this time with the increased demand at
food banks as a result of the March tornadoes and COVID-19
outbreak.
- FedEx Logistics donated 3,000 face shields to six
Memphis area hospitals.
- The Nashville Predators raised over $2.7 million to help Tennesseans impacted by the March 3
tornadoes and the COVID-19 pandemic.
-
Radians, a respirator mask manufacturer, donated more than 14,000 N95 masks to
Memphis and Shelby County to help medical first responders and medical
professionals stay safe as they fight COVID-19.
- Resolute Forest Products’ plant in
Calhoun, Tennessee, is taking
innovative steps to increase the production of
toilet paper in response to shortages caused by
COVID-19.
- The Marathon gas station in Frayser,
Tennessee, in partnership with the Pursuit of God Church, gave away $10 in free gas to customers
for four hours on Wednesday.
Serving on President Trump’s Economic
Recovery Initiative
This
week, President Trump appointed me to serve on his Economic Recovery Initiative. The way to
contain this disease and get back to work and back to school is to put
politics aside and work together as fast as we can on new tests, new
treatments and new vaccines. Everyone I know wants this to happen as
quickly as we responsibly can, and I welcome the opportunity to help in
this way.
Emphasizing the need
for widespread COVID-19 testing
Without more tests with quick results, it will be
difficult to contain this disease and give Americans confidence to go back to
work and back to school. In the last month, Congress has given federal
agencies up to $38 billion to develop tests, treatments, and
vaccines. Nothing is more important than finding a new diagnostic technology
that will make it possible to test tens of millions of Americans,
something our country has never tried to do before. We should start by
using the money Congress has already provided, put politics aside, and
work together on more tests with quick results. It is also important
that these tests be free for all who take them. I along with
my colleague, Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri, wrote to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar urging
him to make clear that the new law passed by Congress allows free tests
for Americans who have had COVID-19 and are likely immune to the
disease, which the Department has confirmed.
Some good news for
Tennessee students
Last
week, the federal government announced 127 colleges and universities
across our state would receive $237 million to help students impacted by
COVID-19. The amount of funding for each school has been
announced so Tennessee students can get help
from their school for COVID-19-related expenses. For the full list,
click here.
Celebrating National Park
Week
Below are a few news articles I thought you might want to
read:
Chattanooga Times Free
Press: Tennessee higher ed institutions to see $237 million in student-related
federal COVID-19 aid
Tennessean:
Tennessee Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Lamar Alexander named to Trump's
recovery task force
WRCB-NBC
Channel 3: Officials provide updates on Hamilton County storm
damage
Chattanooga Times Free Press: Lawmakers
push for COVID-19 antibody tests to restart economy as health experts
caution limitations
Keep in mind that enough small steps in
the right direction will still get you where you want to
go.
#139 in Lamar
Alexander’s Little Plaid Book
