Latest from Lamar, Notes from the Senate Desk
*Important news from
this week: *
-
On Thursday, May 7, the U.S. Senate health
committee I chair will hold a hearing with Dr. Francis Collins at the
National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Dr. Gary Disbrow at the Biomedical
Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).
This hearing will
be an opportunity for senators to learn how NIH is working to create
new technologies to produce the tens of millions of diagnostic tests
we will need to contain COVID-19.
-
The U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services announced that Tennessee hospitals and clinics will
receive an additional $179 million in funding made available through
the CARES Act [link 1].
-
The U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development announced that Tennessee will receive nearly $12
million
- made available by the CARES Act
- for 79 public housing
authorities across the state to help fight COVID-19.
-
The Corporation
for Public Broadcasting announced more than $2 million is headed to
local television and radio stations across Tennessee to help maintain
programming services.
-
On April 30th, the U.S. Department of
Education announced an additional $39.6 million for 71 colleges and
universities in Tennessee to help ensure learning continues during the global
pandemic caused by COVID-19, including $30.4 million for Tennessee's
six Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and 39 other
institutions.
This funding is made available by the CARES Act and is in
addition to the $237.1 million the Department provided to 127 Tennessee
colleges and universities on April 21.
-
The Mechanical Licensing
Agency - which was created by the Music Modernization Act [link 2] that I
helped write and President Trump signed into law to ensure
songwriters across America are paid a fair market value for their work - has
announced its headquarters will be in Nashville. Welcome to Music
City!
*Attention to Middle Tennesseans affected by the tornadoes on March
3**rd*
The deadline to apply for Federal Emergency Management
Agency disaster assistance is this Monday, May 4. If you live in Davidson,
Putnam or Wilson counties and have not applied for assistance, you can
click here [link 3] to do so.
*How can the CARES Act can help
you?*
I encourage Tennesseans to visit my website [link 4] to learn
more about how you can take advantage of the federal assistance Congress
passed
[link 5]and President Trump signed into law that will keep
paychecks coming, relieve financial burdens and help contain
COVID-19.
*Accelerating the development of COVID-19 testing technologies
*
This week, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced [link 6]
that it has begun implementing a new initiative to accelerate the
development of COVID-19 testing technologies. I worked with Senator Roy
Blunt of Missouri to include this "shark-tank"-like effort in the
Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act [link 7] that
President Trump signed into law last week. This provided over $1 billion
for a competitive "shark tank," led by Dr. Francis Collins, one of the
nation's leading scientists, and will help lead the effort to develop
new technologies to produce the tens of millions of diagnostic tests
we will need to contain this virus and restart the economy. In such a
bold effort there will be failures, but all we need are a few
successes to help get our country back work and back to school.
I wrote an
op-ed in the *Washington Post* with Senator Blunt on the need to
advance other research, give money to states to buy testing equipment,
improve data reporting, conduct tests and operate testing centers, and
implement contact tracing to identify those who've come in contact with
sick people so they, too, can quarantine themselves. You can read that
here [link 8].
*#TennesseeStrong - Tennesseans fighting back
against COVID-19 *
Over the last couple of weeks, I have highlighted a
few examples of how Tennesseans are showing their "Volunteer Spirit"
by supporting their communities and the medical professionals on the
front lines fighting to contain the spread of COVID-19.
While it's
impossible to capture all of the ways Tennesseans are stepping up during
this difficult time, here are just a few examples to show how we are
all #TennesseeStrong:
-
East Tennessee's Oak Ridge National
Laboratory is using its exceptional brainpower and advanced manufacturing
expertise to help create the resources needed to rapidly produce COVID-19
test kits across the country, and President Trump thanked them [link
9] for their efforts earlier this week.
-
Since wearing face
masks have become a common practice by many Americans, particularly with
health care workers, Chattanooga-based Kenco is using [link 10] its 3-D
printing capabilities to make face masks more comfortable for those
who wear them.
-
Vanderbilt's Blair School of Music is using video
conferencing apps over the internet to play music for older
Nashvillians during this pandemic. One 93-year old Nashville resident who
received one of these private concerts said [link 11], "I don't care about
computers and all that jazz, but when I realized that music was being
played just for me, it was amazement."
-
An 11-year-old girl from
Gallatin with a passion for helping others has dedicated [link 12]
her time and her efforts to producing face masks for those who need
them.
-
A group of Nashville pilots have volunteered [link 13] to
change their flight routes and deliver COVID-19 tests to a Pathgroup Lab
in Nashville. This is important work, as ground transportation can
take days. Executive Vice President of Sales for Pathgroup Labs, Steve
Young, said, "The quicker that we can get these specimens and turn the
results around, the quicker they can start treating the patients of a
healthcare provider can get back to work."
-
Hundreds of medical
and nursing students at the University of Tennessee Health Science
Center have volunteered [link 14] their time to work on the frontlines at
COVID-19 test sites.
-
Volunteers with MyRide Kingsport are
taking the initiative to help [link 15] older members of their community
who are at higher risk of COVID-19 by delivering food, medicine and
other essential items for them.
-
Second Harvest Food Bank and
Tennessee State University have set up a drive-through food distribution
facility to provide [link 16] relief to hundreds of residents in the
Nashville metro area.
*Below are a few news articles from this week
I thought you might want to read: *
*Elk Valley Times: Lamar
Alexander: Staying 'Tennessee strong' [link 17]*
*The Hill*: *NIH
launches 'Shark Tank'-style contest to develop new testing technologies*
[link 18]
*WVLT-CBS Knoxville Channel 8*: *Sen. Alexander talks testing
technology as Tennessee reopens* [link 19]
Finish what you start,
and don't start more than you can do well.
*#177 in Lamar
Alexander's Little Plaid Book*
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