Latest from Lamar, Notes from the Senate Desk

*Important news from
this week: *

-
I introduced legislation that will help hospitals
in Tennessee keep up with the cost of providing care and help curb
the trend of rural hospital closures by setting an appropriate national
minimum for the Medicare Area Wage Index. Learn more about this
legislation here [link 1].

-
The U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services announced [link 2] more CARES Act funding - $35 million is
headed to two Tennessee hospitals that have treated a higher number of
COVID-19 patients, Vanderbilt University Medical Center ($24.8 million)
and Sumner Regional Medical Center ($10.6 million). Another $239
million is headed to 289 rural hospitals, doctors, and clinics across the
state.

-
The Health Resources and Services Administration announced
[link 3] that 29 community health centers across Tennessee will
receive an additional $9.4 million to expand COVID-19 testing. This funding
is in addition to the $25 million these community health centers
received last month.

*The best way to get Americans back to work and
back to school? All roads lead through testing. *

[image =
[link removed]] [link 4]

** Click here [link 5] or on the above
image for VIDEO [link 6] of my opening remarks **

This week, the
Senate health committee I chair held a hearing to explore the best way
to get Americans back to work and back to school - increased testing
for COVID-19. Our country will soon be doing two million diagnostic
tests for COVID-19 a week, an impressive number. But to contain the
disease and give confidence to Americans that it is safe to leave our
homes, we will need tens of millions of tests, many more than our current
technologies can produce. Testing is necessary to identify the small
number of those with the disease and those exposed to it, so they can be
quarantined, instead of quarantining the whole country. Testing will
help Americans traumatized by daily reports of the virus gain the
confidence to go back to work and back to school. The end to this crisis
will be determined by three things: tests, treatments, and vaccines.
There is promising news that treatments and therapies will be available
this summer. The administration's warp-speed pursuit of a vaccine has
a goal of 100 million doses by the fall and 300 million by January, a
target much more ambitious than has ever been achieved before. And the
private sector is demonstrating a capacity to turn out quickly tens
of millions of serology tests -- tests to determine whether you have
had the disease and have antibodies that might create some immunity, at
least for a time.

The president's coronavirus task force reports
that states have submitted their goals for testing for May and the
administration is working to help supply media and swabs that states are
not able to obtain on the commercial market. That is impressive -- but
not nearly enough. To test every nursing home, and every prison,
everyone in an operating room, and some entire classes and campuses and
factories, teams at sporting events, and to give those tests more than
once, we will need millions of more tests. This demand will only grow as
the country goes back to work and some 100,000 public schools and
more than 5,000 colleges plan to reopen this August.

Working [link 7]
with my colleague from Missouri, Senator Roy Blunt, we included in the
most recent coronavirus legislation $1.5 billion for a competitive
"shark tank [link 8]" led by Dr. Francis Collins of the National
Institutes of Health, who testified at our hearing this week. This initiative
utilizes the capacities of government itself, in coordination with
the private sector, to pull out all the stops and fast track new
technologies designed to produce tens of millions of tests by August. There
is no safe path forward to combat the novel coronavirus without
adequate testing. Let us hope that out of Dr. Collins' shark tank will emerge
at least one mighty great white shark that will help us combat this
disease.

[image =
[link removed]] [link 9]

I joined
[link 10] Fox Business' "Cavuto: Coast to Coast," this week to discuss
the COVID-19 pandemic, and the need for development of new testing,
treatments and vaccines. You can watch that here [link 11].

*I
appreciate Governor Bill Lee and Tennesseans across our state for their
commitment to expanding testing:*

[image =
[link removed]] [link 12]

*How can the CARES Act can help you?*

I encourage
Tennesseans to visit my website [link 13] to learn more about how you
can take advantage of the federal assistance Congress passed
[link
14]and President Trump signed into law that will keep paychecks coming,
relieve financial burdens and help contain
COVID-19.

*#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. Here are some inspiring stories from this
week:

Jeremy Pruitt, head football coach for the Tennessee Volunteers, made
[link 15] a surprise call-in to a lifelong Tennessee football fan who
is working on the frontlines fighting COVID-19 at Vanderbilt University
Medical Center to thank him for all of the work he is doing to keep
Tennessee communities safe.

Scientists at Oak Ridge National
Laboratory are helping to speed up [link 16] manufacturing of life-saving
equipment such as face shields, masks and test kits. Government
investment in basic science and advanced manufacturing at our national
laboratories is more important than ever.

Renfro Corp., a company that
operates a manufacturing and distribution center in Cleveland will be
delivering [link 17] 300,000 cloth face masks across the state of
Tennessee this week.

*Clarifying Title IX law for schools across the
country *

This week, the U.S. Department of Education made final its
rule [link 18] clarifying Title IX - a federal law protecting students
from sex discrimination in education programs or activities that receive
federal financial assistance - so that schools will more fully
understand their roles and responsibilities to better comply with the law.
This final rule respects and supports victims and preserves due process
rights for both the victim and the accused. For example, the rule
ensures victims get the support they need to change classes or dorms if
they allege they have been sexually assaulted or sexually harassed and
the rule ensures the victim and the accused get a fair hearing to
resolve such allegations. I am glad Education Secretary Betsy DeVos
undertook this rulemaking to help give more certainty to victims, the
accused, and college administrators. Under the previous administration, a
single official at the U.S. Department of Education was issuing edicts,
without the proper public input, to 6,000 colleges and universities
about how to handle the complex and sensitive problem of sexual assault
on college campuses. To resolve this, Secretary DeVos undertook the
appropriate public rulemaking process beginning in November 2018,
including the opportunity for individuals, groups and educational
institutions to review and submit comments.



*Celebrating Teacher
Appreciation Day*

This week, we celebrated Teacher Appreciation Day. Many
Tennesseans who are helping their children learn from home appreciate
now, more than ever, the impact teachers have in the lives of their
students. I too had some great teachers, but Miss Lennis Tedford was
the best. From Miss Tedford, I learned more than music -- she taught me
the discipline of Czerny and the metronome, the logic of Bach and the
clean joy of Mozart. So, a big thank you to teachers in Tennessee--and
across the country--who continue to find new, creative ways to
educate the next generation during this unprecedented time. You are truly
among the heroes of our country.

*Below are a few news articles from
this week I thought you might want to read:*

*Knoxville News
Sentinel: Op-Ed by Lamar Alexander: Salary of TVA's CEO isn't too high. It's
in the bottom fourth for big utilities [link 19]*

*WKRN-ABC
Nashville Channel 2: Senate 'shark tank' competition for coronavirus testing
hooks strong response [link 20]*

*WSMV-NBC Nashville Channel:
Tennessee Senators introduce legislation to help rural hospitals [link
21]*

*Health Resources and Services Administration: Tennessee
Expanding Capacity for Coronavirus Testing Awards [link 22]*



When
you're really stuck for an answer, ask your mother or grandmother for
advice.

*#195 in Lamar Alexander's Little Plaid Book*




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