Latest from Lamar, Notes from the Senate Desk

*Important news from
the week:*

-
England has its history. Italy has its art. Egypt
has its pyramids. But, the United States of America has the great
American outdoors. This week, the U.S. Senate passed legislation [link 1]
that will be the biggest help to our national parks, including the
Great Smoky Mountains National Park, in half a century.

-
The U.S.
Department of Energy awarded [link 2] $20 million to the new Oak Ridge
Institute at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville to expand the
university's partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to train the
next generation of American scientists and engineers.

-
The U.S.
Supreme Court released a decision [link 3] that will provide temporary
relief to current DACA recipients - children who were brought to the
U.S. illegally, but by no fault of their own. I believe it is up to
Congress to fix our broken immigration system - that means achieving a
permanent result both for DACA recipients and for increasing border
security.

-
U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao announced the
Tennessee Department of Transportation is receiving a $11.2 million
grant to install 143 miles of fiber optic cable along I-40 from Memphis
to Nashville. This grant will help provide drivers with real time road
conditions and expand broadband access to distressed counties along
I-40.



*Passing the most important conservation legislation for
our national parks - including the Smokies - in half a century
*

[image =
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I spoke [link 5] about this landmark legislation and
what it will do for the Smokies this week on the Senate floor. You can
listen to my remarks here [link 6].

This week, the U.S. Senate
passed [link 7] the Great American Outdoors Act - the most important
conservation and outdoor recreation legislation in the last half century.
Today, too many of our national parks are in bad shape, and American
families visiting those parks are often shocked to find that so many of
the roads, picnic areas, trails, campgrounds and visitor centers are
in such bad condition or even closed. This bipartisan bill will cut in
half the $12 billion maintenance backlog in our national parks,
including $224 million in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It will
also reduce maintenance backlogs at our national forests and refuges.
Here is what this means for Tennessee - it means that places like the
beautiful Look Rock Campground in the Smokies, which has been closed
for several years because the sewage system doesn't work, will have the
resources needed to reopen so the 5,000 families who camp there each
year can continue to enjoy it. And the Cherokee National Forest in
East Tennessee, which suffers from a $27 million deferred maintenance
backlog and welcomes more visitors each year than most of the western
national parks, will have its roads and trails restored. And then in West
Tennessee, the Tennessee National Wildlife Refuge, which has about $8
million of maintenance work that needs to be done on boat ramps and
boat docks, will receive the support it needs as well.

This bill
will also fully and permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund
(LWCF), an unrealized goal of Congress and the conservation community
since 1964. Fully funding the LWCF was also a recommendation of
President Reagan's Commission on Americans Outdoors, which I chaired in
1985.

None of this would be possible without the strong support of
President Trump and so many Democrat and Republican senators. In the
midst of all the bad things that are going on today, this is a good thing,
and sends a strong signal to the American people that Congress can
come together to do important work. I hope Congress can send this bill
to the president's desk soon so future generations can continue to
enjoy our national parks and public lands.

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*$20 million
federal grant for Oak Ridge Institute at UT Knoxville will help train the
next generation of American scientists and engineers *

This was an
exciting week for the University of Tennessee-Knoxville (UT), the U.S.
Department of Energy and our state. On Wednesday, the U.S. Department
of Energy awarded [link 8] $20 million to the new Oak Ridge Institute
at the University of Tennessee to expand the university's partnership
with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to help train the next
generation of American scientists and engineers. One of the joys of my
public life has been to see and encourage the partnership between the
University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory from the
vantage point of governor, president of the University of Tennessee, and now
as chairman of the Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations
Subcommittee, which sent about $4 billion in federal money to Oak
Ridge last year. As chairman of this subcommittee, I included $20 million
in last year's spending bill to promote workforce development and
prepare the next generation of American scientists and engineers - which
was competitively awarded to the Oak Ridge Institute.

The Oak
Ridge Institute will be a pipeline for a new supply of American-trained
scientists and engineers, which our country sorely needs in this
competitive world. It will also combine the resources and experience of the
nation's largest science and energy laboratory and a major research
university. With such a strong foundation and current leadership, I am
betting that the Oak Ridge Corridor brand and the Oak Ridge Institute
will be recognized as one of the most important science and engineering
alliances in the world.

*Below are a few notable tweets from this
announcement: *



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*Supporting police
reform legislation in the U.S. Senate *

I was proud to cosponsor [link
9] South Carolina Senator Tim Scott's legislation to help states reform
our country's police departments by holding police officers
accountable, identifying and encouraging the adoption and use of best practices
in community policing, and providing better training to police
officers. Senator Scott is the right person to lead on this important issue
due to his personal experiences and his ability to bring people
together. Benjamin Hooks, the former NAACP president from Memphis, said that
"America is a work in progress. We've come a long way, and we have a
long way to go." That long way to go will not be as easy as passing
laws - although this legislation will definitely help. It will also take
changing behavior.



*#TennesseeStrong - Tennesseans fighting
back against COVID-19*

These are trying times, but through the
difficulty that has come out of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have also been
inspiring stories of Tennesseans volunteering their time and effort
to help their communities when they need it the most. Here are just a
few recent stories of Tennesseans showing their Volunteer Spirit:

-

A seven-year-old artist from Clinton, Tennessee, is doing his part
[link 10] to help others during the coronavirus pandemic. When he heard
that Italy was having such a hard time with the COVID-19 virus, he
began to draw comic books and sell copies to raise money to send to
nursing homes in Asiago, Italy. He ended up raising $1,200 by selling his
comic books. His friends in Italy were so impressed, they decided to
make him an honorary citizen.

-
A 12-year-old from Arlington,
Tennessee, wanted to make a difference in his community, so he decided
[link 11] to start an annual food drive that raised over $3,000 in food
and cash donations in its first year. This year, his food drive raised
over $2,500 in just one week. He said, "I want to help out other
people over the summer because children need food when they are not in
school."

*Working to support telehealth*

On Wednesday, I held [link
12] a hearing in the Senate health committee I chair, which featured
testimony from telehealth experts about what we can learn from
increased use of telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic, and which temporary
policies that provide flexibility for patients using telehealth should
be extended. I was especially happy to have Dr. Andrea Willis of
Chattanooga as a witness. Dr. Willis serves as Senior Vice President and
Chief Medical Officer of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee, which is
the first major insurance company to permanently cover telehealth
visits.

As dark as this pandemic has been, it has created an
opportunity to learn from and act upon these three months of intensive
telehealth experiences, specifically what permanent changes need to be made in
federal and state policies. In 2016, there were almost 884 million
visits nationwide between patients and physicians, according to the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If 15-20 percent of those were
to become remote permanently due to telehealth expansion during
COVID-19 - that would produce a massive change in our health care system.
Part of this explosion in remote meetings between patients and
physicians has been made possible by temporary changes in federal and state
policies. The private sector, too, has made important changes. One
purpose of the hearing was to find out which of these temporary changes in
federal policy should be maintained, modified, or reversed--and also to
find out if there are any additional federal policies that would help
patients and health care providers take advantage of delivering
medical services using telehealth. I also spoke about this on the Senate
floor, and you can watch here [link 13].



*Below are a few
articles from this week I thought you might enjoy:*

Knoxville News
Sentinel: $20M grant will help make Oak Ridge Institute one of the top
research facilities worldwide
[link 14]

Chattanooga Times Free Press:
Oak Ridge wins $20 million prize to propel research, training in East
Tennessee [link 15]

Knoxville News Sentinel: Sen. Lamar Alexander:
Bill that helps the Smokies is 'most satisfying' of his career [link
16]

Maryville Daily Times: Senate approves bill that would fund
repairs for GSMNP [link 17]

WATE-ABC Knoxville Channel 6: How the Great
American Outdoors Act will help the Great Smoky Mountains National
Park [link 18]



Try not to let your tongue run faster than your
brain.

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




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