Latest from Lamar, Notes from the Senate Desk

*Important news from
this week:*

This week, Senate Democrats voted to block [link 1]
consideration of U.S. Senator Tim Scott, of South Carolina's, police
reform legislation. I voted to begin debate on Senator Scott's proposal,
which I co-sponsored, because it will make police officers more
accountable, encourage departments to ban chokeholds and adopt best
practices, provide better training to police officers, and make lynching a
federal crime. Congress should have a serious debate and consider
amendments on these important issues, and it is a shame that Senate Democrats
won't allow the Senate to even begin to consider this
legislation.

*Making the case for preserving Andrew Jackson's statue*

[image =
[link removed]] [link
2]

Click here [link 3] or on the above image to listen to my speech
on the Senate floor

Protesters this week tried to tear down Andrew
Jackson's statue in Lafayette Square across from the White House. In
these times, does Jackson still deserve a place of honor? Presidential
historians almost without exception put Andrew Jackson in the top ten
of America's presidents. They see him as a sophisticated, often
subtle political actor who without his devotion to the union, against his
own local political interests, the union might well have fallen apart
in 1832 or 1833. Jackson wasn't born rich. He wasn't born to privilege.
He fought for everything he had, and he rose to our government's
highest office through the sheer force of personality and political
courage. That is the case for Andrew Jackson.

Now, let us also recognize
that Andrew Jackson was not perfect. In fact, he was at the center of
the two original sins of this country - slavery and the treatment of
Native Americans. But if we're looking for perfection, we're not likely
to find it in American history or the history of almost any country
or in human nature. What do we do about Thomas Jefferson, who only
freed those slaves that he fathered with his slave mistress? What do we do
about George Washington and Mount Vernon, and the slaves that he
owned? What do we do about Abraham Lincoln, who some people say was slow
to act on emancipation? What about Franklin D. Roosevelt and his
internment of Japanese-Americans in camps during World War II?

What are
we going to do about Congress - the senators and the members of the
House? They approved the Trail of Tears - Andrew Jackson's removal of
the Cherokees to Oklahoma. And they approved the laws requiring
segregation. And what about the people who elected them to Congress? What are
we going to do about us, the people of the United States?

Do we
pretend we didn't exist during that history when decisions were made that
we would not make today or we would not approve of today - some of
which would be abhorrent today? Do we try to burn down all the monuments
- burn down Mount Vernon, burn down the Jefferson Memorial? Do we try
to erase all that from our history? That's not what we should
do.

We should not try to erase our history. We should not try to pretend
it doesn't exist. We shouldn't ignore our history. Doing any of this
would be a terrible misunderstanding of American history and of human
nature.

Here's what I think we should do. Number one, as I said
earlier, recognize that it's always appropriate to review the places that
we have named or the monuments that we've put up in the context of
today's times. Number two, with a history that includes mistakes we today
abhor, we should try to learn from those mistakes and build a better
future.

Each year I bring onto the floor of the Senate teachers of
American history. I take them to Jefferson Davis's desk, who resigned
from the Senate and became president of the Confederacy. On that desk
there is what looks like a chop mark. The story is that it was created
by a Union soldier, who came into this chamber when the Union soldiers
occupied Washington D.C. and began to destroy the desk until he was
stopped by his commanding officer, who told him to stop because they
were here to save the Union, not to destroy it. What should we do with
Jefferson Davis's desk these days? I say keep it there. I say to learn
from it -to learn from the fact that there was a Civil War, that there
was a Confederacy, that senators left this body to join it, and that
Union soldiers were here. There are lessons in American history. There
are lessons that we should learn.
The lesson of Ben Hooks - that
we're a work in progress. That we've come a long way, but we've got a
long way to go. Or of Samuel Huntington, that most of our politics is
about setting high goals for ourselves - all men are created equal - and
then struggling with the disappointment of not really reaching those
goals.

In his first inaugural address, Abraham Lincoln appealed to
the better angels of our nature. If there are better angels of our
nature, I guess that means there must be worse angels in us as well - not
just in Washington and Jefferson and Jackson and Roosevelt and great
men or great women - but in all of us are the better angels, and the
worse angels. And in this country, our goal is to bring out the best in
us, which does not mean ignore the worst. We need to be honest about
our weaknesses. We need to be proud of our strengths. We need to learn
from both to create a better future for the United States of
America.

*Preparing for the next pandemic*

This week, I chaired [link 4]
a hearing in the Senate health committee to explore the changes our
country needs to make to be better prepared for the next pandemic. While
the nation is in the midst of responding to COVID-19, the United
States Congress should take stock now of what parts of the local, state,
and federal response worked, what could work better and how, and be
prepared to pass legislation this year to better prepare for the next
pandemic, which will surely come. Looking at lessons learned from the
COVID-19 crisis thus far, many of the challenges Congress has worked to
address during the last 20 years still remain. Additionally, COVID-19
has exposed some gaps that had not been previously identified. These
include unanticipated shortages of testing supplies and sedative drugs,
which are necessary to use ventilators for COVID-19 patients. Memories
fade and attention moves quickly to the next crisis. That makes it
imperative that Congress act on needed changes this year in order to
better prepare for the next pandemic.

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

*Knoxville News Sentinel: Sen.
Lamar Alexander: It would be 'terrible misunderstanding' to remove
Andrew Jackson statue [link 5]*

*Clarksville Online: Lamar Alexander:
Passing the most important Conservation Legislation for our National
Parks in Half a Century [link 6]*

*Roll Call: Experts outline how
to prepare for second wave of coronavirus or next pandemic [link
7]*



Don't say "we" when you mean "I."

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




----------------------
footnotes
----------------------
[link 1]
[link removed]
[link 2]
[link removed]
[link
3]
[link removed]
[link 4]
[link removed]
[link 5]
[link removed]
[link 6]
[link removed]
[link 7]
[link removed]

Contact Information:

Website:
[link removed]

Office Location:
Washington, DC Office
455 Dirksen Office
Building, Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-4944 | Fax: (202)
228-3398

Privacy Policy:
[link removed]
Unsubscribe:
[link removed]