Important News from this
Week:
- The single most important
piece of conservation legislation in half a century, the Great
American Outdoors Act, is headed to President
Trump’s desk to be signed into law, which will cut in half the $12
billion maintenance backlog in our national parks, including $224 million in
the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
- Americans remembered the life
and legacy of civil rights icon John Lewis. John Lewis’ life
proves that the story of America can be, as the Rev. Ben Hooks used to
say, “a work in progress for the better – even though we
still have a long way to go.” Sixty years ago, John was a Fisk
University student in Nashville protesting laws that did not allow him to
sit at lunch counters because of his race. He died a member of the
United States Congress and a winner of the Presidential Medal of
Freedom. Tennesseans are grateful that he helped us understand better the
meaning of equal opportunity.
- I cosponsored the School Choice Now Act, which provides
scholarships to students so they have the opportunity to return to the private
school they attended before the pandemic – and gives other
students a new opportunity to attend private school.
- Tennessee families with children who receive
free or reduced school meals are eligible for financial assistance to
help with the cost of food in March, April, and May when schools were
closed. Deadline to apply is July 27 and parents can apply here.
- This
week I cosponsored legislation to provide short term assistance to child
care providers who have been affected by this pandemic so that they
can safely reopen and provide child care services in to working
families.
Most important
conservation legislation in half a century heads to President
Trump’s desk
The U.S. House of
Representatives this week passed the single most
important piece of conservation legislation in half a century, the
Great American Outdoors Act. 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
bill, which is now headed to President Trump’s desk for his
signature, includes the Restore Our Parks Act I introduced that will cut in
half the $12 billion maintenance backlog in our national parks,
including $224 million in the Great Smoky Mountains National
Park.
Here is what this means for Tennessee
– places like 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.
It 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 members of Congress. In the midst of all the bad
things that are going on today, this is a good thing. I’m
glad Congress has been able to work together to pass this important
bill, and I look forward to the president signing it into
law.
Protecting America’s
students
All parents, regardless of
income or circumstance, should be able to decide which school best meets
their child’s needs, whether that school is public or private.
Legislation I cosponsored this week, the School
Choice Now Act, provides scholarships to students to have the
opportunity to return to the private school they attended before the pandemic
– and gives other students a new opportunity to attend private
school. Children in all K-12 schools, public and private, have been
affected by COVID-19. Many schools are choosing not to reopen and many
schools are failing to provide high-quality distance learning. The
students who will suffer from this experience the most are the
children from lower income families. This bill will give families more
options for their children’s education at a time that school is more
important than ever.
I also proposed that the federal government continue to defer
student loan payments for borrowers who are unemployed due to the
current crisis. In March, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress
deferred student loan payments for six months, but without congressional
action, payments will resume starting October 1st, which is
just around the corner. What do we say to those 43 million student loan
borrowers today? I propose that we say this: Number One: No
Income: No monthly payment. In other words, if you have a student loan,
your monthly payment is zero if you do not have any income, for
whatever reason. Number Two: When you do begin earning income, your monthly
payment will never be more than 10 percent of your income after you
deduct the necessities of life, such as the cost of housing –
such as rent or mortgage – and food.
Preparing for the next pandemic
This week, I introduced the
Preparing for the Next Pandemic Act — legislation that will
maintain sufficient onshore manufacturing for tests, treatments and vaccines,
and rebuild state and federal stockpiles of supplies like masks and
ventilators. In this internet age, attention spans are short. Even with
an event as significant as COVID-19, memories fade and attention
moves quickly to the next crisis. That makes it imperative that Congress
act this year on needed changes in order to better prepare for the next
pandemic. Let’s not succumb to the familiar dangerous habit of
‘Panic. Neglect. Panic.’ At least Congress can take these
three steps to keep vaccine manufacturing on shore and stockpiles
supplied, now, while the pandemic has our attention, while we have our eye
on the ball.
The Preparing for the
Next Pandemic Act does three things:
- Onshore Manufacturing – provides
new, sustained funding – $5 billion over 10 years – to
maintain sufficient onshore manufacturing for tests, treatments and
vaccines so that when a new virus emerges, the United States has a facility
ready to manufacture those products as quickly as
possible.
- State
Stockpiles – provides new, sustained funding – $10 billion over
10 years – so states can create and maintain their own
stockpiles of supplies such as masks and ventilators with help from the federal
government.
- Federal Stockpiles – improves the federal Strategic
National Stockpile, by allowing the Federal government to work with
companies to maintain additional supplies and manufacturing capacity so
we are even better prepared for the next pandemic.
There is also broad agreement about additional
steps Congress needs to take to prepare for the next pandemic,
including improving disease surveillance, restoring support for our state and
public health systems which Governor Mike Leavitt and others describe
as being badly underfunded for the last 30-40 years, and better
coordination of pandemic response. I intend to keep legislation to better
prepare for future pandemics on the top of the congressional to-do list
until it’s done.
Supporting child care providers so working parents can go back to work
This week I cosponsored
legislation to provide short term assistance to child care providers who
have been affected by this pandemic so that they can safely reopen and
provide child care services in to working families. Child care is a
critical part to getting our country back to work. Two-thirds of children
in the U.S. under age six have parents in the workforce, and those
parents can’t go to work if they don’t have someone to take
care of their children safely during the day. I have urged other
senators to support Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa’s proposal to provide
more support to child care centers, operators, and providers who have
been severely harmed by the COVID-19 outbreak so they can continue to
provide critical services to working parents
Below are a few articles from this week
I thought you might enjoy:
WATE-ABC Knoxville Channel
6: Senator Alexander proposes help for student loan
borrowers
WBIR-NBC Knoxville Channel 10: Bill dedicating around $2
billion for national parks to be signed into
law
ABC
News: Sen. Lamar Alexander introduces new proposal for pandemic
preparedness
“Be on time.”
#25 in Lamar Alexander’s Little Plaid Book
