This week, I introduced legislation to help Tennessee – and states across the country -- improve school safety.
Safe schools are on everyone’s mind, including mine, which is why on Wednesday, I introduced a bill – with 12 other senators – to allow Tennessee to use every federal dollar available to keep our schools safe from violence and ensure they have the mental health services they need. Under our bill, states can use federal dollars they already receive to hire more counselors, psychologists, and other mental health professionals at schools, invest in safety infrastructure such as alarm systems or security cameras, and create developmental health programs to identify children who might be dangerous to other children. While most of the responsibility for improving the safety of our schools rests with local and state officials, the federal government has a role to play, and I will continue working to help states keep their schools safer from violence and have the mental health services they need.
I also spoke with Harris Faulkner of Fox News about how this is just one step Congress could take this month to help make our schools safer.
This week, I also introduced a bill to help rebuild our national parks – including restoring campgrounds, trails and roads in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
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On Wednesday, I hosted a press conference on the National Park Restoration Act with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Cassius Cash, Superintendent of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. You can watch the full press conference here. |
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is one of America’s greatest treasures – and it has a tremendous economic impact in East Tennessee, attracting nearly twice the visitors of any other national park. But there is an over $11 billion backlog of maintenance projects at our national parks – including $215 million for projects in the Smokies. The backlog includes fixing roads, buildings, campgrounds, trails, and water systems. To help preserve our parks, I led a bipartisan group of senators this week in introducing the National Park Restoration Act to address the maintenance backlog. Here’s how it will do this: the legislation will use revenues from energy production on federal lands to provide mandatory funding for the maintenance backlog at our national parks. This is a well-established conservation principle: taking some of the money created by an environmental burden and using it for an environmental benefit.
I want to give Secretary Zinke and President Trump a lot of credit for this legislation, because they have agreed to do something that no other president and no other Secretary of the Interior have ever agreed to do, so far as I know. And that is to allow us to use revenues from energy production on federal lands as mandatory spending to pay for the maintenance backlog in our National Park System. Addressing the maintenance backlog will help attract even more visitors and create more jobs for Tennesseans and preserve our land for generations to come. We must continue to work together to find solutions to the many challenges facing our public lands, and this legislation takes an important step toward doing that.
I also spoke on the Senate floor about the legislation on Wednesday. You can watch the video here.
In August, I visited the Smokies with Secretary Zinke, and we worked on the Rainbow Falls Trail – one of the many trails projects in the park. Every Wednesday, volunteers head up the trail to help restore it for future visitors. Over 2,800 volunteers have donated over 115,000 hours to projects in the Smokies in the last year alone. The National Park Restoration Act would give them a much needed boost.
On Friday, I spoke with the Japan-American Society of Tennessee in Nashville about the growth of the auto industry in Tennessee and the success of companies such as Nissan and Denso.
Governors take the lead in coming up with innovative solutions to fight the opioid crisis
This week, the Senate health committee I chair held a hearing with Maryland Governor Larry Hogan and Oregon Governor Kate Brown to hear about how they are addressing the opioid crisis in their states and their ideas on how the federal government can be the best possible partner. In December, the lead Democrat on the committee, Senator Murray, and I also sent a letter to every governor asking how the federal government could help. We have received helpful feedback. For example, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam suggested additional funding to encourage states to share data in their Prescription Drug Monitoring Systems – something we talked about at our hearing last week. I think this is one of the most promising areas where the federal government can be helpful to states
This is an evolving crisis that has affected nearly every state across the country, but the specific challenges faced by Tennessee may be very different from what Oregon or Maryland faces. States are the ones who come up with the good ideas on how to tackle big problems because they’re on the frontlines, and it’s usually the federal government’s role to encourage them and cut the red tape to create an environment so that states can innovate. I am working with other senators on legislation to help states fight the opioid crisis, and it is helpful to have the input from the governors at our hearing this week, as well as the written responses from other governors.
It was great to see the Ladies of Lee, from Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee at the Capitol this week.
Energy committee unanimously approves bill that affirms support for building world’s fastest supercomputers
On Thursday, the Senate energy committee unanimously approved the Department of Energy Research and Innovation Act, which includes provisions from legislation I introduced in 2015. This legislation authorizes the Department of Energy to continue with plans to build the world’s fastest supercomputers, which are essential to national security and American competitiveness. Supercomputing has helped maintain our nuclear stockpile, enabled manufacturers to make better products and save money and even allowed scientists to map the human heart at one beat per second. As the United States faces a choice between falling further behind competitors like China, or advancing technology that can make the United States safer and more competitive in a global, 21st century economy, I urge the Senate to quickly consider this important legislation.
I appreciated Fisk University President Kevin Rome coming by the office to talk about our committee's work to reauthorize the Higher Education Act and its importance to historically black colleges and universities.
Tariff announcement is disappointing news for Tennessee workers
The president’s announcement that he is enacting tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum is disappointing news for Tennessee workers. President Bush’s similar steel tariffs in 2002 backfired and proved that such tariffs destroy many more U.S. manufacturing jobs than they save. Last week, just the threat of steel tariffs caused Electrolux, Europe’s largest home appliance manufacturer, to put on hold a $250 million expansion in Springfield, Tennessee, even though 100% of the steel Electrolux uses is produced in the United States. According to Electrolux, tariffs on imported steel raise prices on all steel sold in the United States and make it more difficult for U.S.-based manufacturing plants to compete with foreign manufacturers.
On Monday, I spoke on the Senate floor about the effects these tariffs would have on Tennessee – where one third of our state’s manufacturing jobs are auto jobs with more than 900 plants in 87 of our 95 counties. It will now be cheaper for some Tennessee auto parts suppliers to move outside the United States, buy steel and aluminum there and then ship finished parts back to our country.
On Wednesday, I met with Ben, from Nashville, and Tate, from Fayetteville, who were in Washington, D.C., with the Senate Youth Program. It’s always great to talk with the next generation of Tennessee leaders.
On Tuesdays in Washington when the Senate is in session, Senator Bob Corker and I welcome Tennesseans to join us for coffee and donuts at “Tennessee Tuesday.” It is an opportunity for us to share updates on what we’re working on and visit with Tennesseans. If you’re planning a visit to Washington, let us know.
