It is a tremendous honor to represent Tennessee in the United States Senate. We took office on January 4, 2007 and have focused our first 100 days on hiring a great staff and creating a system of offices committed to providing excellent service to the people of our state. We hope this newsletter on our first 100 days and the monthly newsletters that follow will be one more way that we’re able to keep in touch with you about our work in Washington and Tennessee on your behalf.

We’ve also spent time over the course of the first 100 days digging in on several key issues: the war in Iraq, making our country more energy secure, and looking at ways to make health care affordable for every single American. I’m serving on the Foreign Relations, Energy, and Small Business committees as well as the Special Committee on Aging. In addition to committee hearings, we’re continually bringing in leading minds in foreign relations, energy, and health care so our decisions will be thoughtful and informed and so we can help create legislation that will actually work on the ground.
 

No doubt, much of my focus over the past 100 days has been the war in Iraq. I have spent hours in Foreign Relations Committee hearings, and had meetings with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and with President Bush. I also met with General David Petraeus, commander of multi-national forces in Iraq, in a private meeting in the Capitol prior to his Senate confirmation. Nothing replaces being in Iraq and seeing the situation on the ground firsthand, so during the Senate’s February recess I visited Iraq. I had five separate meetings with five separate generals, including General Petraeus, and with the deputy prime minister of Iraq, the national security advisor and our U.S. ambassador to Iraq. I also had the honor of meeting with six of our Tennessee soldiers who are serving our country in Iraq. It was one of the most meaningful parts of the trip, and I could not be prouder of their attitudes and the way they conduct themselves. 

General Petraeus has stated on numerous occasions that we will know by summer whether this new effort in Iraq is having its desired effect. We will also know whether the Iraqi government has the will and capacity to establish political reconciliation. I believe it is appropriate to give General Petraeus an opportunity to turn what has been a downward spiral in Iraq into an upward spiral so that Iraq has the ability to take over its own destiny and maintain its own security. 
 

I believe our country’s energy security is critical to our national security, so I’m delighted to be serving on the Energy Committee and working on ways we can reduce our dependence on foreign sources of oil. This week our Committee passed a bill that I believe can significantly expand our country’s use of renewable fuels over the next 20 years, which would reduce our dependence on foreign oil and also give us cleaner sources of energy. The bill also contains energy efficiency provisions that will reduce the amount of energy needed to power lights and appliances, which will save consumers money on energy costs. In an effort to improve the bill, I offered amendments to enhance our understanding of the environmental impact of biofuels and to help Americans understand the national security benefits of becoming more energy efficient.  

I take great pride in the fact that Tennessee plays a key role in helping our country become more energy secure. For example, our climate and terrain make us ideally suited to produce the kinds of feedstocks, including corn, soybeans and switchgrass used in the biofuels industry. West Tennessee farmers are helping lead the way in expanding this industry, aided by researchers at the University of Tennessee who are working to develop a more efficient generation of biofuels. Tennessee’s development of clean coal technology, like that underway at Eastman Chemical Company and at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, provides us with an opportunity for the stable, long-term production of environmentally friendly energy in Tennessee. I visited Oak Ridge during the Senate’s April recess for a briefing on nuclear energy, bio-energy, and fusion energy. The research and innovation taking place at Oak Ridge is incredible, and places Tennessee at the forefront of emerging technologies that will strengthen our energy security, our national security and our economic security.

We’ve held a number of town hall meetings across the state over the past 100 days, and in every single one, health care is the dominant concern. Americans from all walks of life are struggling with the issue of health care. Rising medical costs are pricing many hard-working Americans out of the market for health insurance and producing unsustainable burdens for businesses and every level of government. I have dealt with health care issues from a number of vantage points - as a businessman making decisions about my employees’ health insurance, as Tennessee’s commissioner of finance dealing with the complexities of TennCare, and as Chattanooga’s mayor managing rising health care costs for our city’s workforce. Now, as a U.S. senator and member of the Small Business Committee and the Aging Committee, I have an opportunity to focus on health care from a federal standpoint. 

We have been meeting with other senators and administration officials in Washington, as well as business and government officials in our state to work toward legislation that provides an opportunity for every single American to have access to affordable health care while preserving an individual's right of choice, and preserving the great entrepreneurial efforts and innovation taking place in the health care arena.  

Legislative Update 

 

Accountability for Campaign Advertising: In last fall’s U.S. Senate race, the Republican National Committee ran a distasteful ad directed at my opponent. Upon seeing the ad, I publicly denounced it, and said it was not reflective of the campaign I was trying to run. Incredibly, current law did not permit me to see the ad ahead of time, prevent its airing, or even order the RNC to take it off the air. It took five days for the ad to be pulled, which is totally unacceptable. No candidate for federal office should be forced to be held accountable by voters and the media for political communications they do not want, do not agree with, and will not defend. An unintended consequence of current campaign finance law is that, after a certain financial threshold, candidates and their campaigns have no control over what their own parties are saying about them or their opponent. I believe this is a problem that can negatively affect any candidate for federal office, Democrat and Republican, and should be corrected before the 2008 election cycle. To fix this flawed aspect of election law, I have introduced the Campaign Accountability Act, which eliminates arbitrary expenditure limits and permits the candidate and party to coordinate television ads, direct mail and other expenditures the party makes on the candidate's behalf.(read release)

Maintaining America's Competitiveness: One of the reasons I ran for the U.S. Senate was to work on economic development issues on a national and global scale, and to make sure our American workforce is prepared for an increasingly competitive world marketplace.  In an overwhelming show of bipartisanship, the Senate passed S.761, the America COMPETES Act, which provides greater investment in research and innovation and strengthens math and science education.  This bill will make sure our young people have the skills they need for the 21st century and that we are able to keep good jobs here at home. Tennesseans should be very proud of the tireless leadership Senator Alexander has shown on this issue. He has worked for two years to bring both sides of the aisle together in this important effort. (read release)

Immigration Enforcement: Joined Sen. Alexander in supporting Davidson County’s participation in a federal immigration enforcement program (read release)

Expanding West Tennessee Air Service: Assisted Jackson in obtaining essential air service through Cincinnati (read release)

Veterans Health Care: Visited veterans health care facilities across Tennessee to assess the quality of care being administered to our state’s veterans (read release)

Redesignating Memphis Federal Building In Honor of Odell Horton

Joined members of the Tennessee delegation to redesignate the Memphis Federal Building as the "Clifford Davis and Odell Horton Federal Building" (read release)

Medicaid Benefits: Opposed a new Medicaid provision that would impose significant cuts in health services for Tennesseans (read release)

Ending the “Road to Nowhere”: Signed a letter along with Senator Alexander to U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne proposing an end to the “Road to Nowhere” in an effort to preserve wilderness in the Smokies and save millions in tax payer dollars (read release)

Honoring Bishop G.E. Patterson: Cosponsored a resolution with Senator Alexander honoring the life of Bishop G.E. Patterson, a respected and beloved religious leader of the Memphis community (read release)

Job Training, Economic Development: Joined Senator Alexander in praising federal grant awards for workforce development, job training and economic development in Tennessee (read release)

Celebrating the Lady Vols: Cosponsored a resolution honoring the Lady Vols basketball team for winning their 7^th NCAA Division I National Championship (read release)

Agriculture Disaster Relief: Joined other members of the Tennessee delegation in a letter to the USDA seeking crop disaster relief for all 95 counties in Tennessee affected by the April freeze (release)