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Important news about the coronavirus – COVID 19:

I know the coronavirus – or COVID 19 – is at the forefront of the minds of all Tennesseans. The United States is, generally speaking, prepared to deal with the spread of the coronavirus, but everyone needs to take this very seriously. The Tennessee Department of Health’s Coronavirus Public Information Line (1-877-857-2945) is available from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. CT daily to answer your questions. If you are feeling ill, please call your healthcare provider. And the best resource for additional information is the Centers for Disease Control: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

Congress has provided more than $8 billion to help states deal with the spread of COVID19 – and just this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the Tennessee Department of Health and local health departments will receive more than $10 million to help fight the coronavirus.

 

I’m encouraged by steps the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has taken to make testing more easily available. Laboratory developed tests are a crucial part of our health care infrastructure, and emergency use authorizations are the right thing to do in order to better adapt to the threat as we learn more about it.

 

President Trump was also right to restrict travel from China in January. He was right to restrict travel from the European Union this week because more of the new infections in the United States are coming from travelers from the European Union.

 

Now we have our own responsibilities – to work from home if we can, avoid large, crowded places, and washing our hands regularly. That’s the single, most important thing each of us can do to help prevent the spread of the virus.

 

Our lives might look a little different than we’re used to for a little while, but I’m still confident the United States is prepared to stop the spread of the coronavirus and limit its impact on all of us.

 

 Other important news from this week:

  • introduced – along with a bipartisan group of senators – legislation that would be the single biggest help to our great outdoors in over half a century. With bipartisan support in Congress and from President Trump, I hope this legislation is passed into law soon, so we can secure the same opportunity for future generations to enjoy our great outdoors as we have had.
  • The Older Americans Act is now headed to President Trump’s desk to be signed into law. The legislation provides grants to states so they can help seniors in our state and across the country live more comfortably at home or ensure high-quality care at a nursing home.

 

Protecting our great outdoors so future generations can enjoy them

This week, I was glad to help introduce the Great American Outdoors Act – the most important conservation and outdoor recreation legislation in the last half century – which President Trump and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell support. This bipartisan bill will cut in half the $12 billion maintenance backlog in our national parks, including $235 million in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It will also reduce maintenance backlogs at our national refuges and forests, like the Cherokee National Forest or the Tennessee National Wildlife Refuge in West Tennessee. Congress should quickly pass the Great American Outdoors Act so that we can begin to rebuild our national parks, like the Smokies, and permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a recommendation of President Reagan’s Commission on Americans Outdoors, which I chaired.   

 

Tennesseans continue to show our “volunteer spirit”

This week, I spoke on the Senate floor about my trip to Tennessee with President Trump to survey damage caused by last week’s catastrophic storms. You can watch my remarks here.

Last week, I traveled with President Trump, Governor Bill Lee, Senator Marsha Blackburn and Congressman John Rose to visit with some of the Tennesseans who were impacted by the tornadoes. The communities affected are obviously very close-knit, and their reaction to this storm was how can we help each other. The heroes were the first responders – we met with many of them in Cookeville. The next heroes were the volunteers – they turned out by the hundreds. These Tennesseans were very grateful for the visit by President Trump. It was more than the fact that this was the first time any president of the United States had visited Cookeville. The president stayed there for a long time, and he listened, and the folks there appreciated it very much. He and the other federal officials announced a disaster declaration in, what seemed to me to be record time, so, by the time we were there last Friday, there already were federal emergency management personnel on the ground in Tennessee, and there were multiple shelters already open. I thank the president, other federal officials and all the volunteers who want to help. We greatly appreciate what they’ve done.

If you are in Davidson, Putnam and Wilson counties and want information on the resources available, you may find more information here: https://www.tn.gov/tema/get-involved/flooding-and-severe-weather-response.html

 

I appreciated the Citizens of Fort Campbell taking the time to visit me this week. What they do is very important, and I’m grateful for their service.

 

Working to keep 150,000 more trucks off of I-75

 

In the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, which I chair, we held a hearing this week to review the president’s budget request for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which funds construction of the Chickamauga Lock in Chattanooga. Replacing Chickamauga Lock is important to all of Tennessee. If Chickamauga Lock closes, it will throw 150,000 more trucks onto I-75. With the money now appropriated by Congress and signed into law by the president, we have the necessary funding to complete the new Chickamauga chamber lock contract. This is a project that was authorized in 2003, and because of steady funding for six consecutive years, barges and small boats should be able to use the new lock as early as 2023. But to finish the job, work remains to be done, which means constructing the approach walls and tearing down the old lock, and we need to make sure we have adequate funding for that. I will work with my Senate colleagues to help ensure we continue to give the Corps the resources they need.

 

 

 

Even on the busiest weeks, Tennessee Tuesday is a priority for me and Senator Marsha Blackburn. We enjoy welcoming Tennesseans to our nation’s capital. Sign up here if you’re in Washington on a Tuesday and come by and see us.

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