Tennessee Republicans on Tuesday welcomed the Trump administration's attempt to restrain the growth in federal domestic spending, but local lawmakers also took issue with parts of the White House spending plan.
U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, stressed that the legislative branch, not the executive branch, ultimately controls the purse strings to government.
"Congress will write the budget and set the spending priorities," Alexander said. "Where we find good ideas in the president's budget, we will use them."
Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 8/24/16. Senator Bob Corker speaks during the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce's annual meeting on Wednesday, August 24, 2016. 
Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 5/11/17. Congressman Chuck Fleischmann speaks to CTFP reporters during an editorial board meeting at the newspaper on Thursday, May 11, 2017. Alexander challenged Trump's proposals to cut spending for the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. National Parks and the Department of Energy, which operates the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.
"We should not pretend to balance the budget by cutting national laboratories, national parks and the National Institutes of Health," he said. "This discretionary spending is already under control because of earlier budget acts. Runaway entitlement spending - more than 60 percent of spending - is the real cause of the $20 trillion federal debt."
Both Alexander and U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn., appealed on Monday to Energy Secretary Rick Perry not to cut DOE spending on nuclear, vehicle and materials research programs in Oak Ridge, and both have voiced support for the Appalachian Regional Commission, which Trump wants to end.
"The President's commitment for a balanced budget, while seeking to further invest in infrastructure and our military is a nice change from the previous Administration," said Fleischmann. "That being said I support the Appalachian Regional Commission, which is important to many rural areas within my District. As a House Appropriator I look forward to working with the President as Congress makes decisions about the budget."
U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., a member of the Senate Banking Committee and a proponent of reforming entitlement programs, said the budget plan must address two of the biggest sources of spending growth - Medicare and Social Security. Trump has vowed to not touch the popular retirement programs, but Corker said they must be revamped to ensure their future.
"I appreciate the Trump administration's attempt to cut waste and encourage efficiency, but we will never get our fiscal house in order until we take a holistic look at the federal budget, including Medicare and Social Security," Corker said.
Corker, such as many members of Congress, predicted Tuesday that "many of the spending cuts included in the president's budget will never occur."