Political Notebook: Alexander boosts energy research

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, right, takes part in a Tennessee Valley Authority roundtable discussion Monday at the Howard Baker Jr. Center in Knoxville.
U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, right, takes part in a Tennessee Valley Authority roundtable discussion Monday at the Howard Baker Jr. Center in Knoxville.

Alexander boosts energy research

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander is co-sponsor of a bill that would double spending on basic energy research over five years.

Alexander, chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., introduced legislation last week with bipartisan support to reauthorize the energy programs included in the America COMPETES Act, according to a news release.

Alexander said: "If we want to maintain our brainpower advantage and create an abundance of clean, cheap, reliable energy to compete in our 21st-century economy, we need to fuel innovation in our free enterprise system. Governing is about setting priorities, and this legislation will put us on a path to double basic energy research - one of the best ways to keep good-paying jobs from going overseas - while streamlining basic energy research programs at the U.S. Department of Energy. As researchers have told me, it's hard to think of an important technological advance since World War II that has not involved at least some government-sponsored research."

The legislation would boost funding for basic energy research by 4 percent a year, and reauthorize for five years the DOE's Office of Science and ARPA-E, an agency that supports research in energy technology. The bill also would eliminate six DOE programs never fully implemented, and reform five other programs, the release stated.

Democrats blame GOP over insurance

Tennessee Democratic Party officials jumped on Republican state House Speaker Beth Harwell's statement last week that Insure Tennessee failed because of politics as usual.

A Democratic Party statement quoted Harwell calling Insure Tennessee a "political issue." Gov. Bill Haslam's proposal to give health insurance access to 280,000 low-income Tennesseans was killed by Republicans in committee.

Democratic Party Chairwoman Mary Mancini said in a news release that "Rarely do we get such a candor from Republican leadership."

"Speaker Harwell knows that members of her own party put politics above the people they supposedly represent. It's no secret that the national Republican Party plays partisan politics with access to affordable health care and Tennessee Republicans have fallen in lock step," Mancini said in the statement.

The release noted that in a recent Vanderbilt Poll, two-thirds of Tennesseans surveyed wanted the entire legislative body to discuss and vote on the health insurance proposal.

"It's a clear case of party allegiance trumping what Tennesseans want access to affordable health care, functioning rural hospitals, and fiscal responsibility," Mancini said.

Calendar

* Thursday: Hillary for America Grassroots Organizing meeting from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Camp House, 149 E. M.L. King Blvd. There will be a brief program and discussion of plans to build Clinton's campaign organization in the Chattanooga region. For information, contact Annie Hall at anniehalltn@gmail.com.

* Women in the NAACP (W.I.N.) meeting, 6:30 p.m. at the NAACP headquarters, Whiteside Manor building, 756 E. M.L. King Blvd. The theme is "Outstretched Hands and Open Hearts to Women and Children" and the goals are to enhance the leadership role of women around social, economic, political and health issues; serve as an advocacy vehicle for issues which affect women and children and advocate for the positive development of children.

* June 2: 2015 Joint Republican Women picnic, 5:30 p.m. at Chester Frost Pavilion, a combined event of the Hamilton County and Tennessee Valley Republican Women. RSVP to twood@epbfi or patsyl henry@hotmail.com.

Upcoming Events