Chattanooga attorney Chuck Fleischmann touted himself as a small businessman interested in helping East Tennessee during his successful campaign for Congress.
He said Friday he is pleased to be named to the House committees on Small Business and Natural Resources for the 112th Congress that convenes Jan. 5.
“I’m very, very excited about these appointments,” Fleischmann said. “As a small-business man myself, and an advocate for small business my entire career and the entire campaign, I think it’s a very natural fit.”
Fleischmann said the Committee on Natural Resources will provide an avenue for him to work on energy, national parks and other areas key to Tennessee’s 3rd Congressional District. The district includes the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Cherokee National Forest and the biggest share of employees of the Tennessee Valley Authority.
In the neighboring 4th District, Rep.-elect Scott DesJarlais, a Jasper physician, will serve on the House Agriculture, Education and Labor Committee along with another Tennessee Republican freshman, Stephen Fincher, from the 8th District in West Tennessee. DesJarlais also was named to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
“The committee assignments will allow me to protect some of our district’s most vital economic interests, improve our education system so that we can prepare kids for the jobs of tomorrow, and ensure that President Obama’s administration is held accountable,” DesJarlais said in a prepared statement Friday.
With four new members of Congress from Tennessee in January, the Volunteer State will lose representation on the key House Appropriations Committee, which Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., was on before deciding to leave Congress to run unsuccessfully for governor. Tennessee also will lose the chairmanship of the House Committee on Science and Technology held by retiring Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., and the subcommittee chair on trade on the House Ways and Means Committee now held by the retiring Rep. John Tanner, D-Tenn.
Contact staff writer Dave Flessner at dflessner@times freepress.com or at 757-6340.