NASHVILLE – A $16.9 million contingency spending provision to construct a fish hatchery in House Speaker Kent Williams’ district is drawing fire from legislative Republicans.
“This idea we’re going to build a fish hatchery in Carter County has got a lot of people outraged, quite frankly,” said House Assistant Republican Leader Gerald McCormick of Chattanooga.
The provision was included by the Bredesen administration and is dependent on congressional approval of enhanced federal matching rates for Medicaid. If approved, it would generate $341 million in one-time money for Tennessee, which the Democratic administration has proposed spending on a variety of projects, including the Carter County fish hatchery.
Last week, Republicans’ unhappiness over the provision played out in a tense confrontation between Rep. Williams, who has argued the state should dip further into reserves to deal with state revenue problems, and Rep. Jimmy Matlock, R-Lenoir City.
“A fish hatchery in Carter County doesn’t qualify for poor pitiful people,” Rep. Matlock told the speaker as a reporter stood by. “Quote me on that, by the way. That’s ridiculous. You gave us (Republican Caucus) a speech upstairs – how the government’s got to be involved, the government’s got to do this. Everybody needed government. And that’s what you put into a budget that we don’t have money for.”