[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 143 (Wednesday, September 7, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4463-S4465]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Tennessee
Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, I think we all enjoyed being in our
States during August. And during the time I was there, I wrapped up
what I do each year, which is to visit with each of our 95 counties.
And this is truly a listening tour for me, being able to talk with our
citizens, to talk with our elected leaders. And I would leave those
meetings so encouraged and think, I could not be more impressed with
the things that are being done in these communities.
I would go to the next community and again would be just as
impressed. Tennesseans are working hard. And this year has been a
difficult year for everyone. But I want to focus on our local leaders
today because they are the ones who are keeping these communities
afloat. And they have done it in spite of everything that Washington,
DC, and the Democrats are doing to them.
I thought it was interesting that yesterday the majority leader
opened the Senate by reciting a laundry list of the Democratic Party's
accomplishments. Now, he put quite a spin on this.
Back home in Tennessee, the people that I work with every single day
are seeing this laundry list for what it is and how it affects them.
There is hundreds of billions of dollars for the Green New Deal
giveaways, and there are Big Government power grabs; there is crippling
regulatory overreach; billions more have been spent on this student
loan forgiveness program. Indeed, it could end up being a trillion
dollars. And there are attacks on our fundamental constitutional
rights.
Yes, indeed, the way Tennesseans see it is that Joe Biden and the
Democrats are putting together the pieces for what they call their
transformation, their great socialist experiment. But in Tennessee,
local leaders are really working around the clock to keep that vision
from coming to be and to keep their communities from falling apart.
And as I visited with these 95 counties, they gave to me one message
that came through time and again, repeatedly. They don't like what they
are seeing from this socialist agenda that is being pushed forward here
in DC. Indeed, they would talk about their worries and their fears.
They would talk about the impact of 9 percent inflation and $5-a-gallon
gas.
Now, that may be Chuck Schumer's version of success, which he really
helpfully laid out yesterday as to what he thinks are successes and
achievements, and that depends entirely upon his ability to spend
somebody else's money on things that the American people have
repeatedly said they do not want and they do not need. That message
came through every one of our 95 counties.
Now, in Tennessee, when we talk about success, you hear about
something different. You hear about growth. You hear about investments
that companies are making in our State. And we have earned this the
hard way. And, indeed, the rest of the country is noticing. Tennessee
is one of the most well-managed States. It has no State income tax. And
you have got Ford Motor Company and SK Innovation that have seen the
potential in our State, specifically in Haywood County. And they have
invested billions of dollars.
When I was in West Tennessee last month, I visited their Blue Oval
City project site where, in just a few years, they will have a brandnew
manufacturing hub that will create thousands of jobs and grow the local
economy by millions and millions of dollars.
The people at Lone Oaks Farms in Hardeman County are working to make
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certain that there is a great workforce. And they are developing STEM
education programs. When I visited them, they were hard at work
planning for the new 4-H Development Center, where students will learn
how to be good stewards of Tennessee's natural resources.
Across the State in Blount County, I was so happy to officially
welcome Smith & Wesson to Tennessee. Now, see, they have moved their
headquarters and their manufacturing facility down from their old home
in Massachusetts. And they are certainly pleased with the Southern
hospitality and the good business working environment that they are
seeing in Tennessee.
The largest Buc-ee's in the Nation is coming to Kodak, TN. Also, over
on the east end of the State, the Techstars Accelerator Program is
thriving in Knoxville. Red Stag set up a new logistics hub in
Sweetwater. And we have a brandnew emergency clinic in the Upper
Cumberland.
This is the sort of laundry list that I would hope and wish that my
Democratic colleagues would be proud of. From one end of the State to
the other, Tennessee is drawing investment, no thanks to this White
House, to President Biden, and the Democrats that run the House and the
Senate. It is our local leaders that are doing the heavy lift, in spite
of what Washington, DC, is throwing at them every day.
But with that said, these local leaders deserve the respect and
support from the Democratic Party. Even a bare minimum promise to not
sabotage their hard work would be welcomed by them. But across all 95
counties, the message I received, as I said, was pretty much the same:
They are worried. They are very worried. They are fearful. But they are
not letting themselves get caught up in what the Democrats are doing.
Yes, they know the Democrats have a socialist-style agenda that they
are pushing. That is the Democrats' vision for the future. In
Tennessee, our counties are not going to let the Democrats destroy
their hope for a better future.
They know that since the day the Democrats took power, Joe Biden and
the Democrats have done everything they could do to seize control and
remake a vision for this country into their image, where the elites,
the select few--the Democrats--control the power on all the levers, and
they can dictate to the States how they are going to live, what they
are going to accomplish, what they are going to do.
Tennesseans are suffering the consequences of these policies in the
form of record-breaking inflation, obscene fuel and energy costs,
rising crime and drug use, and the overall sense that they have been
abandoned by the Federal Government. That is how they see it.
The overwhelming issue right now is inflation, inflation, inflation.
It is the top concern in all 95 counties. It affects every county
budget, and it affects small business.
In Fayette County, I got to speak to Joey Hays of Dyer Foods and some
of the truly resilient workers at one of his local grocery stores. We
should all be grateful for people like the workers at Dyer Foods. They
didn't have it easy during the pandemic, and it hasn't gotten any
easier now than it was during the pandemic because more of their
paychecks are being eaten up by inflation. Interesting, isn't it?
Inflation is outpacing any wage growth.
Many Tennessee counties that have managed to pull themselves out of
distress status lost all traction when inflation skyrocketed. And now,
guess what? They feel like they are back at square one because of
decisions that had been made in Washington, DC. No fault of their own,
mind you, decisions that are made here.
Dayton City Manager Tommy Solomon told me he saw the price of pipe go
up 200 percent. They had to stop some of their water projects because
they couldn't afford to buy the supplies. That is right. The pipe was
up 200 percent.
Hamilton County Mayor Coppinger told me the worker shortage has made
the inflation-driven problems even worse. They have raised salaries,
and they still can't fill critical roles, especially in public health.
In Rhea, Bledsoe, McMinn, Marion, and Grundy Counties, inflation and
supply chain issues are wiping out farmers. Most small farms in these
counties only planted about half their normal crop due to fuel and
fertilizer prices. Their businesses--these small businesses--are drying
up.
Many other businesses, including large manufacturers, are being
stonewalled by regulators from the EPA with no explanation as to why
they are making the decisions that they make.
Do you know what? Unfortunately for small business manufacturers,
there is no end in sight to what these regulators in this
administration will do.
Meanwhile, while all of this is happening, the border is open by
order of the White House. The drug mules are streaming in, and drug use
is spiking. Every single sheriff--every one of them--that I spoke to in
Southeast Tennessee, told me that fentanyl is their No. 1 issue, and I
can tell you that it is an issue in other areas of the State as well.
In Grundy County, Sheriff Shrum told me about what happened to one of
his deputies who accidentally came into contact with a dangerous amount
of fentanyl. He started the day trying to save a life, but by the end
of that day, it was his colleagues from the sheriff's department who
were saving his life and giving him a dose of Narcan.
This is what our first responders and our local law enforcement are
facing because Joe Biden and the Democrats and this DHS are refusing to
secure the southern border. Two million plus and counting, about three
quarters of a million known got-aways, but they will stand up there and
tell you: Oh, the border is closed.
Law enforcement in our State does not believe that, and I don't
either. This is a shame.
Crime is on the rise, but rather than supporting police officers, Joe
Biden and the Democrats are obsessed with undermining, defunding, and
disbanding police departments.
In Tipton County, I was truly blessed to meet Deputy Gene Molder and
his family. Deputy Molder was shot in the line of duty last March while
he was trying to help a group of people escape a violent hostage
situation. Thank God, he is all right now, but people are outraged at
the leftist rhetoric that is clearly designed to increase violence
against law enforcement.
Tennesseans aren't asking for much. They don't want a Federal
Government to make their decisions for them. They don't want a handout.
They don't want centralized control. Honestly, they wish that they
could just be left alone when it comes to Washington, DC, and what they
are doling out. They want you, the Federal Government, to get out of
the way so that they can fulfill their vision for the future--
prosperous, safe, secure.
This President's socialist agenda won't help them do that because
prosperity, freedom, independence, liberty, equal treatment under the
law, equal justice for all is not what is at the top of their to-do
list. It won't help Hamilton County hire workers or the Dayton Public
Works Department buy pipe. It certainly won't help farmers in Rhea
County grow the food you eat, and it won't help police officers keep
their communities safe and secure.
These local leaders in the great state of Tennessee know better than
anyone here in Washington what they need us to do in order to help them
get things done, and that message came through clear as a bell in 95
counties. What did they tell me--that message I heard all across 95
counties? Please secure the border and support law enforcement, repair
and secure our supply chains, keep taxes low, and develop a business-
friendly attitude, and, above all else, stop the out-of-control Federal
spending.
I know this administration has made a name for itself telling people
what they can and cannot do. But I will tell you that this is a power
struggle that you are not going to win, at least where Tennesseans are
concerned.
The Democrats have an agenda, but in Tennessee I have met with some
of the most wonderful people in this country. They have a vision for
what they want the future to be. They want it to be focused on hope, on
opportunity for all, and I want to thank every single Tennessee leader,
law enforcement officer, business owner, and citizens who gave me their
time, who talked with
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me and who offered their advice this past year. Their wisdom is what
guides my decisions here in Washington. I only wish that my Democratic
colleagues would take their words to heart as well.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.