Oak Ridge Today

Haslam makes case for Insure Tennessee

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Bill Haslam during Presidential Visit at Pellissippi State

Governor Bill Haslam is pictured above during a visit by President Barack Obama at Pellissippi State Community College on Friday, January 9. (Photo by Rob Welton)

 

Governor says his plan provides health care coverage to more Tennesseans at no cost to the state

NASHVILLE—Tennessee Govenor Bill Haslam on Monday evening addressed a joint convention of the 109th General Assembly as legislators began an extraordinary legislative session to consider his Insure Tennessee plan.

The proposal, a two-year pilot program to provide market-based health care coverage to more than 250,000 Tennesseans who currently don’t have access to health insurance or have limited options, does not create any new taxes for Tennesseans and will not add any state cost to the budget, the governor’s office said.

“Two years ago, the General Assembly made two requests of us,” Haslam said in a press release. “First, to bring a unique and specific plan to Tennessee that met the needs of our citizens and was financially responsible for our state and the country, and secondly, to bring that plan back to the General Assembly for a vote.

“I have done both of those things. This plan is overwhelmingly supported by Republicans and Democrats in our state. Tonight, I am asking for your vote to help Insure Tennessee.” [Read more…]

Alexander to chair Energy, Water Subcommittee, which oversees Oak Ridge funding

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U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander

Lamar Alexander

U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander has been elected chair of a Senate subcommittee that oversees funding for federal sites in Oak Ridge, including Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Y-12 National Nuclear Security Complex.

Alexander, who is a Tennessee Republican, was elected chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development by Senate Republicans on Tuesday, his office said in a press release.

“If we’re going to power our 21st-century economy, we need to pursue policies that don’t pick winners and losers in the marketplace, and that instead enable innovation in our free enterprise system,” Alexander said. “That means unleashing nuclear power and other sources of the cheap, clean, reliable energy we need. It also means using our taxpayer dollars wisely: by supporting government-sponsored research that leads to innovation and jobs, and by controlling the costs of big construction projects in Tennessee and across the country.” [Read more…]

Alexander elected chair of Senate Health, Education, Labor, Pensions Committee

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U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander

Lamar Alexander

Senate Republicans on Wednesday elected U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, to be the chairman of the Senate’s Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

“The work of no Senate committee affects the daily lives of more Americans more than this one—whether we are fixing No Child Left Behind, or reducing federal paperwork to make it easier for students to attend college, or making it simpler for medical treatments and cures to make their way through the Food and Drug Administration to patients who need the help,” Alexander said in a press release. [Read more…]

Updated: Corker elected chair of Senate Foreign Relations Committee

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U.S. Senator Bob Corker

Bob Corker

Note: This story was updated at 1:15 p.m.

U.S. Senator Bob Corker has been elected chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee by committee members, and his appointment will be confirmed Thursday during a meeting of Senate Republicans, his office said Tuesday.

Corker had a conference call with Tennessee reporters Wednesday morning to discuss his appointment, his goals for the committee, and this year in Congress.

A Chattanooga Republican, Corker also will be serving on the Senate Banking Committee, the Budget Committee, and the Aging Committee. [Read more…]

Corker also says ‘no’ to budget deal

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U.S. Senator Bob Corker

Bob Corker

Both U.S. senators from Tennessee have now said “no” to the two-year budget deal expected to be approved by Congress, an agreement that would avoid a second government shutdown in mid-January.

Sen. Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican, said he will vote against the budget deal because it “busts budget caps without making meaningful changes to mandatory programs.”

Earlier Wednesday, Sen. Lamar Alexander, who is also a Tennessee Republican, announced that he too would oppose the budget bill.

The legislation passed the Republican-controlled House of Representatives on Thursday in a 332-94 vote. U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, a Tennessee Republican whose district includes Oak Ridge, supported it. [Read more…]

House-passed budget could avoid second shutdown; Senate may vote this week

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Y-12 National Security Complex Sign

A bipartisan budget bill being considered in Congress could avoid a second government shutdown and provide relief to federal employees and government contractors in Oak Ridge, including at the Y-12 National Security Complex, which was prepared to furlough up to 3,600 workers during the first shutdown in October.

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a budget bill that could avoid a second government shutdown in mid-January, a development that will likely offer some relief to federal employees and government contractors in Oak Ridge—and to the businesses that support them.

U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, a Tennessee Republican, said he supported the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 in the House on Thursday.

“Tonight, the House took a modest step toward reforming spending and setting our government on a more stable path,” said Fleischmann, a second-term congressman whose district includes Oak Ridge.

But the bill still has to pass the deeply divided Senate, which is preparing to take up the budget bill this week. The Washington Post reported that Democrats are still trying to come up with the 60 votes necessary to break a GOP-led filibuster in the Senate. [Read more…]

Budget cuts cause concern in research community, including at ORNL

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Thom Mason

Thom Mason

The budget deal that Congress approved earlier this month to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling kept in place automatic budget cuts known as sequestration.

But those across-the-board cuts are causing concern in the scientific community, including at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

In August, ORNL Director Thom Mason said the lab had been, up to that point, mostly immune from the cuts because of steps that UT-Battelle, the managing and operating contractor, had already taken to cut costs, including through workforce restructuring, reduced staff and overhead budgets, and benefit changes.

“We’ve just been doing everything we can to prepare for lean budgets,” Mason said. [Read more…]

Alexander calls for resignation of U.S. Health Secretary Sibelius

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U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander

Lamar Alexander

Kathleen Sebelius

Kathleen Sebelius

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius should be asked to resign because of the “disastrous rollout of Obamacare,” Sen. Lamar Alexander said Tuesday.

“No private sector chief executive officer would escape accountability after such a poor performance,” said Alexander, a Tennessee Republican.

The Affordable Care Act of 2010, commonly known as “Obamacare,” set up health care exchanges, and the new HealthCare.gov website that rolled out Oct. 1 was designed to allow people to sign up for them. But the site has been plagued by technical problems, although officials have said they would be fixed by the end of November.

Alexander expressed skepticism that the problems would be resolved that quickly. [Read more…]

Shutdown ends: Oak Ridgers relieved, but frustrated with Congress

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Dean's Restaurant and Bakery

Dean Russell, co-owner of Dean’s Restaurant and Bakery in Jackson Square, has put up a sign expressing frustration with Congress over the government shutdown. Pictured above are restaurant servers Cassandra Prater, right, and Andy Tatum.

The end of the government shutdown last week brought relief to Oak Ridge, especially at the Y-12 National Security Complex, where up to about 3,600 workers were expected to be furloughed starting last Thursday unless a deal was reached.

Chuck Spencer, general manager of B&W Y-12, which manages and operates Y-12, told workers on Thursday that a shutdown to minimum staffing had been averted and the furloughs would no longer be necessary. There had been reports that only about 900 workers might have remained starting today.

Spencer said the nuclear weapons plant, which started an orderly shutdown two weeks ago on Monday, Oct. 7, will begin planning to resume normal operations.

Normal operations resumed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Thursday, Director Thom Mason said in a message to staff. ORNL had enough funding to continue operating through October and into November, but officials had started preparing for a possible temporary shutdown and unpaid furloughs in case the shutdown continued.

Oak Ridge residents remained frustrated even after Congress and the White House reached a last-minute, short-term spending agreement late Wednesday night that averted the shutdowns and furloughs, just hours before a deadline to raise the nation’s debt ceiling and after some local businesses had already reported that the shutdown had affected their operations. [Read more…]

Fleischmann, DesJarlais, Duncan vote ‘no’ on bill to reopen government, raise debt limit

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Barack Obama and House Democratic Leaders

President Barack Obama meets with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and other members of the House Democratic leadership in the Oval Office on Oct. 15. (Official White House photo by Pete Souza)

The epic budget battle that resulted in the first U.S. government shutdown in 17 years and led the nation to the brink of default again ended late Wednesday.

President Barack Obama signed the legislation reopening the federal government and raising the debt ceiling early Thursday morning, a few hours after it passed the House and Senate, and federal workers were told to report to work Thursday, ending a 16-day shutdown.

“We’ll begin reopening our government immediately,” Obama said in remarks before the House passed the bill. “And we can begin to lift this cloud of uncertainty and unease from our businesses and from the American people.”

Officials at the U.S. Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration weren’t immediately available to comment early Thursday morning on the impact on federal facilities in Oak Ridge, where workers have been preparing for shutdowns and furloughs, including at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Y-12 National Security Complex.

U.S. Representative Chuck Fleischmann

Chuck Fleischmann

Senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, both Tennessee Republicans, voted for the last-minute, short-term agreement, which keeps the government open through Jan. 15 and raises the federal government’s debt ceiling through Feb. 7.

Tennessee’s two Democratic representatives also voted for it, while all seven Republican representatives—including East Tennessee congressmen Chuck Fleischmann, John J. Duncan Jr., and Scott DesJarlais—voted against it. [Read more…]

Clark Center Park closing due to government shutdown

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Note: this story was last updated at 6:35 p.m.

Clark Center Park in Oak Ridge will close at 10 p.m. today (Wednesday) because of a lapse in federal government funding.

The park is located on the south side of town on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Reservation at 2000 Bull Bluff Road. The park will remain closed until further notice, a DOE statement said.

The partial government shutdown started more than two weeks ago on Oct. 1 after Congress failed to pass a spending bill. Some agencies such as DOE and its contractors continued to operate until there was a lapse in funding and all available money was spent. [Read more…]

With thousands of Oak Ridge jobs at stake, union leader, nonprofit urge Congress to reopen government

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Organizing for Action and Steve Jones

About 3,600 workers at the Y-12 National Security Complex could be furloughed starting Monday if Congress doesn’t reach a budget deal, and Steve Jones, center, president of the Atomic Trades and Labor Council, urges legislators to reopen the government during a Tuesday press conference at the ATLC union hall.

With the clock ticking on negotiations and thousands of Oak Ridge jobs at stake, a union leader and nonprofit volunteers on Tuesday urged Congress to reopen the federal government, now shut down for more than two weeks.

If Congress can’t settle its budget disputes by Monday, roughly 3,600 workers at the Y-12 National Security Complex could be furloughed, said Steve Jones, president of the Atomic Trades and Labor Council. Thursday would be their last day at work.

The high-stakes negotiations between Democrats and Republicans continued Tuesday, with the U.S. Senate moving toward a deal, just two days ahead of a possible default on the nation’s debt. But it remained unclear whether the House of Representatives, particularly its conservative Republican members, would support the deal by the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats.

Jones said Y-12 will go into a “safe and secure” shutdown mode starting Thursday if Congress hasn’t passed a budget for the fiscal year that started Oct. 1. [Read more…]