Republicans Have Only Been Crazy To Big-Government Spenders

  • Friday, July 15, 2016
  • State Senator Mike Bell

Sometimes our memories play tricks on us.  In politics, it seems to happen more and more frequently.

In recent days, a great deal of praise has been heaped on a couple of Democrats who, while they may be fine folks, were given credit for things that either didn’t happen or they just didn’t do.  And, yes, while those who are able to write exhaustively frequently label some of us with derogatory names, it’s much more difficult to keep your promises and fight against the ease of spending taxpayer money excessively while honoring our God-given rights.

It’s true on a few occasions, legislation put forward by Governor Bill Haslam, a fellow Republican, has failed.  There are very good reasons and it’s not because the legislative body is “crazy.”

To chase “free” federal dollars that have proven to be insufficient in other states to meet explosive spending, a massive effort to implement Obamacare in Tennessee, called Insure Tennessee, was opposed in the Senate.  The TN House never even entertained the bill with a single committee vote.  Whether it’s been Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois or other states that have “expanded Obamacare” – the federal health program for the poor, budgets have been blown and the working taxpayers are on the hook to cover massive deficits.

I’ll gladly give Governor Phil Bredesen credit for stopping the out-of-control growth of Tennessee’s Medicaid program, TennCare, when he was forced to address a massive budget overrun knowing a tax increase would not pass the legislature.

Actual cuts in TennCare enrollment totaled over 190,000 individuals who were removed from the welfare program.  This necessary action occurred in order to prevent our state budget to choke out other state priorities like K12 education spending, the paving and creation of roads and infrastructure and job training.

Why did we in the Senate vote against the implementation of the Obamacare implementation last year?  Why did the House choose not to cast any vote on the issue?  Tennessee must constitutionally balance our budget with the reality of governing.  There were no written guarantees in the Obamacare expansion, as now experienced by other states, that addressed the fiscal nightmare of cost overruns for the administration of the program.  The Tennessee General Assembly acted in a fiscally responsible manner.

Tennessee leads the nation, now, two years in a row in student improvement.  Our state had the largest increase in K12 spending that was directed to the classrooms and teachers in our Tennessee’s history this year without a tax increase.  Republicans worked with Governor Haslam to make that “crazy” thing happen in reality, not just a campaign promise.

Unemployment rates all across Tennessee have decreased the past few years due to major reforms passed by the "crazies" in the legislature that removed obstacles to businesses.  Tort reform which includes medical malpractice reform and were major initiatives supported both by the Governor and Republican General Assembly but opposed by “Your Democrat’s” boss, Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke as former state senator and lead Democrat, who is heading up this senate campaign effort against Senator Gardenhire.

Just in April 2016:

o   Tennessee ranked 1st in the Southeast and 2nd in the nation for private sector job growth of 3.78% in the last 12 months.

(March 2015 to March 2016) with a private sector net gain of 92,000 jobs.

o   Tennessee's March 2016 unemployment rate of 4.5% was the lowest rate for Tennessee since June 2007, and is lower than the U.S. unemployment rate of 5.0%.

o   Tennessee's unemployment rate declined 1.5 percentage points from March 2015 (6.0%) to March 2016 (4.5%), the 2nd largest decline in the nation.

o   Tennessee's labor force grew by 2.7% in the last 12 months, the 6th greatest rate of growth in the nation and 2nd highest in the Southeast.

What were Nick Wilkinson and Andy Berke doing while Senator Todd Gardenhire and the Republican Legislature and Governor Bill Haslam were crafting effective policy that has made Tennessee the No. 1 state in the nation for automotive manufacturing strength by Business Facilities magazine for an unprecedented fourth consecutive year?  These two were directly fighting the state to establish the United Auto Workers at the Volkswagen in Chattanooga.

Senator Todd Gardenhire was working to make Tennessee #1 in the Southeast and #2 in the United States last year for job growth along with his “crazy” Republicans colleagues.  What were Andy Berke and Nick Wilkinson doing as Tennessee became first in the Southeast and 13th in the nation for its growth rate of annual wages of employees from 2009 to 2014?  I suppose bike lanes count in some way.

Finally, as much as Nick might want to distance his self from Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and other Democrats whose failed policies are destroying our nation, he can’t.  He’s a member of a party that supports a third term of Barack Obama.  He supports the liberal Obama/Clinton agenda on the people of Tennessee.  That is truly “crazy.”

State Senator Mike Bell
District 9 Bradley, McMinn, Meigs, Monroe, and Polk counties

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