Chapter 11: Congress

1. Who are your Senators and your Congressman?

The two senators who represent Tennessee are Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker. They are both republican. There are nine congressional districts in Tennessee. The first district is represented by republican David Roe. The second district is represented by John “Jimmy” Duncan Jr. who is also a republican. Republican Charles “Chuck” Fleischmann represents Tennessee’s third district. The fourth district is represented by republican Scott Desjarlais. One of Tennessee’s two democratic representatives, Jim Cooper, represents the fifth district. The sixth, seventh, and eighth districts are all represented by republicans who include Diane Black, Marsha Blackburn, and Stephen Fincher. The second of Tennessee’s two democratic representatives is Steve Cohen, who represents the ninth district of the state.

2. Research the areas they champion and find one you support. What is it and why do you also support it?

I researched Senator Lamar Alexander’s role in the PREEMIE Reauthorization Act. It was introduced on February 7, 2013 and is a bill to reduce preterm labor and delivery and the risk of pregnancy-related deaths and complications due to pregnancy, and to reduce infant mortality caused by prematurity. The bill seeks to increase studies on the clinical, biological, social, environmental, genetic, and behavioral factors relating to prematurity, as well as tracking the advances and findings of these studies. The goal is to greatly reduce the amount of preterm births first and foremost to ensure healthy births, but also to reduce the costs of extended hospital stays. I feel that it is extremely important to continue studies on this subject so that the number of babies born prematurely could possibly be reduced. This bill requires that a plan of action be reported to congressional committees, followed by progress reports every two years.

3. Find an issue one of your Senators or Congressman champions that you disagree with. Why do you disagree?

      

I disagree with republican representative Diane Black’s efforts to terminate the authority of the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to provide assistance under the Tenant Resource Network Program through H.R. 224: Stop Tenant Organizing Promotion Act. The Tenant Resource Network Program reaches out to people in need of housing assistance. Its purpose is to award grants to qualified applicant organizations to assist, inform, educate, and engage tenants of eligible assisted properties regarding their rights, responsibilities and options. Representative Black does not want the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to be able to provide assistance to this program, which doesn’t seem like it should be an issue. The program is trying to help people in need and I don’t see why a person shouldn’t be able to help, no matter what position he or she holds.