{"id":16349,"date":"2020-06-07T12:33:13","date_gmt":"2020-06-07T17:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/?p=16349"},"modified":"2020-06-07T13:35:34","modified_gmt":"2020-06-07T18:35:34","slug":"legislative-update-from-the-tennessee-senate-democrats-june-7th-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/2020\/06\/07\/legislative-update-from-the-tennessee-senate-democrats-june-7th-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Legislative Update from the Tennessee Senate Democrats, June 7th, 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TennesseeNashville, TN<\/strong> – In the middle of a pandemic that has now claimed the lives of more than 108,000 Americans, Republicans in the state Senate this week rejected two common sense measures to protect and strengthen the health of Tennesseans:<\/p>\n

\"Democrats\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Medicaid expansion, which would make sure every essential worker and their family has quality health coverage; and absentee voting by mail for anyone who is rightfully afraid of catching COVID-19 Coronavirus.<\/p>\n

Health coverage for the people who kept our economy afloat and protecting voters from a deadly virus should not be controversial or partisan. But that\u2019s where politics are at in the General Assembly.<\/p>\n

I hope you are keeping safe as we navigate these difficult times. To keep you informed, we will be providing more updates as legislative session comes to a close. We are a small but mighty caucus and are working tirelessly to build a more fair and just state for all Tennesseans.<\/p>\n

My best,<\/p>\n

Raumesh Akbari
\nChairwoman
\nTennessee Senate Democratic Caucus<\/p>\n

Absentee Voting By Mail<\/h4>\n

The best way to social distance for an election taking place during a pandemic is through absentee voting by mail. This week, Sen. Katrina Robinson put forth a bill to give every Tennessee voter the option to cast an absentee ballot by mail.<\/p>\n

Watch: Senator Katrina Robinson discuss her legislation to expand absentee voting in Tennessee.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Republican majority killed this common sense measure to protect the health of voters, but every Tennessean may still get a shot at voting absentee. On Thursday, a judge ruled that the state must make absentee ballots available to every voter<\/a> due to the pandemic. State officials, who are fighting this expansion of voting rights, will surely appeal, but the judge’s order marks a clear step in the right direction. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[470center]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Medicaid expansion<\/h4>\n

Sen. Jeff Yarbro, the Senate Democratic Caucus leader, presented this week two measures that could have led to Medicaid expansion \u2014 if Republican senators had given the legislation a fair hearing. Even though both bills were rejected, the debate continues.  <\/p>\n

Watch: Sen. Jeff Yarbro calls it idiotic for the legislature to reject Medicaid expansion again<\/a> \u2014 especially in the midst of a global pandemic.<\/p>\n

Moving from protest to action<\/h4>\n

Sen. Brenda Gilmore (D-Nashville) honored the life of George Floyd<\/a> Monday on the floor of the Senate. Just two days earlier, Sen. Gilmore addressed thousands of Tennesseans who gathered together seeking justice for Floyd in peaceful protest against police brutality. <\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Sen. Gilmore took this collective call for action a step further by announcing a new racial justice reform package.<\/p>\n

“We said with one voice that Black Lives Matter. We said George Floyd\u2019s life has value. And justice must be done,\u201d Gilmore said. <\/p>\n

Read more: <\/a>Black Lives Matter protests must lead to reforms, says Sen. Gilmore<\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

Governor Lee submits a new state budget\u2014with money dedicated to vouchers<\/h4>\n

Yesterday, Gov. Bill Lee’s administration laid out a new budget that reduces spending to match economic conditions affecting revenues. While the budget eliminated all pay raises for teachers, child placement workers and most state employees, Lee’s budget preserved millions of dollars for his private school voucher program, which a judge has ruled unconstitutional. <\/p>\n

Democrats will be working to remove every dollar committed to this unconstitutional program. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[470center]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In May, Democrats in Senate laid out our budget priorities in an alternative budget framework: <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are presenting an alternative framework to extreme cuts; options that allow us to invest in the health of every essential worker, provide a much-needed boost to Tennessee\u2019s economy and protect investments in our public schools and services that are key to our recovery,\u201d Sen. Raumesh Akbari, D-Memphis, the Senate Democratic caucus chairwoman, said. \u201cUsing a balanced approach \u2014 where we cautiously utilize state reserves, trim the budget and enact cost-saving reforms \u2014 we can maintain investments in our future and implement measures that safeguard our families and economy from a potentially devastating second wave of the virus.\u201d <\/p>\n

Read more: Democrats announce budget framework to invest in Tennessee\u2019s recovery, health and future<\/a><\/p>\n

Thank you for supporting the Senate Democratic Caucus and Democrats in Tennessee.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nashville, TN – In the middle of a pandemic that has now claimed the lives of more than 108,000 Americans, Republicans in the state Senate this week rejected two common sense measures to protect and strengthen the health of Tennesseans:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[181],"tags":[12333,12675,12712,3690,13062,2290,549,284,12734,2106,12781,13073,261,13074,3350],"class_list":["post-16349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government","tag-bill-lee","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-democrats","tag-george-floyd","tag-medicaid","tag-nashville","tag-nashville-tn","tag-pandemic","tag-republicans","tag-social-distancing","tag-tenessee-general-assembly","tag-tennessee","tag-tennessee-democrats","tag-tennessee-governor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16349"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16350,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16349\/revisions\/16350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}