Day: September 8, 2017

Gubernatorial Candidate Bill Lee To Speak At Nashville Event Monday

Wendy Wilson
Tennessee Star

  Gubernatorial candidate Bill Lee will be the guest Monday at Tim Skow’s First Tuesday event. Yes, it will be on Monday. Lee, a successful Williamson County businessman vying for the GOP nomination, has been busy traveling around Tennessee on a tractor, after having traveled the state in his campaign RV. Through his travels, Lee, who has never held elected office, intends to get a better understanding of the concerns of Tennesseans. Topics likely to be discussed at Monday’s event include the gas tax passed earlier this year by the state legislature, medical marijuana, judicial reform and education topics such as vouchers and funding higher education. Lee serves on the Tennessee Higher Education Commission and the board of trustees for Belmont University. He has also has served on the board of various community and Christian ministry programs. At Monday’s event, there also will be a chance for guests to ask Lee questions on the topic of their choosing. Other Republican candidates in the 2018 gubernatorial race include Knoxville businessman Randy Boyd, state House Speaker Beth Harwell (R-Nashville), U.S. Rep. Diane Black (R-TN-6), and former state Sen. Mae Beavers (R-Mt. Juliet), who recently resigned from the legislature to focus on her…

Read the full story

Nashville’s University Presidents Criticize Trump For DACA Decision

Wendy Wilson
Tennessee Star

  Nashville’s private liberal arts universities weighed in on President Trump’s DACA decision this week, saying ending the program is a mistake. In sentimental, emotional statements, the presidents of Vanderbilt, Belmont, Lipscomb and Trevecca described ending DACA as an offense to the values of their universities. They’re not the only ones reacting negatively. Several hundred protesters condemned Trump during a march Tuesday along West End Avenue organized by immigration activists. However, conservative Tennessee politicians and others are praising Trump or are offering more nuanced reactions. The Trump administration announced Tuesday morning that it would begin winding down the program in March unless Congress acts. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program has allowed young people brought to the U.S. illegally as children to obtain temporary permission to live and work in the U.S. if they meet certain criteria. Many are now young adults. There are nearly 800,000 DACA recipients nationwide and more than 8,300 in Tennessee. DACA was started by former President Obama with an executive order, which critics said was an unconstitutional overreach of his authority. Trump made a campaign promise to end DACA but as president had sent mixed signals before his administration announced early Tuesday that it would effectively…

Read the full story

Commentary: Amnesty For DACA Beneficiaries Will Destroy The Republican Party

Tennessee Star Staff

  by ConservativeHQ.com Staff   President Trump has just set up a defining moment in American politics by putting the responsibility for resolving the constitutional issues created by Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program squarely where it belongs – with the Republican Congress. The problem is that the leaders of the Republican majority – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan – are so out of touch with grassroots Republican voters that their idea of solving the problem is to simply pass legislation that mirrors Obama’s executive amnesty for children brought to the United States illegally. Some well-meaning conservatives may see the opportunity for some grand conservative sounding deal on immigration reform that would include legislating DACA and coupling it with the RAISE Act. The RAISE Act, co-sponsored by Republican senators Tom Cotton and David Perdue, would reduce levels of legal immigration to the United States by 50% by halving the number of green cards issued. The bill would also impose a cap of 50,000 refugee admissions a year and would end the visa diversity lottery. Others have suggested some combination of the RAISE Act, DACA legislation and funding for the southern border…

Read the full story

Seven Republican State Lawmakers to Represent Tennessee at Balanced Budget Amendment Planning Convention

Wendy Wilson

  Seven Republican Tennessee state lawmakers will head to Phoenix next week for the Balanced Budget Amendment Planning Convention. The purpose of convention, which starts Tuesday and is expected to last through Thursday or Friday, is to lay the groundwork for an anticipated convention convened under Article V of the U.S. Constitution to propose a balanced budget amendment. The lawmakers include Sens. Mark Green (R-Clarksville), Mike Bell (R-Riceville), Frank Niceley (R-Strawberry Plains) and Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro), and Reps. Jay Reedy (R-Erin), Sheila Butt (R-Columbia) and Dennis Powers (R-Jacksboro). The national convention of the states next week is the first held since 1861, when states met to discuss an amendment they hoped would avert a civil war. A resolution submitted to the convention by the Tennessee delegation is the first draft of rules presented for consideration, according to a news release issued by the Tennessee Senate Republicans. “The resolution filed by our delegation will serve as a guide to the discussion to get the ball rolling on rules to govern an Article V convention to balance the federal budget,” said Sen. Bell. “Our nation’s founders, Mason and Madison, insisted there be a method to amend the Constitution, fearing that at some point in…

Read the full story

Voter Fraud Alert: More Than 5,000 New Hampshire Presidential Voters May Not Live In-State

Admin

Over 6,000 individuals registered to vote in New Hampshire for Election Day Nov. 8 using out-of-state driver’s licenses – and since then the vast majority have neither obtained an in-state license nor registered a motor vehicle. Speaker of the New Hampshire House Shawn Jasper, a Republican, issued the findings on Thursday based on inquiries he made…

Read the full story

Governor Haslam Echoes Lamar Alexander’s Sense of Urgency to ‘Fix’ Obamacare at Senate Hearings

Laura Baigert

  The second of four hearings scheduled by U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander from Tennessee and Patty Murray of Washington as Chairman and Democratic Ranking Member, respectively, of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on the topic of “Stabilizing Premiums and Helping Individuals in the Individual Insurance Market for 2018,” had the same themes from five Governors as the five Insurance Commissioners from the day prior. In addition to Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, the other four witnesses were Governors Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, Steve Bullock of Montana, Gary Herbert of Utah and John Hickenlooper of Colorado. In their opening comments, all five governors echoed the comments of the Insurance Commissioners’ testimony and that of Sen. Alexander to achieve premium stabilization in the individual market for 2018. Measures the governors and insurance commissioners encouraged Congress to take included continuing the cost sharing reductions (CSRs), seeding state reinsurance programs and streamlining the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) Section 1332 Waiver process. CSRs, subsidies that lower out-of-pocket expenses of co-pays and deductibles for individual market participants who purchase a specific subsidized plan sold on the healthcare.gov exchange, are funded on an annual basis. The consensus from committee members and witnesses is…

Read the full story

Nashville to be Included in National Telethon to Benefit Hurricane Victims

Wendy Wilson

Nashville will be featured in a nationally broadcast telethon Tuesday to raise money for victims of Hurricane Harvey. ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and CMT will air the live telethon, which will be based in Los Angeles, with stages in New York and Nashville, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Nashville stage will be at the Grand Ole Opry. The Universal Studios lot and Times Square will be the settings for the Los Angeles and New York portions. The hour-long telethon will start at 8 p.m. Eastern Time. The event will also be streamed internationally on Facebook and Twitter. Called “Hand in Hand: A Benefit for Hurricane Harvey Relief,” the telethon will feature appearances from Blake Shelton, Reese Witherspoon, George Clooney, Dennis Quaid and many others. There will be a live performance finale from Texas with George Strait and special guests. Harvey struck Texas on Aug. 25 as a Category 4 hurricane, the first major hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. in more than a decade. Though weakening to a tropical storm, Harvey caused massive flooding in Houston and other areas and is blamed for at least 60 deaths. According to the event website, the telethon is prepared to expand its beneficiaries to…

Read the full story

Gubernatorial Candidate Mae Beavers Applauds President Trump’s Constitutional DACA Decision

Admin
Tennessee Star

Gubernatorial candidate Mae Beavers is standing with President Donald J. Trump and his decision to terminate the DACA program. “The Executive Order that President Barack Obama relied upon to create DACA was unconstitutional and should never have been allowed to remain in place as long as it has,” Beavers said in a statement. She continued: The rule of law should be the basis for our actions and policies regarding illegal immigration, and Congress should immediately take action to fund construction of the border wall, enact E-verify, reduce illegal immigration, and impose immigration limits based upon merit. American taxpayers have carried the burden of illegal immigration long enough. President Trump is making American taxpayers and workers his top priority rather than promoting the agenda of those who have illegally entered our country, illegally worked in our country, and illegally relied upon identity fraud to cover up their illegal actions. The unilateral action to create the so-called ‘Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals’ (DACA) was undertaken by President Obama and his Department of Homeland Security Secretary at the time, Janet Napolitano, in June of 2012. Since then, approximately 800,000 individuals have been granted ‘DACA status.’ Nationwide, the reaction to President Trump decision to end DACA as…

Read the full story