Senators Bill Hagerty and Marsha Blackburn Lambaste Passage of ‘Inflation Reduction Act,’ Warn Higher Prices, Taxes are Coming

U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Bill Hagerty (R-TN) criticized President Joe Biden and their Democrat colleagues on the passage of the $740 billion “Inflation Reduction Act” Sunday. As expected, no Republicans supported the measure, and so by a 51 to 50 vote, with Vice President Kamala Harris cast the deciding vote.

The Inflation Reduction Act, described by Forbes as “a slimmed-down version of the Build Back Better bill,” allows the government to control the price of prescription medications, contains funding for fighting climate change, would implement larger taxes for wealthy corporations, expand the IRS by some 87,000 agents, and more more.

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Bill Hagerty Condemns the Biden Administration’s ‘Spin’ on Potential Recession

U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) denounced the Biden administration’s recent attempt to change the conversation on the economy and the potential of a recession with host Elizabeth MacDonald on Fox Business’ “The Evening Edit” on Monday.

“It’s more spin coming out of the White House, Liz. I think you look at the estimates – what’s going to happen on Thursday, we’re going to probably read a negative 1.5 percent GDP growth. That’s another straight consecutive quarter to quarter decline,” said Hagerty.

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Tennessee Republican Leaders React to Inflationary Rate Rising to Highest Level Since 1981

Tennessee Republican leaders took the Biden administration and Democrats to task on Wednesday over reports that the inflationary rate rose to 9.1%, the highest level since 1981.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 1.3 percent in June after rising one percent in May, reported on Wednesday, July 13.

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Senator Hagerty Promotes Participation in Letter Telling SEC to Back Off ESG Regulation Affecting Farmers

Tennessee U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty touted his participation on Saturday in a letter signed by more than 30 senators to Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler  pushing back against a proposed Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) regulation that would harm America’s farmers.

The proposed rule is entitled, “Enhanced and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors.”

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Tennessee Politicians Blast Biden, Democrats for Surge in Inflation

Republican politicians in Tennessee are blasting President Joe Biden and Democrats after inflation numbers from May showed prices rising 8.6 percent year over year, a 40-year high. 

“I hope come November when folks head to the polls, they remember Democrats decided to put politics first instead of focusing on the real-life issues we all face today,” Rep. John Rose (R-TN-06) said Friday. 

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TN-5 Candidate Andy Ogles on $40 Billion Ukrainian Aid Package: ‘It’s America First, Not Ukraine First’

Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles praised Tennessee U.S. Senators Bill Hagerty and Marsha Blackburn for their votes against H.R. 7691, known as the $40 billion Additional Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2022.

In a statement, Ogles said, “It’s time we follow the words of President Trump and put America First.  At a time when mothers cannot find baby formula, we are facing runaway inflation and a disgraceful collapse of our southern border this inept Biden administration seems hellbent in destroying our economy and the middle class with it.”

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Hagerty: DHS Disinformation Board Likely Illegal

U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty says the creation of a board within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) tasked with combating “disinformation” is likely illegal.

Creating the board and hiring its new director without Congressional authorization violates several federal laws, Hagerty, R-Tenn., argues. Knowingly and willfully violating one of them carries a $5,000 fine and up to two years in prison, he adds.

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Senator Bill Hagerty Co-sponsors Bill That Would Prevent Illegal Immigrants from Using Arrest Warrants as TSA ID

On Wednesday, a group of Senate Republicans introduced the Strengthening Enforcement to Curtail Unlawful, Risky Entrance to Flights Act, or SECURE Flights Act of 2022.

The bill, if passed, would prevent the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Transportation and Security Administration (TSA) from allowing illegal aliens to use immigration enforcement documents, such as arrest warrants, as identification when boarding commercial flights, according to a press release by one of the bill’s authors – Senator Jim Risch (R-ID).

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Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty and Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema Introduce the Chance to Compete Act

Kyrsten Sinema and Bill Hagerty

On Thursday, Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) introduced the Chance to Compete Act, which would require federal agencies to focus hiring practices on the skills job seekers possess rather than whether and where they earned a college degree, according to a press release by Hagerty’s office.

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Tennessee Senators Blackburn and Hagerty React to Supreme Court Ruling on President Biden’s Vaccine Mandate

The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate that would apply to large U.S. businesses. The mandate, which would have been enacted by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), could have forced businesses with 100 or more employees to mandate the vaccine or weekly testing.

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Senator Bill Hagerty Joins GOP Colleagues in Introducing the Coronavirus Origin Validation, Investigation, and Determination (COVID) Act of 2022

Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Banking and Foreign Relations Committees, joined 15 of his GOP colleagues in introducing the Coronavirus Origin Validation, Investigation, and Determination (COVID) Act of 2022, according to a Tuesday press release by Hagerty’s office.

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Senators Bill Hagerty and Marsha Blackburn File Challenge to President Biden’s Vaccine Mandate

Tennessee Senators Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) have joined other Republicans to challenge President Biden’s COVID vaccine mandate. Both Hagerty and Blackburn are utilizing the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to block the order and protect Americans from losing their jobs because of it.

The CRA is a tool that congress is able to use to overturn rules issued by federal agencies.

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Senator Bill Hagerty Appoints Michael Sullivan to Serve as State Director

In a press release Friday, Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) announced he appointed Michael Sullivan to serve as State Director for his U.S. Senate office. Sullivan will take over for Jim Henry, who is retiring.

According to the Tennessee Office of the Governor, during his political career, Jim Henry was appointed by Governor Haslam as deputy to the governor on June 30, 2015, after serving two years as commissioner for the Department of Children’s Services. Henry was previously the first commissioner of the Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. A former mayor of Kingston, Tennessee, Henry also served 12 years as a state representative and six of those years as the minority leader.

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Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty Leads 35 Republicans to Introduce Legislation to Protect the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem

Bill Hagerty

In a press release on Tuesday, Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) announced that he and Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) led 35 Republican senators to introduce the Upholding the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Law Act of 2021, a bill to protect the full and faithful implementation of the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 and block the Biden Administration’s efforts to subvert the law.

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Tennessee Sen. Blackburn and Kansas Sen. Marshall Introduce Bill to Pause Gain-of-Function Research Funding

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is sponsoring legislation with Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) to place a moratorium on gain-of-function (GOF) research, problems with which many believe played a role in the outbreak of COVID-19.

GOF experiments enhance the severity or transmissibility of a virus or other biological agent. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) have condoned such research “to help us understand the fundamental nature of human-pathogen interactions, assess the pandemic potential of emerging infectious agents and inform public health and preparedness efforts.” The NIH have however acknowledged major “biosafety and biosecurity risks” that warrant meticulous oversight.

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Tennessee U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty Urge Joe Biden to Fire Kamala Harris as Border Czar

U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) have joined nine other U.S. senators and formally asked that U.S. President Joe Biden replace Vice President Kamala Harris with a new border czar. This, considering Harris’s failure to stem the flow of illegal migrants to the United States and her failure to work with our neighbors to secure the border, Hagerty said in an emailed press release Thursday.

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Tennessee U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty Says Joe Biden Takes America Away from Its Allies

U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) on Saturday faulted U.S. President Joe Biden for a lack of accountability on Afghanistan and for hurting America’s relationship with its political allies.
Hagerty made these remarks to anchorman Jon Scott on FOX News. “What we’ve seen in our allies is the Dutch Foreign Minister stepped down this week. The same for the British Foreign Minister, both have stepped down, they’ve stepped down over their role or their lack of accountability for Afghanistan. They’ve stepped up and taken responsibility,” Hagerty said.

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Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty Joins Bill to Keep Children and Families Safe from Lead Hazards

On Wednesday, Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) joined Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Raphael Warnock (D-GA) in introducing the Keep Children and Families Safe From Lead Hazards Act. The bill which would direct the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to identify and remediate risk exposure to lead hazards, including lead wall paint and lead drinking water service lines, in Section 8 housing programs.

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Tennessee U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty Blasts Joe Biden’s ‘Unlawful, Counterproductive Federal COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate’

U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) on Monday criticized U.S. President Joe Biden for his new COVID-19 vaccination mandates. Biden said that, in order to work, all employees of private employers with 100 or more employees must take the COVID-19 vaccination or subject themselves to an at-least-weekly COVID testing.

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