October 1 2011

October 5, 2011

I’d like to share with you some of the things that I have been working on in Washington and Tennessee this past month:

Stepping down from leadership liberates me to focus on the issues I care about the most and that matter the most to Tennesseans

On September 20^th, I announced that in January I will step down from the Senate Republican leadership. My colleagues have elected me as Republican Conference chairman three times, and I will have completed the equivalent of two two-year terms at that time. My reason for doing that is this: stepping down from the Republican leadership will liberate me to spend more time trying to work for results on issues I care the most about, and that matter the most to Tennesseans. I plan to run for reelection in the Senate in 2014, and I recognize that serving in this body is a rare privilege and I am trying to make the best use of that time. I wish to do more to make the Senate a more effective place to address serious issues.

Please click here to read my announcement.

Fixing No Child Left Behind to give states and local districts greater flexibility…

I joined several Republican senators in introducing a series of education bills to fix No Child Left Behind. For the nation’s 100,000 public schools, the legislation would end many of the federal mandates out of Washington and give states and local school districts greater flexibility to:  

• Improve state standards, testing, and accountability systems to better prepare students for college and careers
• Improve teacher and principal professional development programs and encourage systems to evaluate performance
• Consolidate federal education programs to give state and local education leaders more freedom to address local needs
• Expand the number of charter schools and give parents more choices

These bills are about getting Washington, D.C., out of the business of deciding which schools and teachers are succeeding and which are failing. America needs better state and local report cards, not a national school board.

Click here to read my op-ed in the New York Times: “A Better Way to Fix No Child Left Behind.”

Click here for more details on these five bills.

…And urging the administration not to become a national school board

Last week, the Obama Administration announced a plan for issuing waivers to states seeking relief from the law’s outdated provisions. In a speech on the Senate floor, I asked U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to show restraint in his waiver-granting power. The Secretary has the power to grant waivers, but he should do it in a limited way and Congress should get to work fixing No Child Left Behind so there is no need for waivers. I am calling on my Democratic colleagues, with whom we’ve met dozens of times, to redouble our joint effort to get a result.

Click here for to watch my speech.

I also thought you might be interested in:

The Senate’s vote to confirm U.S. District Court Judge Bernice Donald to serve on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit by a vote of 96 to 2. http://1.usa.gov/nFhuzw

The Administration’s decision to withdraw new ozone restrictions was the right one; click here to read more: http://1.usa.gov/pqQRLT

Why I supported the Patent Reform Act: http://1.usa.gov/p8Ykex

The Energy and Water Appropriations Bill for fiscal year 2012 includes “much-needed” funding for the Corps of Engineers to respond to the historic West Tennessee floods (click here to read more: http://1.usa.gov/o1GJ0y), as well as funding for Advanced Computing at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL),  the Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12 and ORNL nuclear infrastructure and cleanup (click here to read more: http://1.usa.gov/ncS1ko).

Why the $14.75 million going to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission—a commission which has nothing left to do—could be the first episode of an only-in-Washington television reality show. http://1.usa.gov/q9iqqA

I also wanted to share these news articles with you:

From the Associated Press

Alexander: Exhibit no signal of political twilight

From the Knoxville News Sentinel

Opinion: Greg Johnson: Alexander uses newfound freedom

From The Tennessean