Nashville News Blog

Lamar Alexander is defending his vote for the earmarks-laden federal spending bill that was left over from the Bush administration. Speaking to the anti-government audience on Steve Gill's radio show, the senator explained the bill contained money for worthy Tennessee projects. Earmarks included $50 million to fix the leaky Center Hill Dam, which would flood some of Nashville if it's not repaired, and money for an after-school program for Clarksville's military families.

"All the money for Oak Ridge was in this bill, and if it hasn't passed, we would have lost 2,500 jobs in one day. So there have been bad specific appropriations by congressmen and senators that need to be criticized. I've tried to be very careful with all the ones I represent. If I told the Clarksville crowd that came to see me every year about what it needs for its military families, if I said, 'I don't do that, here's Barack Obama's phone number,' they'd probably run me into Kentucky. ... The system needs to be reformed. But you know if you have a couple of bad acts at the Grand Ole Opry, you don't cancel the Opry, you cancel the acts. That's what we need to do here.

"If a senator doesn't try to help those things, what's a senator supposed to do?"

Good question. Are you listening, Jim Cooper?