“The Facts Matter, and Actions Speak Louder than Words”
Mt. Juliet, TN – This week, Sen. Mae Beavers’ opponent sent out another press release attacking Sen. Beavers regarding the Tennessee Health Freedom Act, a bill that Sen. Beavers passed twice in the State Senate, and a bill that Beavers’ opponent was unable to pass in the State House.
The press release in question, in addition to recent mailers sent out by Sen. Beavers’ opponent, references the Tennessee Health Freedom Act, a bill crafted by Sen. Beavers with the aid of Rep. Jim Clark from Idaho – one of the nation’s leading state sovereignty champions. Senator Beavers’ bill included protection for Tennesseans from the unconstitutional provisions of the national healthcare legislation, and directed the Tennessee Attorney General to join the Attorney Generals of other states to challenge the constitutionality of Obamacare.
Sen. Beavers’ bill was passed overwhelmingly by the Senate (26-1) in February of 2010, after recommendation by the appropriate Senate committees. Four months later, in June, five minutes before telling the House sponsor of the Health Freedom Act, Rep. Mike Bell, that he would vote for the bill and send it out of committee, House Speaker Kent Williams instead voted to kill the Senate bill. Incredibly, Beavers’ opponent now declares in her press release that this never happened. The event, widely reported at the time, was decried by all those opposed to the unconstitutional federal healthcare mandate.
It is also a fact that soon after, the House Speaker voted instead to send to the house floor a substantially weaker bill that did nothing to combat the unprecedented and unconstitutional federal mandates… A bill authored by Senator Beavers’ opponent.
Unfortunately, Beavers’ opponent’s weaker bill was dead in the Senate as it had never been moved by the Senate sponsor, nor heard by a single committee.
“My opponent knew that the Senate version of her bill had not moved through committee, but instead the House Speaker knew that he could kill my bill and instead pass out my opponent’s, a move that screams politics at its worse,” said Beavers. “It’s also a fact that before doing this, my opponent had agreed to hold back a bill regarding the TWRA that she was sponsoring at the Speaker’s request, a move that many know was made to put pressure on the TWRA to provide funding for the Speaker’s pork project – the infamous fish hatchery in Carter County.”
Beavers’ opponent’s press release also reveals that she doesn’t understand how a bill becomes a law. She claims that Sen. Beavers, apparently single-handedly, amended her weaker Healthcare Freedom Act in the Senate. Such a statement shows blatant ignorance regarding how the State Senate operates, as the only way the Senate agreed to hear the dead bill directly on the floor was to amend it to include language that had moved through the Senate committee system and then passed by the full Senate.
“My opponent obviously does not know how the State Senate operates, and would rather spread baseless lies,” said Sen. Beavers. “I did not amend my opponent’s bill – the entire Senate did – and if we would not have, then that bill would not have been able to be voted on. The Senate saved the Health Freedom Act, and we then passed it for a second time.”
Eventually, the House failed to pass the TN Health Freedom Act, a move that angered both Sen. Beavers as well as many who view the national healthcare legislation to be unprecedented and unconstitutional. Yet, Sen. Beavers’ opponent continues to blame her for the bill’s failure, including calling the language passed by the Senate as being “unconstitutional.”
When asked about such a statement, Sen. Beavers responded by saying, “Well, the only way you can believe that the TN Health Freedom Act is unconstitutional is if you believe Obamacare is constitutional, and quite frankly, I and my nine co-sponsors and the other 22 Senators who voted for the Heath Freedom Act do not.”
#1 by John Smith on August 5th, 2010
Lynn was and still is right, Nullification is the only way to stop Obama-Care.
http://media.mises.org/mp3/MU2010/009_MisesU_2010_WoodsMC.mp3
#2 by Ron Jones on August 6th, 2010
John, Mae never once disagreed with nullification as a remedy for federalist tyranny
If you read the bill, and read her remarks above, you’d know that it was Susan in fact, who claimed that Mae’s Senate health care freedom act was “unconstitutional.” A strange position to take by one who supports nullification… Why? Because in order for the Senate Bill that Mae Sponsored to be considered “unconstitutional,” one would have to accept that Obamacare was, itself, NOT a violation of the US Constitution. (which then begs the question… “why are you seeking to nullify it?”)
Please believe me when I say, as a “Lew Rockwell conservative” I became a supporter of Mae Beavers only AFTER investigating her stand on the issues. Do a little digging into the “race to the top” legislation, and find that Mae Stood against accepting money from a federal government specifically because of the strings that are inevitably attached.
Mae Beavers is the real thing, a genuine conservative, and as our elected representative, she will work on our behalf to help us take back our Liberty.