“Every Republican of this era is defined, at least in part, in terms of how they interact with Donald Trump. But for Lamar, he has a work that is long enough and deep enough and bipartisan enough that it isn’t just about him, ”said Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), who worked on Energy Problems with Alexander.
As he prepares to be replaced by Bill Hagerty, Trump’s former ambassador to Japan, Alexander flashes warning signs about the state of the Senate. He fears that Biden is having a hard time finding his 1,200 candidates who need Senate approval. And that senators waste their strengths if they ignore big bills and amendments.
“You know that senators in the Senate cannot offer amendments, I say it was like joining the Grand Ole Opry and not being allowed to sing,” Alexander criticized individual senators for refusing to compromise. “We have too much talent here to just sit around with our fingers in our ears.”
Alexander had hoped to pass laws that curb the startling medical billing as the cornerstone of his senior year in office, but he’s unlikely to get approval in the Lame Ducks Sprint. He’s still hoping for some simplification of student loan forms in the coming days, some kind of low-key new law due to a Senator who once wore the same red and black plaid shirt when he fought across Tennessee (he and his staff wear now masks of the same pattern).
But the most striking thing the pragmatic Alexander has done in the last few days of his Senate career is to keep Shelton off the Federal Reserve. And there is no room for negotiation about that, he said: “I’ve already made my decision.”
“He is a man with a backbone and a principle. He doesn’t care which way the wind blows, he just cares which way it goes, ”said Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who also opposes Shelton. “He is a person of principle, of conscience. And we all need to be reminded of this from time to time. “
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