Washington, D.C. – This week, it was my honor to announce that the Air Force has selected McGhee Tyson Air National Guard (ANG) Base outside of Knoxville, Tennessee, as the seventh main operating base for the next generation KC-46 Pegasus refueler.
For the last few years, I spearheaded the push for the Air Force to select McGhee Tyson ANG Base and the 134th Air Refueling Wing to host the KC-46 Pegasus. I led the entire Tennessee congressional delegation in sending multiple letters urging senior Air Force and Department of War officials to advocate for this outcome.
After two years of sustained advocacy, I’m pleased to see this decision come to fruition and appreciate every member of the Tennessee delegation for their partnership on this effort. This will strengthen our national security by providing rapid access to key operational areas at home and support jobs for Tennesseans. We look forward to watching the airmen of the 134th Air Refueling Wing continue their outstanding service to our nation.
Read more here.
Weekly Rundown
Under President Donald J. Trump’s leadership, federal law enforcement agencies are focused on their core purpose—enforcing the rule of law and fighting crime. This week on the Senate floor, I urged my colleagues to support my resolution recognizing the incredible success already achieved by President Trump’s Memphis Safe Task Force. Following my remarks, Senate Democrats blocked the resolution from passing, objecting to the arrest of nearly 2,900 criminals, including sex offenders and murders, the rescue of 116 missing children, and the seizure of 470 illegal firearms. Watch my floor speech about this here and my response to Senate Democrats here.
On Tuesday night, I held a tele-town hall where I spoke with folks in Upper East Tennessee about what Republicans are doing to overcome Democrats’ obstruction, lower health care costs for Americans, and make life more affordable. Tennesseans are also encouraged by the tremendous success of President Trump’s Memphis Safe Task Force, which has locked up violent criminals, seized illegal firearms, dismantled criminal gangs, rescued missing children, and restored law and order for those who call Memphis home.
Read more here.
After Google sent a word salad response to my letter demanding accountability for its large language model, Gemma, fabricating criminal allegations, I sent a follow-up letter blasting the company for this weak response. This push for accountability follows the Senate Commerce Committee hearing last month where I grilled a Google representative on Gemma’s fabrication of news articles that falsely linked conservative activist Robby Starbuck and me to child abuse allegations. I then discovered that Gemma also manufactured links to fake news articles when asked, “Has Marsha Blackburn been accused of rape?”
Read more here.
Tennessee’s farmland is critical to America’s food supply, and the federal government should not be funding Green New Scam projects that subsidize ruining fertile American farmland by building solar panels. To put an end to Green New Deal subsidies for solar projects on prime farmland, I introduced the Protecting American Farmland Act. This would codify President Trump and U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’ directive ensuring not one more federal dollar funds the destruction of prime farmland.
Read more here.
Marsha’s Roundup
ICYMI
Last week, I introduced the Respect the Chief Act following reported failures to display portraits of President Donald J. Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on chain-of-command boards at U.S. military bases. This would ensure military bases continue the longstanding tradition of updating chain-of-command boards with current leadership and prevent leftists from disrespecting the President. Read more here.
After weeks of needless pain and turmoil, President Trump last week ended the Schumer Shutdown by signing Republicans’ bill to reopen the government into law. Democrats forced the nation into the longest government shutdown in U.S. history and used the American people as pawns to appease the radical left. Read more about this in my weekly column here.
