Wamp Criticizes “Bloated” Budget
May 2 – Zach Wamp said that the budget blueprint passed in the U.S. House of Representatives spends and borrows too much. Wamp thinks the provisions in the bill that permanently gives taxpayers the ability to deduct state and local sales taxes was a step forward, though: “But this requires future legislation and was not strong enough on its own for me to support this bloated budget as a whole.”
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Lock gets boost
April 29 – Rep. Zach Wamp praised the Corps for putting money in the “new Chickamauga Lock. “This is very good news for the Chickamauga Lock, and the Corps is to be commended for its work,” he said. “Every cloud has a silver lining.”
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Area high-speed rail plans left at the station
April 18 – The proposed high-speed rail between Atlanta and Chattanooga is being left behind at the station in President Barack Obama’s new $13 billion initiative to promote faster trains. “It’s unfortunate that the president’s approach seems to be just giving vitamins to Amtrak, which frankly is a system that has not been successful,” Rep. Zach Wamp said.
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Trail ties nation together
April 15 – Last month, Congress designated more pieces of the Trail of Tears. An earlier law passed in 2006 designated trails only in Arkansas and Oklahoma. The new act adds two primary westward trails. Rep. Zach Wamp, who authored and sponsored the legislation, called the work “a labor of love from the very start.”
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Lawmakers tour Bend-Alexander, Wamp hear about upcoming projects
April 10 – Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park leaders updated Sen. Alexander and U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp about three ongoing Moccasin Bend projects during a tour of Moccasin Bend on the Tennessee Aquarium River Gorge Explorer boat.
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Building standards reduce energy use, speakers say
April 10 – Making buildings more environmentally friendly will pay off economically for businesses after an upfront investment, says one of the creators of the LEED certification for existing structures. Rep. Zach Wamp said government and businesses should work together to create environmental building standards.
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Wamp says federal unemployment aid to state has too many strings
March 29 – Zach Wamp raised questions Saturday about Gov. Phil Bredesen’s decision to accept $141 million in federal stimulus funds to help unemployed Tennesseans. The Chattanooga congressman said he believes too many financial strings are attached. “The unemployment insurance piece to allow part-time workers to draw unemployment insurance is not a good precedent,” said U.S. Rep. Wamp.
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Trail of Tears Official
March 28 – The Trail of Tears Documentation Act was approved by Congress last week as part of the Public Lands bill. According to Rep. Zach Wamp, author of the new act, previously omitted threads of the trail in this region will be included. “This was a labor of love from the very start,” said Rep. Wamp.
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Republicans say Democrats must answer for AIG bonuses
March 20 – Rep. Zach Wamp voted for the bill, saying it was necessary to recoup taxpayer dollars. But he also called the AIG bonus furor a political problem for Democrats, who had stripped out a provision in the stimulus package that would have banned such payouts. “The AIG bonus problem is an American problem of greed and irresponsibility."

Ocoee stakeholders optimistic over upcoming tourism season
March 17 – With gas prices down and federal stimulus money on the way, it looks like it could be a bright summer season for tourist destinations in the Ocoee area. “The Ocoee is a crown jewel of outdoor recreation in the United States, and this is an economic development engine for the entire area,” Rep. Zach Wamp said during a meeting at the Ocoee Whitewater Center.
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Tennessee ranks low on well-being study
March 16 – A survey of Americans’ mental, physical and economic health ranked the Volunteer State 42nd out of the 50 states in overall well-being. Rep. Wamp, who founded the Congressional Fitness Caucus, said the study shows that Tennesseans need to be more proactive about their health. “Our approach to health care needs to be more preventive than just figuring out how to pay for people when they get sick.”
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Bill on unions means loss of secret vote
March 12 – The bill being introduced in Congress this week, wrongly named the “Employee Free Choice Act”, will take away your choice about whether you are in one. You can be sure that Rep. Zach Wamp, Sens. Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander will vote against this bill, but what about the representatives of your friends across the country? Call them, and encourage them to tell their representatives early and often how they feel about the “Employee Free Choice Act.”
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Corps squeeze could jam lock renovations
March 10 – President Obama has signaled he will cut the Army Corps of Engineers’ budget by more than half next year, putting a potential squeeze on funding for Chickamauga Lock renovations. But Rep. Zach Wamp noted the recently passed economic stimulus bill contains $4.6 billion for the corps. “This is a challenge,” he said. “The trust fund has a squeeze, and the question is, how much of the different projects can the corps fund and still meet the match out of the trust fund?”
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Obama boosts social funds, drawing ire of Republicans
March 2 – Rep. Zach Wamp said President Obama’s budget proposal would expand government and result in increased taxes in time. “The president’s proposed budget outline follows on the heels of a massive stimulus spending bill, which puts us on a path to the biggest and most inefficient government that we have ever had.”
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High-speed train picks up steam from stimulus
February 26 – A decade-old effort to build high-speed train service between Chattanooga and Atlanta could pick up speed with additional funding from the federal stimulus package. The Chattanooga-Atlanta high-speed train route has been backed for years by Rep. Zach Wamp.
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Former Moc plays hoops with Obama
February 25 – “We beat the president’s team by one basket,” the former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga player Larry Stewart said. There’s a rumored game developing between Obama’s Democrats and the Republicans, who are supposed to have our own Congressman, Zach Wamp, on the team. “Oh, I’d like to be a fly on the wall for that one,” Stewart said.
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Partisan fires smolder as Obama readies speech
February 24 – Tennessee lawmakers say the early feel good vibes that fizzled into partisan acrimony may not bode well for future congressional debates. Rep. Zach Wamp said he hopes to hear President Obama adopt a more moderate stance. “I hope the president will become more pragmatic,” he said. “I hope he will triangulate and govern from the middle and say, ‘I can’t meet my conservative colleagues, but I’m not going to give the liberal wing of the party way too much.’”
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Wamp Visits Jordan
February 21 – Rep. Zach Wamp visited the Middle East as part of a bipartisan delegation. Wamp said the trip, which included a visit with King Abdullah II of Jordan and policy experts from the region, was “one of the most instructive, timely and beneficial sessions that I have participated in during my 14 years in Congress.” He said the issues facing the Middle East will have great impact on the world’s economic future. 
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Wamp Also Calls For Fiscal Responsibility
February 21 – Rep. Wamp continued to criticize the economic stimulus package, saying the country cannot borrow its way to prosperity. “Prudence would call for fiscal responsibility at home so that the greatest nation in history will remain strong enough economically to lead the world out of this downturn with attention to freedom, human rights, global security and our national sovereignty,” he wrote.
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Lawmakers lambaste, defend bill
February 14 – No Chattanooga-area members of Congress changed their stances on the economic stimulus bill when the final $789 billion version came up for a vote. Rep. Zach Wamp acknowledged that Republicans were guilty of runaway spending at times during the six years they controlled Congress after President George W. Bush was elected. But he said that’s no excuse for Democrats to offer this stimulus bill. “Home budgets being cut to get through hard times, local governments being cut, and state government budgets being cut,” Wamp said on the House floor prior to the vote. “But only in Washington can we spend our way into prosperity.”
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Area Lawmakers on the Stimulus Bill
February 14 – “Republicans have great empathy with the people who are hurting, but there is little faith that the federal government is going to make things better.”- Rep. Zach Wamp, who voted against the bill.
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Kingston plant ash cleanup costs mount
February 13 – Cleaning up the coal ash that spilled from the Kingston Fossil Plant could cost up to $825 million and take more than a year to complete. And those millions could land on the shoulders of ratepayers. The Tennessee Valley Authority is a self-financed federal corporation, and an attempt last month by Rep. Zach Wamp to get federal aid for the ash cleanup fell short.
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Child advocates hail insurance expansion
February 5 – Rep. Wamp said in a statement that the bill “is a considerable expansion of the SCHIP program that will raise taxes, substitute private health insurance coverage with government-run health care and make it easier for illegal immigrants to get health care coverage at taxpayer expense.”
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Expected state benefits at odds with GOP leaders’ opposition
February 2 – With a massive economic stimulus bill backed primarily by Democrats likely to be signed into law, states expect to receive billions of dollars in federal aid. Republicans in Congress who are opposing the bill can only watch. “The larger picture is: This is not good for our country,” Zach Wamp said. “It would make our recession longer and deeper.”
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Oak Ridge could get $300 million from stimulus
February 2 – With a massive economic stimulus bill backed primarily by Democrats likely to be signed into law, states expect to receive billions of dollars in federal aid. Republicans in Congress who are opposing the bill can only watch. “The larger picture is: This is not good for our country,” Zach Wamp said. “It would make our recession longer and deeper.”
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Oak Ridge could get $300 million from stimulus
January 30 – The Oak Ridge National Laboratory could get up to $300 million from the economic stimulus proposal working its way through Congress. Rep. Zach Wamp visited the lab and agreed that it’s performing vital energy research that deserves more federal support. But Rep. Wamp said he joined other House Republicans in voting against the stimulus this week because he said only about 15 percent of the $819 billion bill will stimulate the economy in the right manner.
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Lawmakers vote on $819 billion plan
January 29 – “It’s just a bad idea with too much government growth,” Rep. Zach Wamp said. He said last year’s unpopular $700 billion Wall Street bailout serves as ample proof that government can’t be trusted with such massive sums of taxpayer money. That’s why he voted against the $819 billion economic stimulus bill.
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Stimulus to boost states
January 28 – “President Obama was very gracious and talked about being willing to negotiate, but he was dug in to the notion that government spending would help the economy, even at these extraordinarily high levels,” Rep. Zach Wamp said. “Our concern is that most of it is just spending on social programs that won’t have the desired effect, and it’ll put us into bigger debt.”
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Lawmakers push federal aid for TVA spill cleanup
January 27 – “I know TVA is committed to paying for the cleanup, but they can’t borrow money because of the cap on their debt levels, so it’s going to be passed on to ratepayers. I’m going to make the case that the ratepayers should get help,” Rep. Wamp said.
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Obama basks in sense of bipartisan good will
January 25 – Rep. Zach Wamp said President Obama must rein in liberal Democratic leaders in Congress to enjoy broad support. The $825 billion stimulus bill drafted by Democrats could be just the starting point for a liberal agenda, Rep. Wamp said. “A lot of it is (Democrats’) taking advantage of the moment to increase the size of government,” he said.
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Counties asked to match funds for maglev study
January 24 – “This is the perfect time for high-speed rail to advance because of (President Barack Obama’s) agenda,” Rep. Wamp said. Georgia and Tennessee officials jointly committed to raise the matching funds needed to apply for a federal transportation grant. The federal money would continue a feasibility study on the magnetic high-speed rail.
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Officials grease tracks for high-speed rail
January 24 – Leaders hope to win support and for a high-speed train to link the Atlanta and Chattanooga airports. Rep. Zach Wamp said a maglev train would be a natural project for the President’s administration. “They are going into this large infrastructure investment era,” Rep. Wamp said. “If high-speed rail is not part of that, it will be a real shame.”
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Panther makes footprint in city
January 23 – Panther International is entering an alliance with the Enterprise Center, the Chattanooga nonprofit that oversees many of the city’s technology growth initiatives. Rep. Zach Wamp called the alliance “another step forward for the economic stability of our community.” He said in a statement that it’s a top priority to bring advanced technology and new jobs to the region.
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Area Republicans criticize stimulus as too expensive
January 22 – The stimulus plan, drafted by Democratic leaders, includes more spending and fewer tax cuts than a package proposed by Mr. Obama, but Republicans still are criticizing the measure as runaway spending and a gross expansion of government programs. “Just because Republicans spent too much money and lost our way on holding the growth of government down doesn’t mean that the agenda the Democratic leadership is carrying out is the right approach,” said Rep. Zach Wamp.
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Area leaders weigh in
January 21 – Area lawmakers attending Tuesday’s inauguration offered new President Barack Obama their best wishes, honoring his historic presidency and pledging to work in a bipartisan fashion. Rep. Zach Wamp said even though he supported President Obama’s opponent he was happy to see the historic inauguration. “Our national character is born out of injustice being made right. For us, the day after Martin Luther King Day, to inaugurate our first black president, it says the right thing to the world and to every boy and girl that if you do the right thing and work hard enough, good things will happen.”
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Echo of the New Deal
January 18 – Mr. Obama’s pledge of change alters Chattanooga, historians agree that President Roosevelt’s New Deal clearly did. U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp said the foothills of Appalachia were helped as much as any area by the New Deal and the region is better positioned than the rest of the country for the future. “But we really have to remember that you can’t borrow your way out of debt and you can’t spend your way into prosperity,” Rep. Wamp said.
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Obama not too busy for BCS concerns
January 18 – “After the circus atmosphere that surrounded the investigation into steroids and baseball, my first advice to Congress and the White House is to stay out of sports completely,” said U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp. “I believe the president-elect is far better served focusing on national security, health care reform and an economic stimulus package before he thinks about a college football playoff.” At least a handful of Wamp’s colleagues apparently believe otherwise, beginning with California congressman Gary Miller, who introduced the Miller Plan (H.R. 599).
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TVA’s costly mission drift
January 18 – The TVA isn’t just going through a rough patch. Its recent problems reflect something much larger and perceptibly much more fundamental than that. The cost of TVA’s environmental negligence has prompted the concern of Gov. Bredesen and Rep. Zach Wamp. Gov. Bredesen has ordered more stringent environmental oversight by state officials and endorses a return to TVA’s charter ethic. Rep. Wamp agrees. “If TVA devolves into a super-duper private power company without a mission of land and water stewardship and economic development for the region, then they are not carrying out their original charter,” he says, “and that’s the fear for me.”
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Obama Cabinet lacks that Southern charm
January 17 – President-elect Barack Obama’s Cabinet has a very low quotient of Southerners, prompting some worries from U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp that the region and its more conservative bent may be ignored. “The Democratic Party, under the president-elect, is overlooking the South,” said Rep. Wamp. “I am concerned, but I don’t have much of a say in the process. I know a lot of Southern, conservative Democrats, and they’re being taken for granted.”
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Senate OKs Trail of Tears measure
January 16 – Congressmen Zach Wamp praised the passage in the U.S. Senate of legislation that will speed the documentation of the Trail of Tears. “The designation and interpretation of the additional sites and trails associated with the Cherokee Removal will enhance public understanding of American history,” according to a statement released by U.S. Rep. Wamp.
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TVA critics step up pressure
January 15 – Critics of the TVA say aging facilities, a cost-cutting mentality and resistance to oversight may have contributed to the agency’s three environmental spills in as many weeks. Rep. Zach Wamp said the agency “is at a crossroads” after the spills. “If TVA devolves into a super-duper private power company without a mission of land and water stewardship and economic development for the region, then they are not carrying out their original charter, and that’s the fear for me,” he said.
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Bankruptcy court to remain in historic house
January 11 – U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp said he continues to push for a new federal courthouse for Chattanooga. “It’s a huge investment, but our courthouse is definitely old and antiquated,” he said. “It is still very much alive that in the next decade a new courthouse will be built in Chattanooga.”
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Senate panel blasts TVA over Kingston ash spill
January 9 – TVA officials still are trying to determine what caused the earthen dam to rupture last month. Rep. Zach Wamp said Congress should push to include the funds for the Kingston cleanup in the upcoming stimulus package or in other spending bills. He said that because heavy rains may have contributed to the collapse, it should be considered as a disaster eligible for federal emergency money.