Sen. Marsha Blackburn Makes Stop in Wayne County for Q&A Session

United States Senator Marsha Blackburn stopped for a short visit with Wayne Countians at the Administrative Building on the square last Tuesday, August 19.

Sen. Blackburn first congratulated County Executive Jim Mangubat on the recent naming of the new Wayne County Head Start facility in his honor. The senator presented County Executive Mangubat with an official letter, which stated in part, “Your work with the South Central Human Resource Agency to expand Head Start opportunities in the region has made a meaningful and lasting difference…your vision and advocacy will continue to shape young lives for years to come.”

Sen. Blackburn spoke about President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.” Before being signed into law, the U.S. Senate approved the bill 51-50 on July 1, 2025, with Vice President J.D. Vance casting a tie-breaking vote in support. It passed the House of Representatives, 218-214, on July 3, 2025. It passed over universal Democratic opposition in both houses.

According to Sen. Blackburn, the bill has resulted in the biggest tax cut in U.S. history, which will result in an average of $2,600 in savings for Tennessee families. One component of the bill will raise the exemption on the death tax to $15 million per person. The senator said this will enable survivors of the deceased to inherit land, farms, and businesses without having huge taxes due.

Senator Blackburn said another component of the bill will require able-bodied adults who receive Medicaid and SNAP benefits to work at least 20 hours per week. She emphasized that this will not affect Medicaid and SNAP recipients who are truly unable to work.

“People are going to see a difference in who receives these benefits,” said Sen. Blackburn. “No more illegal aliens, freeloaders, or fraudsters will be allowed.”

Sen. Blackburn said funding for rural healthcare is a major part of the Big Beautiful Bill. The rural healthcare fund will expand access to care in rural areas, including Wayne County. Fifty billion dollars will be put into the rural healthcare trust fund, with $25 billion per year going out in payments to every state. The states will pay out to rural hospitals and clinics, of which Tennessee has 132. The other half of the rural healthcare trust fund will be used to increase access to healthcare in rural areas, including access to things like telehealth, imaging, behavioral health, etc.

County Executive Mangubat asked the senator about ambulance service reimbursement from Medicare. He pointed out that according to Tennessee law, each county must have an ambulance service. However, reimbursement from Medicare for ambulance services is so low, the counties have no choice but to subsidize them. He asked Sen. Blackburn if the Big Beautiful Bill would result in any funding for this.

The senator said that when Congress reconvenes in September, the Big Beautiful Bill 2.0 will be introduced. In addition to much more, this bill will address healthcare funding in two ways: first, the practice of upcoding, which is essentially fraud. Upcoding is when healthcare providers charge for extra services they may not have performed. Secondly, pharmacy benefit managers, whom Sen. Blackburn said President Trump refers to as “middle men,” currently take all rebates from drug manufacturers and split them with insurance companies. The patient then has to pay full price. The 2.0 bill will keep pharmacy benefit managers from receiving any drug rebates, and they will only receive a service fee instead. That will enable the patients to receive the drug rebates themselves.

Stacey Brewer and Martin Haggard, both with Wayne County Bank, were present at the meeting. Ms. Brewer asked Senator Blackburn if and/or when interest rates would be going down. The senator said she would love to see that happen soon, but in reality, it probably will take some time.

Sheriff Shane Fisher asked Sen. Blackburn about a bill that will allow the FCC to cut the rate on funds jails and other corrections facilities receive for inmate phone calls and video calls. He said facilities like the Wayne County Jail rely on those funds to operate. The bill is set to go into effect in 2026, but Sen. Blackburn said it would probably be delayed for at least one year, or the FCC may table it indefinitely.

Hassell and Hughes Lumber Company representatives Jerry Hollis and Tim Franks were at the meeting and asked Sen. Blackburn about some issues with which they have concerns. Mr. Hollis commented that most job reports are drastically overstated, and revisions inevitably come much later that are buried and no one sees. Sen. Blackburn said the most recent job report said the sector that lost the most jobs was government, and that is a good thing. Job cuts in government were very much needed.