Gov. Bill Haslam (WPLN/Daniel Potter)
Gov. Bill Haslam warns federal spending cuts looming at the end of this week would affect not just the state’s budget, but also Tennessee’s economy as a whole. The sequester would furlough some federal workers in places like Fort Campbell and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, potentially setting back local economies.
Haslam is careful to say he believes the federal government should spend less money, but he sees the sequester as the wrong approach, pointing to across-the-board cuts in places like Oak Ridge. They would do equal harm to projects that are needed, Haslam says, as to those he called a nice-to, but not a have-to.
“Take a workforce development program or training program – that would be cut 8 percent, just like cleaning up mercury out of the water and land that they’re in the middle of a process. And you’re gonna call the project off; the contractor who we’ve hired to do that, I guarantee you it’ll cost more to pull them off and send them back than the money you save there.”
Haslam was just singled out as an example to other Republicans by President Obama, for balancing the state’s budget while investing in key areas like education.
Clarksville
State Senator Mark Green of Clarksville says Fort Campbell still hasn’t detailed the extent of potential job cuts and furloughs. But Green says it comes at a bad time.
“For us it’s coming on top of Hemlock Semiconductor laying off 300 people, so it is going to be a very big hit to our economy.”
Hemlock was set to make polysilicon for solar panels, but is letting most of its workforce go in the Clarksville area because of weak demand.
WPLN’s Blake farmer contributed to this report.
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