Blackburn goes 'Behind the Mic'

Local radio listeners got a glimpse inside national government Monday night, when U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn appeared on WBMC’s “Behind the Mic” with Chad Graves.

Blackburn, the senior senator from the volunteer state who announced her candidacy for governor last August, discussed issues she believes affect Tennesseans the most, including health care, education, immigration reform and crime.

Blackburn joins a competitive Republican primary that includes U.S. Rep. John Rose and state Rep. Monty Fritts. If she wins the general election, she would be Tennessee’s first female governor.

Monday’s interview ran the gamut of multiple issues affecting the nation, as well as Tennessee, including a recent federal crackdown on crime in Memphis.

“We have seen over 20 federal agencies working in Memphis, and they have worked closely with the mayor and the police chief, and they have deported numerous criminal illegal aliens,” Blackburn said. “They have made over 6,000 arrests of violent criminals. And we know that they are continuing to work to get crime under control there in Memphis. They have cut the crime rate in half in 120 days. The crime rate is the lowest it has been in decades. They've also rescued 142 missing children.

“What we want to do is make certain that those that are illegally in the country - those that have orders of deportation against them, those that have committed crimes - that they're going to be held to account. And we know that already you have had over 3 million illegal entrants into the country actually self-deport. They're taking the free ticket back to their home country, the $1,000 stipend per family member. And then, of course, their appointment is set up at the embassy or the consulate that is closest to them in their home country, and they can go in and get their paperwork in order and come back legally. Now, what we have seen also is ICE is apprehending those that have those orders of deportation sometimes.”

Now in her second term in the senate Blackburn, who was first elected in 2018, also stressed the importance of the Kids Online Safety Act, which is aimed at protecting children and teenagers from online harms by requiring social media and other online platforms to implement safety measures and received strong bipartisan support in the senate.

“Children are meeting drug dealers, pedophiles. They're meeting predators, groomers, sex traffickers in the virtual space,” she said. “And these platforms know, whether it's Meta, the Metaverse, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Google, YouTube, they know that children are meeting bad actors in these spaces, but they are choosing to do absolutely nothing about it. So, it is vitally important that we pass the Kids Online Safety Act. It came out of the Senate last year on a 91-3 vote. We were really pleased with that. It is totally bipartisan, as you can see. And we are hopeful that the House is going to finish it this year and we're going to be able to get it to the president's desk.”

Blackburn said innovations in health care, one of the most polarizing issues facing the country today, are going to be led by Tennesseans in the future.

“When it comes to health care, there's nobody better that innovates in health care than Tennesseans,” she said. “And we're going to have the opportunity to change that delivery of health care as we move forward, especially when it comes to rural health.

“One of the things that in the Working Families Tax Cut Big Beautiful Bill, what we did was to develop a rural health care transformation fund. I was a big part of that. And this is grants that come to our localities to innovate in delivery of access and also health care and those outcomes. And to be able to work with our local communities and our rural hospitals and say, this is how we do more. You know, I worked hard to get that rural health care transformation fund in the bill and get it passed. And I was thrilled that when the first round of grant announcements were made, Tennessee is getting $206 million a year for the next five years, each year. That will help us invest in how we deliver health care and how we make certain that every Tennessean has access to affordable health care.”

While serving on the national level at present, Blackburn also stated she is a firm believer of giving power to states on several issues, including education.

“The Department of Education, they are going to be shutting their doors,” she said. “That power and responsibility is coming back to the states. And now the state school board, our Tennessee Board of Regents, our General Assembly, our State Department of Education and the local departments of education, we're going to be able to make changes in testing, in delivery, in curriculum, in how we make certain that every single child in this state learns how they learn, that they get a great education. And whether they're going on to a TCAT or whether they're going to a university, that they are going to be able to excel.”

The entire interview with Blackburn can be found on the Radio WBMC 97.7 Facebook page, as well as Main Street Media’s YouTube channel.