Alexander named ranking member of Senate Energy and Water panel

U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., announced today that he will serve as the highest-ranking Republican, known as the “Ranking Member,” on the Senate Committee on Appropriations’ Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development.

The panel has jurisdiction over funding for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Department of Energy, including scientific and nuclear weapons national laboratories.

“After we reduce spending, we still must set priorities that make it easier and cheaper to create private-sector jobs,” Alexander said in a statement today. “This position will allow me to make sure that priorities like research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, nuclear weapons modernization at Y-12, dredging at the Memphis Port, and construction at Chickamauga Lock and the Wolf Creek and Center Hill Dams get the attention they deserve.”

Alexander also will serve as a member of five other Appropriations subcommittees during the 112th Congress: Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies; Defense; Interior, Environment and Related Agencies; Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies; and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies.