More than 690,000 Tennesseans are at risk of losing food assistance due to the ongoing government shutdown. Local 3 spoke to Sen. Bo Watson about the situation Sunday at his annual event.
More than 350 people were in attendance for the fourth annual Bo’s All American Bash Sunday evening. Tennessee Sen. Watson says now is the time to get together with other lawmakers and talk about key issues.
“Well, really, this is a way to say thank you to all the republicans, who do so many different things, grassroots folk, who work so hard to get republicans elected,” said Sen. Watson.
One of those issues is the ongoing government shutdown, including its impacts on supplemental food assistance programs, like SNAP and WIC.
For many across the nation, those benefits could be coming to a halt as early as Saturday. However, Sen. Watson says there is some pad for Tennesseans.
“We have reserves available to us from the last quarter that we’ve been using and extending snap benefits out until the middle of November. We hope that democrats will come to the table and help end the shutdown, and we’ll be back to business as usual,” said Sen. Watson.
Conversely, at the national level, democrats say they are trying to reopen the government, but republicans are not coming to the table.
“What you are seeing is this democrat and republican fighting. People on opposite sides of the end won’t come to the table and negotiate, and put people first,” said Democratic Sen. London Lamar.
In our area, Sen. Watson says he plans on addressing state wide concerns about the rising prices of groceries and the 4% tax on them in the upcoming legislative session in January.
“Even though we all know we have the lowest tax burden of any state in the union, we look for ways to look for efficiency in government. The grocery tax is part of that conversation,” Sen. Watson said.
Sen. Watson also announced he is running for re-election next year. His term is up in 2026.
