Most Tennessee Congress members vote for a shutdown, showing a disinterest in governing

Andrew Jackson’s The Hermitage annual gala took place Saturday night and among the silent auction items were books from the personal collection of Lamar Alexander.

Alexander served as state governor from 1979-1987 and as U.S. senator for three terms until 2021.

The books including his tome on his 1990s presidential campaign “We Know What to Do” were all about problem solving and making Americans’ lives better.

It is fitting they were in the auction at the estate of the seventh president, who while seen as a maverick and populist, also believed in governing.

That makes me wonder how Jackson and Alexander would view the actions of the majority of the Tennessee congressional delegation who voted against a continuing resolution Saturday that kept the federal government funded and avoided a shutdown that threatened the livelihoods and quality of life of millions of Americans.

The eight of 11 Volunteer State members of Congress who voted no all had their reasons — from a desire for spending cuts to demands for more U.S.-border security — but those are things that could have been addressed through compromise and cooperation. Do they believe governing is beneath them?

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Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty voted against the continuing resolution

Here is how they voted:

Senate:

• Marsha Blackburn, Republican: No

• Bill Hagerty, Republican: No

House:

• District 1: Diana Harshbarger, Republican: No

• District 2: Tim Burchett, Republican: No

• District 3: Chuck Fleischman, Republican: Yes

• District 4: Scott DesJarlais, Republican: No

• District 5: Andy Ogles, Republican: No

• District 6: John Rose, Republican: No

• District 7: Mark Green, Republican: No

• District 8: David Kustoff, Republican: Yes

• District 9: Steve Cohen, Democrat: Yes

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Americans want Congress to cooperate

Americans elected an equally bipartisan Senate that is run by Democrats only because Vice President Kamala Harris provides the tie-breaking vote.

Republicans have a slim majority in the House and they were elected to be a check on the Biden administration, but also to govern.

Americans in their votes have sent the message that they want Congress to work on solutions in a bipartisan way.

Most have said risen to the challenge as indicated by the 335-91 vote in the House and 88-9 vote in the Senate.

Tennessee was the only state where both of its senators voted no.

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Tennessee (8 of 11), South Carolina (5 of 7) and Mississippi (3 of 4) were the only states where lopsided majorities of the state delegation in the House voted against funding the government.

Over the next 45 days, Congress will be working on a more sustainable measure to keep the government funded — which is its core responsibility. What will make the job harder is that the House on Tuesday ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy just for shepherding the effort to keep government funded. Burchett, R-Knoxville, and Cohen, D-Memphis, both voted against McCarthy.

While Congress sorts out this leadership vacuum and prepares for a more permanent and sustainable approach to government funding, Tennessee delegation members should each take a visit to The Hermitage and read Senator Alexander’s book to reflect on what it means to govern and serve the interests of ordinary Americans.

David Plazas is the director of opinion and engagement for the USA TODAY Network Tennessee. He is an editorial board member of The Tennessean. He hosts the Tennessee Voices videocast and curates the Tennessee Voices and Latino Tennessee Voices newsletters.. Call him at (615) 259-8063, email him at dplazas@tennessean.com or tweet to him at @davidplazas.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Shutdown vote showed Tennessee Congress members don't want to govern