Watson: Tennessee needs to be sensitive to federal changes
The Tennessee General Assembly is beginning to look at the state budget and what is going on in Washington needs to be considered, the chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee said Monday. Chairman Bo Watson, R-Hixson, said as the budget process moves forward, lawmakers need to keep an eye on what’s happening on the federal level.
“This committee needs to be very sensitive to the changes in federal dollars that may or may not be coming into the state and in a number of budget hearings we are going to hear conversations about, ‘well we are going to have this money because we can match potential federal dollars,'” Watson said. “Well, with what all is going on in D.C. right now, whether those federal dollars are going to be there or not is at least open to conjecture at this point since we’ve seen a freeze on federal funding in a number of areas already.”