{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.alexander.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=6aa7cef9-46dd-41c6-bc80-055a44cc4447", "Alexander Accepts \u201cRestoring the Balance\u201d States\u2019 Rights Award", "2013-12-04", "2013", "2013-12", "Republican", "House", "TN", "Lamar Alexander", "A000360", "www.alexander.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Says states, local leaders should be left to make more decisions about taxes, education and other issues reserved to states under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution\r\n***\r\n\u201cNothing made me madder when I was governor of Tennessee than folks in Washington thinking they knew best \u2013 coming up with a bright idea and leaving the state to pay for it, or keeping us from making our own decisions about taxes or education.\u201d \u2013 Lamar Alexander\u00a0\r\n\r\nWASHINGTON, Dec. 4 \u2013 U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today spoke before the National Conference of State Legislatures and accepted its \u201cRestoring the Balance Award\u201d for standing up for the rights of states.\r\n\u201cNothing made me madder when I was governor of Tennessee than folks in Washington thinking they knew best \u2013 coming up with a bright idea and leaving the state to pay for it, or keeping us from making our own decisions about taxes or education,\u201d Alexander said. \u201cWe need to get the federal government out of the way and let governors, state legislators and local elected officials lead.\u201d\r\nThe \u201cRestoring the Balance Award\u201d is given to members of Congress who have worked successfully to advance and protect states\u2019 rights in United States\u2019 federal system of government. Examples of Alexander\u2019s work standing up for states\u2019 rights include the Marketplace Fairness Act \u2013 which would allow states to decide for themselves whether to require remote sellers such as online retailers to collect state sales taxes that are already owed on a sale \u2013 and his efforts to move decisions about whether schools and teachers are succeeding or failing back to states and local communities.\r\nOf the Marketplace Fairness Act, Alexander said: \u201cThe Marketplace Fairness Act is about two words: states\u2019 rights. I believe in the Tenth Amendment, and I don\u2019t think Tennessee or other states should have to play \u2018Mother, may I?\u2019 with the federal government to set their own tax policies.\u201d\r\nOf education reform, Alexander said: \u201cOver the last decade, the U.S. Department of Education has become so congested with federal mandates that it has become, in effect, a national school board. The best way to help 50 million children in 100,000 public schools learn what they need to know and be able to do is to return that responsibility squarely where it belongs\u2014on parents, teachers, communities and states.\u201d\r\nAlexander spoke at the National Conference of State Legislatures\u2019 fall forum, which included hundreds of state legislators, state staff and others from around the country.\r\nThe Marketplace Fairness Act passed the U.S. Senate by a vote of 69-27 on May 6, and has the support of conservative leaders like Al Cardenas, head of the American Conservative Union, Reagan economist Arthur Laffer and Republican governors from all over the country. Alexander has also introduced legislation to fix \u201cNo Child Left Behind\u201d by restoring local authority when Congress considers its reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.\r\n\u00a0# # #", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.alexander.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=6aa7cef9-46dd-41c6-bc80-055a44cc4447"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8472248446196318, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}