The TBA today urged the Tennessee congressional delegation to back full funding for the federal judiciary when appropriations measures are taken up this fall. In letters authored by TBA President Cindy Wyrick and sent to each individual member of the delegation, the association points out that the effect of continued funding cuts at the “sequester” level will include slower processing of civil and bankruptcy cases, and diminished attention to constitutionally mandated representation of the criminally accused.

President Barack Obama has endorsed a bipartisan Senate effort Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker helped craft that seeks to strengthen America’s housing finance system and shield taxpayers from bearing the brunt of future economic meltdowns. Some five years after the mortgage crisis struck government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and required a $200 billion federal bailout, Obama said it’s time to reduce government’s risk in any future crisis. Corker told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that it gives him "hope that we actually deal with Fannie and Freddie before the political season begins this January and makes it very difficult for anything to occur.”

The U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation by a vote of 232-185 today to prevent the Internal Revenue Service from implementing any part of President Barack Obama’s health care law, WATE reports. Sponsor Rep. Tom Price, R-Georgia, said, "We simply want patients and families and doctors to be in charge of health care, not Washington, D.C., and not the IRS." Today's debate marked the 40th time the GOP-controlled House has voted to repeal all or part of the health care reform. Most of the measures have languished in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

The House sent President Barack Obama legislation that prevents interest rates in new federal student loans from doubling. The bill, which has been approved by the Senate, passed by a 392-31 vote yesterday evening in the House. According to the Memphis Business Journal, the bill allows federal student loan rates to be tied to the yield on 10-year Treasury notes. "This permanent, market-based plan ends the annual game of Congress playing politics with student loan interest rates at the expense of students planning their futures," said state Sen. Lamar Alexander.

While U.S. Sen. Bob Corker is no fan of President Obama’s health care reform, he does not support the latest effort by several Congressional Republicans including Marco Rubio, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz to oppose any spending bills that include money to support the law. "I think it's a silly effort, and what people are really saying who are behind that effort is, 'We don’t have the courage to roll up our sleeves and deal with real deficit reduction and spending decisions. We want to take ourselves out of the debate and act like we are being principled to the American people by saying if there is one dime of funding for Obamacare we are not going to vote for the (continuing resolution),"' Corker said Tuesday on MSNBC. The Memphis Business Journal has the story.

The Senate Judiciary Committee took a step forward on legislation to protect reporters and the news media from revealing their sources by agreeing to legislation sponsored by Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, a key supporter of a federal media shield law. The measure would codify many of the regulations proposed earlier this month by Attorney General Eric Holder. The panel approved it on a voice vote, although the lawmakers put off until September a broader debate over whether Congress defines who is a journalist, WATE reports.

Nashville Democrat Jim Cooper was Tennessee’s only congressman to vote against new restrictions on the National Security Agency’s collection of phone records and other sensitive data, Nashville Public Radio reports. Cooper justified his stance in favor of the NSA data collection programs, saying they’ve been ruled constitutional by every judge who’s reviewed them.

A Senate bill passed Wednesday would link interest rates on federal student loans to the financial markets, providing lower interest rates right away but higher ones if the economy improves and markets  rise. Undergraduates this fall would borrow at a 3.9 percent interest rate, graduate students at 5.4 percent and parents at 6.4 percent. The rates would be locked in for that year’s loan, but would recalibrate each year. Liberal members of the Democratic caucus were vocal in their opposition to the potentially shifting rates included in the Senate measure, which passed with support from both parties, 81-18. The Tennessean has the story.

Just one week after the Senate hashed out a compromise for approving seven of President Barack Obama's nominees to run government departments, agencies and boards, Republicans on Wednesday signaled their opposition to Obama's plan for filling vacancies on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, WRCBTV reports. Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, the top Republican on the committee, said law professor and former senior Justice Department official Cornelia "Nina" Pillard's nomination wasn't necessary because the D.C. circuit doesn't have enough work to justify filling its three vacancies. The D.C. circuit has 11 judgeships authorized by Congress. Republicans have proposed moving two of the vacant seats to other circuits with larger caseloads and eliminating the third seat altogether.

The House Financial Services Committee today approved the Protecting American Taxpayers and Homeowners Act, which will wind down Fannie May and Freddie Mac over five years and rely on the private sector to provide a secondary market for residential real estate mortgages. The committee approved the legislation on a party-line vote after working on the bill 11 hours yesterday. Democrats offered numerous amendments to the bill, but all were defeated. Republicans contend the legislation will increase competition in the mortgage market and give home buyers more choices on loan products. The Nashville Business Journal has more.