Tennessee’s Senator Support Cash For Clunkers Extension – Split on Sotomayor

Tennessee’s Republican Senators parted ways with most fellow party members yesterday and voted to extend the “Cash for Clunkers” program.

Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander were among only six Republican Senators to support the $2 billion boost approved by the House last week.

Most of Tennessee’s delegation supported the measure; only Brentwood Republican Marsha Blackburn voted against it.

The Senate’s action yesterday means the program will continue until Labor Day.

Most GOP members questioned the cost-effectiveness of the initiative, which replaces old gas guzzlers with more fuel-efficient cars.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate’s 68-31 confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor as the U.S. Supreme Court’s first Hispanic justice divided the two senators.

Alexander voted yes; Corker voted no.

Alexander took to the floor last week voicing his intention to support her saying she was “well qualified by experience, temperament, character and intellect.”

Corker was not convinced, issuing a statement saying that Sotomayor viewed the Supreme Court as “a policy-making body where laws are shaped based on the personal views of the justices.”

Sotomayor will be sworn in Saturday, August 8, 2009.