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TennCare could face drastic federal cuts
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NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee’s expanded Medicaid program would have to make $2.2 billion in cuts if Congress reduces the state’s federal funds by as much as 30 percent.Deep federal spending cuts are required under the recent debt-ceiling agreement in Congress.Tennessee Finance Commissioner Mark Emkes instructed state agency heads to submit two sets of plans: one for how they would cut 15 percent of federal aid, and another for reducing those funds by an additional 15 percent.Those plans were released Tuesday.TennCare Bureau spokeswoman Kelly Gunderson told The Associated Press the agency doesn’t want to see further reductions and that the budget cuts exercise is a “what-if scenario to make sure we’re prepared if there are substantial decreases from the federal government.”• • • • •NASHVILLE (AP) — An automotive supplier will open a new $23 million manufacturing plant and create 400 jobs in the next five years in Perry County, where the unemployment rate in recent years has reached nearly 30 percent, Gov. Bill Haslam announced Tuesday.The Republican governor and Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bill Hagerty said Michigan-based NYX Inc. is coming to Linden, Tenn. and will produce molded plastics for a wide variety of automotive manufacturers starting next year.The company also owns Bates, LLC, an existing automotive manufacturing facility in nearby Lobelville, Tenn.Perry County’s July unemployment rate was 14.7 percent, according to the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development. It was as high as 29.7 percent in January of 2009.Officials said NYX, which is expected to start accepting applications in November, has signed a 10-year lease for the 175,000-square-foot building in Linden.