From our state House studio in Montgomery.

I'm Todd Stacey.

Welcome to Capitol Journal.

It was a busy week in the Alabama Legislature, and contentious at times between the two parties and the two chambers.

Lawmakers met for the 22nd an 23rd legislative days, leaving just seven more meeting days remaining in this session.

We'll start our coverage in the Senate, which saw some pretty tense moments.

The Republican supermajorit exerted its influence to advance a series of conservative bills that drew sharp pushback from Democrats.

Disagreements ranged from local legislation affecting Birmingham to broader objections over the GOP's legislative agenda.

Capitol Journal's Jeff Sanders was in the Senate and has that story.

No, I always go back to the sponsor.

So, Senator Chambliss, you're recognized.

Thank you.

This is not about this.

This is the test or accountability bill.

This is not about the motion.

These things are not recognized under chapter six.

The children.

A heated exchange betwee Democratic Minority Leader Bobby Singleton and Lieutenant Governor Wil Ainsworth.

After Singleton was not recognized to speak on the Senate floor.

It came after Republicans moved to invoke cloture, cutting off debate on a series of bills not originally listed on the day's calendar.

A calendar that was agreed upon earlier in the day.

That was basically a calendar that we was all bipartisan and that we all thought, we can get out of here by 11 or 12:00 today.

And when they went int the meeting, they came back in with a whole different posture.

That updated calendar included several controversial bills Democrats opposed, including Senate Bill five, which would restructure the Alabama Department of Archive and History's governing board.

Make those appointments, not self appointments, where they may continue to appoint themselves or their friends, but rather appointments from other elected officials that are accountable to and, to the to th people of the state of Alabama.

Also on the list, Senate Bill 13, requiring the national anthem be played at the beginning of each school day.

For instance, a local board of education may adopt a polic allowing a during school hours for the performance of the first stanza of the of the Star-Spangled banner and, from sheet music.

It can go to the archive within the Library of Congress.

Senate Bill 142 would put into code Alabama's new voter database, known as Avid.

With the Avid system in plac and our partnership with Olio.

It gives us acces to 43 states around the country.

If someone moves from Alabama into that state and Senate Bill 158 would prohibit foreign national driver's licenses from being used as a valid form of voter ID.

We want to validate those individuals, who have who, who have gone through the process and are and are really, you know, able to vote.

And we don't want to confuse our poll workers that it causes problems or could cause problems in all 67 counties.

All of the bills passed and now head to the House.

But what stunned Democrat was how Republicans use cloture against their own members, ending debate before any Democrats were recognized to speak.

While that move slowed proceedings.

It likely avoided a much longer floor fight.

And, how there are actions and consequences on both sides of the aisle for when things don't go your particular way.

And we understand that.

And obviously I think you all saw that today.

This was another red meat package.

I think that Republicans being the simple majority, had the cloture themselves just to get them passed.

It's not exactly clear how that use of cloture may affect debate on the Senat floor behind me moving forward.

But we will find out when lawmakers retur to the capital city on Tuesday.

Reporting from the statehouse in Montgomery.

I'm Jeff Sanders for Capitol Journal.

Two other key bills passed the Senate this week.

They aim to protect children from inappropriate material on cell phones or tablets.

Senate Bill 186 from Senator Clyde Chambliss would require smartphone smartphone manufacturers like Apple or Samsung to enable a pornograph or other graphic content filter on any cell phone or tablet sold to children in Alabama.

Such filters already exist on phones, but are typically not activated at the point of sale.

And Senate Bill 18 would put tighter restrictions on App Store providers like Facebook and Instagram, including a requirement that they verify the age of users.

Yeah, 186 is a filter bill, and it, there is a filter on the on our phones currently, and it simply requires tha filter to be in the on position if the phone is in, enabled for a child.

The second bill is the app bill, for the App Store, and it requires age verification before you can download certain apps.

Texas, I' told, also passed the app bill 30 to 1 or something like that today or yesterday.

So, th the point is to try to make it consistent across the state and then hopefully when enough states adopt it, maybe Congress will will adopt it.

And, and we wouldn't hav a different law in every state.

Those bills now go to the House.

It was final passag this week for a bill to provide Alabama's teachers with workers compensation coverage.

Senate Bill one from State Senator Sam Gauvin, received final passage on Tuesday and is no headed to the governor's desk.

I just want to thank everyone for their help on this bill.

This is an important bill.

I don't know how many people, when I've talked about this, and they're like, why do you have this bill?

And I like our teachers and our education employees don't have workers compensation insurance coverage.

And everybody's just incredulous.

I can't believe tha they don't have this coverage.

And so I appreciate everybody in the House and the Senate worked with me on this.

Look forward to, hopefully to seeing the governor sign this very soon.

And I just want to thank everybody for this is an important, step forward for our teachers.

And one of the most high profile bills of the session so far is now law.

Governor Ka Ivey has signed Senate Bill 252 from Senator Billy Beasley and sponsored in the House by Representative Phillip Rigsby.

The new law requires pharmacy benefit managers to pay pharmacies more for the drugs they sell, including a $10 and 64 cent dispensing fee, the same as Medicaid reimbursement.

Pharmacists across the state say unfair reimbursement practices from these PBMs are putting hometown pharmacies out of business, and that this regulation is needed to stay afloat.

Many in the business community had opposed the bill, saying it would raise health care costs for businesses and consumers, but several amendments were added along the way to address some of those concerns on to the House, which saw its share of pointed debate this week as well.

But not everything was controversial.

The House passed legislation to create a shark attack alert system along the Gulf Coast.

House Bill 437 is named for Lulu Gribbin, the mountain Brook teenager who was attacked by a shark last year, losing a leg and part of her arm.

Lulu has turned her trauma into advocacy and has lobbied for better shark safety measures at the state and federal levels.

Lawmakers today this week rather paus to honor Lulu and hear from US Senator Katie Britt, who is championin similar legislation in Congress.

So it is trul an honor to be here with you all today for the passage of, House Bill 437.

And I want to thank Representative Faulkner for all of the work, for your leadership, for spearheading this, to make this a reality.

But it's certainly a privilege to be here, to speak directly to Lou Lee's, who have you have united this state behind a cause in a way that very few people can.

You have taken what, is the unimaginable and shown us how the Lord can turn that into action to save other people's lives.

Your bravery, your resiliency, has not only inspired people in this state, but all across the nation.

I have United States senators coming up to me and asking if they can get on with Louisville, and can they please be the lea on the other side of the aisle?

It's a really incredible moment to see someone like you stand so tall, so brave, and say with grit and resiliency and grace, I'm going to make things better for other people.

So thank you for what you'v taught each and every one of us.

It's an honor to carry Lulu' law in the United States Senate.

We're going to work diligentl to get it across the finish line this year, making sure that beachgoers have the information that they need to keep their families safe.

And just on behalf of al the members of the United States Senate we are so proud of your story.

And the wa that you have conducted yourself and inspired people from coast to coast.

We love you and keep going.

This bill allows us to fight fo the safety of our environment.

Only 90 minutes before my accident, another shark attack occurred a few miles down the beach.

This bill will allow us to help future accidents and future shark attacks.

I would like to thank everyone for your support on this bill and I am so grateful.

I would especially like to thank the speaker of the House, Mr. David Faulkner and Katie Britt.

Thank you so much.

This bill means so much to me.

Capital journal' Randy Scott was in that crowded House chamber during that special moment.

Here's his story on the busy and sometimes tense week in the House of Representatives.

Lawmakers got some inspiration to start their work week on a good note.

The state took some tim to honor a man who's had success on the football field and in the classroom.

The House, along with the Alabama High School Athletic Association, honors former Blunt High School head football coach and teacher Ben Harris for his efforts that taught him to blend at school.

I had no idea that I would be getting award like this just for doing something that you love.

I love helping kids.

Still doing it?

Dude, I just I'm just excited about it.

Anytime you can use education based athletics to impact a student's life I think it has a major impact.

A lot of times, you know, the winning and losing, unfortunately in support of athletics.

But a lot of times for some issues we take for granted the impact that athletics has on our student athletes.

The House also feature the passage of House Bill 437, dubbed the Lulu Gribbin.

Bill, named after the shark attack victim from mountain Brook.

It seeks to set up a shar warning system along the coast.

Lulu, I just want you to know, I just got a call from the.

What is going to be the speaker of the House for Florida.

And Sam is a graduate of Samford here in Alabama.

And, they're going to try to pass this bill in Florida.

And we will be sending him a copy of this.

Sam, I'm going to put you on speaker phone and we'll let you talk to Lulu.

Tell her hello.

Hello?

Other Bill's made it to the House floor for debate and created tension for lawmakers.

House Bill 247 proposes changing the name of a Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

As we all know, our president, signed an executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America in January.

And this would make it, into law and our for our state purposes that we would recognize this and rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, changing it to the Gulf of America, changing its or whatever.

Later on down the line, this body, your grandkids, your great, great great grandkids.

Gonna pull up the information and somebody somebody's grandkids.

Great great grandkids.

Gonna be ashamed, gonna feel bad and want to separate themselves from that family lineage based on what it is that we do inside this house.

House Bill 247 is approved at the Alabama State House.

Randy Scott, Capitol Journal.

Another key bill passing the House this week was House Bill seven from Stat Representative Ernie Yarbrough, known as the Lake and Riley Act.

The bill would allow the state and local law enforcement to enter into agreements with federal authorities to help enforce existing immigration laws.

Yarbrough said it would complement the federal law of the same name, sponsored by US Senator Katy Britt and signed into law by President Trump earlier this year.

As you know, like and Riley was an amazing young woman from Georgia who lost her life tragically and senselessly and needlessly.

And so that's how that this, this bill or legislation first came to my attention was that it passed out of Georgia last year.

So I actually had filed our filed it before Senator Wright's bill, and it worked out to be a great complement to hers.

And so I'm excited and hopeful because it allow the grassroots, law enforcement who know our communities to understand where the problems are and the crimes, to, to protect our community, you know and make common sense decisions that because a lot of these times where these these crimes have escalated to violent crimes, they've have been, petty crimes and proceeded that we could have stopped if this had been in place.

and other notable bills.

Passing the house this week include House Bill 178 from State Representative Mark Gidley, which would require public schools and community college to display the Ten Commandments.

House Bill 67 from State Representative Scott Stafford Hagan, would prohibit public schools or librarie from hosting drag performances.

House Bill 244 from State Representative Mac Butler would prohibit public school teachers from discussing gender identity or displaying gender, gender ideological materials in the classroom, and House Bill 165 from State Representative Rick Rein, which would establish Juneteenth as an official state holiday.

All those bills now go to the Senate.

A lot also happened off the floor in committee this week.

We'll start in the Senat Banking and Insurance Committee, which is considering the proposal that would allow Alabama Farmers Federation to offer health benefit plans to its members.

House Bill 477 from State Representative David Faulkner passed overwhelming Lee in the House last week and was the subject of another public hearing this week.

Supporters argue it could ease the burden of high health care costs facing farm families.

But critics, including Blue Cross and Blue Shiel and the American Cancer Society, warn that the plans would lack regulatory oversight.

Raising red flags about consumer protections, lawmakers heard from both sides.

98 yes votes and technically zero no votes out of 103 House members.

The House of Representatives also soundly rejected and took out an amendment to require the Alabama Department of Insurance to have bargained enforcement by vote of 74 to 15.

I ask you to resist any further changes to this legislation.

One of the biggest burdens that young farm families have is health insurance.

Like the representative just talked about.

You're paying almost two hous mortgages for health insurance.

If you're a farm famil and you're out there trying to to make a living and a lot of cases someone on that farm, a husband or wife has to go and find employment somewhere else just to to supplement for the health care.

Unfortunately, this health insurance, but again, that's what this is, is now going to have to follow any of the rules or the laws that every other health insurance has to follow, either under the state or the federal law.

But you all have seen this, and Mr. Farme referenced it in his testimony.

This is what led us to the things that were put in the bill that Alpha is saying they're required to do, but what they leave out is that there's no entity that can actually make them do any of these things.

This is purely an advisory set of rules.

Nobody can tell them they must comply.

No vote was taken on that bill.

That is expected when the committee meets again on Tuesday.

The Joint Prison Oversight Committee met this week and advanced legislation overhauling the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles.

Senate Bill 324 from State Senator Clyde Chambliss would expand the board from 3 to 5.

Members, require Senate confirmation before appointees can serve, and shift the power to select the board chair from the governor to the board itself.

The proposal stems from concerns raised by the committee, which Chambliss chairs.

He said the changes are needed after the board failed to provide direct answers during a public hearing, essentially stonewalling lawmakers in their oversight role.

The bill also set new guidelines for when inmates can be reconsidered for parole if their requests are denied.

Here's what Chambliss and other senators had to say during the debate.

Well, the answer to the question is the Board of Pardons and Paroles can change the guidelines.

Not only can they, they shall, every three years review and change, update whatever.

Well, they're years overdue at this point.

So it starts getting deeper at this point because not only did they not answer my question, I felt like they misled the committee.

They knew that they were supposed to do it.

They knew they were years behind, but they wanted to act like they didn't know.

Well, we as an oversight role, need to be given direct answer to our questions.

It's very, very frustrating when you're sitting there trying to talk to a board chair in others who was almost being mean spirited, and being just not wanting to answer questions.

And, and you're sitting here with oversight capacity to, to get those answers.

So I think that we have to do something.

I 100% agree with the fact that there needs to be more accountability and better communication with oversight committees.

I 100% agree with you on that.

There are a few things in this bill that concern me because I think that there are some things, the way that it's written that perhaps might be a vehicle to get a more lenient board.

And that part I don't support more movement this week on a bill to regulate hemp derived products, but its final form may still change.

House Bill 445 from State Representative Andy Will passed the House with bipartisan suppor and was approved by the Senate.

Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Committee this week.

The legislation would authorize the Alcohol Beverage Control Board to license and regulate the sale of consumable hemp products, and restrict access for those under 21.

Lawmakers indicated plans to merge this bill with other similar bills.

However, some hemp industry advocates argue that the measure goes too far and could put some out of business.

Got some work to do on it and the senators have some concerns.

But I think it's going to make our bill stronger.

From the comments and things that we've heard.

So I'm looking forward to working with the Senate and getting this passed.

Do away with all the inhalabl vapes and things of that nature.

Let ABC regulate it.

We think we're in a good spot.

And the ideas that I heard toda and the discussions we've had, Senator, is very positive for us.

So I'm looking for passage this this session.

And we're goin to protect our kids in Alabama.

Hundreds, if not over a thousand retail locations, that, sell these products responsibly.

And, I think they're kind of maybe trying to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

And, we respect the guardrail attempt.

We've we in in to hav responsible legislative action.

We're just concerned tha maybe some of the good won't be emphasized enough.

The House Education Policy Committee had another active week.

Lawmakers considered legislatio regarding high school students who are ready to start their college careers early.

Senate Bill 196 from Senator Arthur, or would allow qualifyin high school juniors and seniors to enroll full tim at eligible community colleges.

It's dubbed the ready to Move On when ready, act.

It's an important bill, but for a very I think what's important for the committee, a very small subset of students and that small subset subset of students are not your dual and rollers who are peopl who want to stay in high school, they want to do sports or things, but they want to go ahead and get some college credit, get going, with knocking some of those out, have, test run, if you will, in the college experience but not leave high school.

This is for a group of students, 11th or 12th graders.

If they are ready to move on, then we allow them to move o to higher education, to college.

But they don't have a high school diploma.

They're only through the 10th grade or only through the 11th grade.

They haven't done enough, don't have enough credits in the high school world to graduate from high school.

So the bill would allow them to move on and basically cut all ties with more or less with high school.

So no athletics now coming back for the prom and all that.

They're there.

They're going, but when they finish, whether 11th or 12th grade, enough get enough credits that can report back to high school.

They can, participate in the graduation ceremonies, but they go ahead and start their, college career, if you will.

As an 11th or 12th grader, beginning to to really rack up those college credits that will report back that bill was approved by the committe and now goes to the full House.

The committee also considered House Bill 231 from State Representative Reed Ingram, which would require schools to publicly recite the Pledge of Allegiance each day and provide public space for prayer before the start of each day.

Ingram says it's about buildin civic engagement and character, though some have constitutiona concerns about the prayer part.

What we've done is put a couple of different layers in here.

We've took out the Christianity to where if somebody had a different belief, it would be any of their religion.

And, I'm a Christian and, have been and always will be.

But I do, you know, respect other religions as well too.

And other people come into this country with different beliefs and, an that's their right and opinion.

Another thing that we've done on this would be to where it would have to be approved by it would be okay to start with.

So, the next thing it would have to be approved by the school board, and, they would have to take a vote on it within 90 days after after it goes into, into law after the CAA.

And then the next thing is is no praying in the classroom.

It's a prayer would could go on during the it has to go before the school or after school time.

So, they would have a room that they could pray in at the school, whatever the school board decided for them to do.

Also, it would be to where the have to have a parent consent.

So anybody in that room that is studying would have to have a parent consent.

And a lot of times, you know, we provide meals for kids because they don't have meals at home and we don't have time to pray.

A lot of the parents don't because they work seven days a week.

So this would give them time to where they can study, just like they get a meal at school.

They could study before class or they could study after class.

That bill was approve and now goes to the full House.

There were other notable bill moving in committee this week, especially on the education front.

That includes Senat Bill 92 from state Senator Donny Chastain banning the use of cell phones in schools.

It's now ready for potential final passage on the House floor.

House Bill 246 from State Representative Scott Stafford Hagan would establish legal immunity for schools that choose not to use preferred pronouns.

It's also on its way to the full house.

House Bill 61 from State Representative Susan DuBose advanced through a Senate committee.

It would allow homeschoolers to take advantage of career tech education courses at public schools.

It's not ready for the Senate floor, and the Senate Educatio Policy Committee also advanced.

Senate Bill 278 from state Senator Shay Shell Nut.

It would require local school boards to set policies for allowing high school students to leave campus to atten religious instruction courses.

This is the Senate version of a House bill that failed to advance through committee last week.

Since then, Lieutenant Governor Will Ainsworth has gotten behind the plan, and it's not on the education front, but still very significan legislation related to alcohol.

House Bill 521 and Senate Bill 268 would allow so-called ready to drink cocktail beverages to be sold alongside beer and wine in grocery and convenience stores.

Right now, you can only ge those products in liquor stores.

Both tourism committees approve those bills, so they now go to their respective chambers.

State Representative Corey Harbinson officially resigne from the legislature this week.

The lawmaker from good Hope had indicated throughout the session that he may not continue to serve in the legislature du to family obligations back home.

He made it official this week in a letter to House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter.

No word yet from Governor Ivey on when a special election to fill that seat might be called.

Turning now to Washington, where some Alabama officials were this week stressing the need for federal funding as the Trump administration and Congress consider further cuts, state health and education leaders were on Capitol Hill explaining how further cut could devastate their programs.

Capital Journals Alex Engle reports from Washington.

In a packed committee room, a North Alabama Head Start leader explaine how the federally funded program that provides early childhoo education to vulnerable families serves more than 750,000 families nationwide, including 1600 kids in North Alabama.

Head start is a lifeline for families seeking to achieve the American dream.

Just days after Jennifer Carroll with Community Action Partnership North Alabama appeared before Congressman Robert Aderholt.

Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services in Education.

A report came out that funding for the progra could be on the chopping block.

Carroll appeare as one of the public witnesses pushing for federal dollars for fiscal year 2026.

Without those federal dollars, she says, communities lose economic stability.

With your continued support, we can ensure every child, every child has a strong head start and every parent has a positiv pathway forward, Alabama state health officer doctor Scott Harris also appeared in front of the Appropriations Committee.

He says the Alabama Department of Public Health gets about 70% of its funding from federal sources in my state.

Without these federal dollars, over half a million children would not have access to routine vaccinations.

And this is at a time when we are seeing outbreaks and deaths from diseases like measles, Harris warned about the impact of recently losing CDC grants overnight, about $190 million for the state's health department work cut.

The money was allocated for Covid 19 and to treat other disease outbreaks.

They were approved to be used for many other things such as measles testing, bioterrorism threat preparedness, protecting communities supporting our local hospitals.

The abrupt loss of those funds will stop essential work.

Harris says his team plan for the grants to end in about 15 months, not overnight.

Now, the department has to find new ways to fund programs that help track data from hospitals on outbreaks and provide infection control training.

Aderholt chairs the subcommittee and says Congress will try and protect important programs, while the top Democrat on the subcommittee says she is troubled by the funding cuts and freeze under the Trump administration.

The hearing marked the beginning stages of the appropriations process for the next year.

Reporting on Capitol Hill Alex Engle Capitol Journal Also this week, a key report related to Space Command was released.

You may remember that back in 2021, under President Donald Trump's first term, the US Air Force named Redstone Arsenal and Huntsville as the preferred location for U.S. Space Command, which had been temporarily based in Colorado Springs.

As the Pentago searched for a permanent home.

Two years later, President Joe Biden reversed that decision, saying the headquarters would remain in Colorado.

That sparked outrage from Alabama's members of Congress, who said the decision reeked of politic and demanded an investigation.

That investigation, conducted by a Department of Defense inspector general, was reported out on Monday.

The report was heavily redacted as these things with classified information tend to be.

But we did learn some key details.

The report confirmed that Huntsville's Redstone Arsenal was the Air Force's preferred location for Space Command, based on its own scoring.

Investigators could not determine why that decision was no formally announced back in 2021.

It's important to note that neither former Air Force secretary Frank Kendall or former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin were interviewed by the Inspector general.

The white House counsel's office required that lawyers be present for those interviews, citing executive privilege.

So the IG chose not to compl with those demands, as it could have restricted its access to confidential information.

Most of the members of Alabama's congressional delegation had reactions about that report this week, including Congressman Mike Rogers, who chairs the House Armed Services Committee.

He actually asked for the investigation to begi with, and said the report shows how politics motivated the White House's decision.

Rogers said, quote, the inspector general's report confirms that the Trump administration was correct in selecting Huntsville as the site for space.

Com headquarters and reveals an astounding lack of transparency and accountability by the Biden administration.

After years of promises about due diligence and careful consideration.

Political employees at the white House cut out the Air Force and senior defense leaders to select Colorado over Alabama as the site for space.

Com headquarters and quot delegation members are confident Space Command will eventually land in Huntsville and a decision is expected once the Senate confirms the new Air force secretary.

I'll be speaking with Congressman Shamari figures more about this issue later in the show.

This week, the Energy Institute of Alabama celebrated Lineman Appreciation Day to recognize Alabama's powerline workers for all they do to ensure reliable electric service across the state line workers were recognized from Alabama Power, Alabama Rural Electric Authority, Energy, Southeast Electric cities of Alabama Power South, and the Tennessee Valley Authority.

I know firsthand what that means when it thunder or when when the lights flicker, because there were many many times that my grandmother waited on him for a mea and he missed a lot of things.

And I know that each of you have so many sacrifices that you miss in your daily lives with your family to take care of us and the things that you do when we are all in our beds, all cozy, and we're saying more and more, our refrigerators stay in all our internets.

Still, y'all are out there and it's not a good time for you.

And I just want you to know how much I appreciate you, how much I appreciate your sacrifices.

And on behalf of the Alabama Legislature and the people of the state of Alabama, I just want to say thank you.

If peopl don't have electrical service, we are not really able to help them.

And what we do is meteorologist I've never looked at it as a job.

It's a career, it's a calling, it's passion and an Alabama.

The accessing weather information can be a life or death thing.

When they see those trucks pull up and they see that power company logo on it, you are inspiring them.

You are telling them there are people looking out for you.

This is going to be all right.

We're the first line of normalcy after a storm got started to get somebody back to.

They lose everything, but they want to be able to charge your phone to call their family, their loved ones.

And that's just a sense of pride that we all take to to come in.

I mean, we leave home our lights are out, kids crying.

Want to know when you're coming home?

And I had to go.

Do I have to go help?

I have to go serve the community to get their life back.

Normal.

Coming up after the break, Congressman Shamari figures joins me to talk about his first 100 days in Congress and the many issues facing the delegation.

Stay with us.

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Tuscumbia native Helen Keller is popularly remembered as the deaf and blind child who learned sign language from her teacher and Sullivan at the Keller home.

Ivy Green.

But during her adult life, she was a tireless activist on behalf of workers and women's rights.

A prolific author and an unofficial U.S. ambassador to the world, he most famous publication is her bestselling 1903 autobiography, The Story of My Life.

Through her work with the American Foundation for the blind, Keller advocated for broadened educational and employmen possibilities for blind people, and the State Departmen funded her international travel and advocacy of people with disabilities.

In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson awarded her the Congressional Medal of Freedom.

A bronze statue depicting a young Helen Kelle represents Alabama in the U.S. Capitol, and she is featured on our State Quarter.

You're watching Alabama Public Television celebrating 70 years of service to Alabama.

Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Joining me next is Congressman Shamari figures representing Alabama's second district.

Congressman welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Hey.

Glad to be back, man.

It's always good to see you.

Good to be back in the state.

I know y'all have had a very busy start.

To this Congress.

I mean, really extraordinarily busy.

And at least you don't have to do confirmations like the Senate is having to go through.

But I want to talk to you about that.

Your first 100 days as a congressma representing Alabama in general.

Has it gone?

What have you learned an what have you enjoyed the most?

Yeah, I look, I every day being up there as a blessing, to have the opportunity to be there, to have a seat at the table, to try to influenc things that are going to impact the lives of people back home, is always something that we can't lose sight of, that opportunity that we hav to be there to try to do good.

And so, over the course of the first 100 days, a lot has been going on a lot of things that have, you know, a lot of room, oxygen in the room has been sucked up by actions that the administration is making.

But we keep, we keep Alabama first.

We keep district two first.

And so I made a commitment during the campaign that, doing everythin that we could to expand Medicaid in the state of Alabam was the top priority going in.

And so the first piece o legislation that we signed onto was a bill that would, allow counties and cities here in the state of Alabama to be able to bypass the sort of states resistance to expanding Medicaid and receive those funds directly.

Probably won't go anywhere at this Congress.

But we're certainly, continuing to push that issue, working on rural hospitals, dropping a bill, coming up, a bipartisan piece of legislation to create a grant program for rural hospitals to be able to use funding for operational costs to free up some of, their financial bandwidth to be able to stabilize themselves in the communities that we're seeing, too often lose, lose hospitals and lose healthcare access.

And so, we're keeping that, first and foremost, as well as, you know, walking into and gum at the same time with a number of other issues here.

Yeah.

And I want to get to a lot of issues, but you mentioned Medicaid and there's there's some activity on that right now because, okay, the the Congress has passed its budget resolution.

Right.

So and not to complicate things but that's sort of the engine.

That's the that's the the blueprint for enacting the Trump legislative agenda.

Right.

Correct.

But you're starting to hear some hesitation among some Republicans about specifically the cuts.

Right.

You got the tax cuts and all of that, but you've got a lot of spending cuts that are called for in this budget resolution.

With that, such a sli majority in the House, do you?

What are you hearing on that?

Is there a possibility that we won't see the draconian cut that were originally proposed?

You know, I certainly hope that we don't see, crazy cuts, especially to programs like Medicaid.

Too many people rely on it.

Here in the state of Alabama, we have one of the highest enrollment rates in the in the nation in terms of Medicaid recipients in the state.

I believe we're north of 30% of people here in the state of Alabama.

But also more importantly with Medicaid, here is we have hospitals across rural Alabama, down in Crenshaw County and Butler County and connect county in other counties across this district that if you make cuts t Medicaid, they will lose access to some of the more consisten funding sources that they have.

And those hospitals, which are already, in many cases, month to month, literally, from being able to close, from being forced to close.

We push them over the edge and we will likely lose more hospitals and more health care providers and access in this district.

So we're going to b pushing back against Medicaid.

I don't know how Republicans can make it work.

The numbers that they have to achieve under this, reconciliation move that they're going to do for this without touching Medicaid.

But we have to continue to stand up for Medicaid, and we're going to do that every single day.

Maybe that's one reason why you're starting to hear some hesitation, because everybody's got a rural hospital.

Lot of Republicans have rural hospitals in their districts, too.

Let's keep on that theme of cuts, because I think, well, there's lots that the Trump administration is making the news every day.

But really at the beginning it was this Doge thing.

Department of Government Efficiency.

And look, everybody in theory likes to eliminate waste and fraud and abuse and all that kind of stuff.

But there were some cuts, that really impacted Alabama that maybe got paused once it was brought up, the true impact of it.

How would yo what is your role been in this?

Because I know that you all have been kind of alerting everybody when some of these cuts come out.

Those some to UAB.

I think there were some her in the second district as well.

Talk about your role in, you know, calling some of these things out and hopefully getting them paused or reversed.

Yeah.

We are seeing, a number of cut that are hitting us specifically here in the, in the Alabama area in way that are different than other, some other states are saying and, you know, that started with us, with, as you mentioned, the, the cuts that we, that we're seeing to, programs like Snap benefits, we know that those are going to be some huge cuts that come down the pipe as part of this budget resolution, where we're in a state with about 1 in 5 households receive those benefits.

And so that's something else that will continue to have to stand up against, we saw $60 million already cu from direct payments to farmers here in the state of Alabama.

That group that grow food to provide in school lunches, school lunches, direct payments to farmers.

Right.

Gone.

Right.

We've seen it.

We've seen several grant awards here throughout the state of Alabama that, communities no longer know if they're receiving that funding.

Funding that has already bee awarded, already been announced.

Well this administration has sought, you know, saw it fit to just hit pause and say, no, we're not doing that.

We've seen several job cuts, here in the state of Alabama from federal employees, particularly in Social Security Administration, which is going to make it tougher for people to be able to resolve issues that they have with their benefits or even sign up with their benefits.

We've seen some Social Security offices closed here in the state of Alabama.

So these are cuts that we're seeing, even the spending aid to Ukraine, the spending that we're doing the Ukraine Pike County benefits the most from any other count in the United States of America.

From that aid, because of the Lockheed Martin facility that's there in Pike County, something that they scaled up to be able, to help.

So like the Ukraine spending was not checks we were sending to Ukraine.

It was actually funding for purchasing American made, weaponry to send over to Ukraine for the to use in defending themselves.

And so these decision don't come without consequences.

They don't come without hitting real people in real ways directly here locally.

And we're seeing it, we call it out as we see it, and we do our best to try to work with the administration to reverse it.

And in some cases we've we've, we've had some success.

And I get, you know a lot of Republicans would say, look there is waste, there is you know, too much spending.

And let's say a lot of these cuts are pandemic funds and there's no pandemic anymore.

So how do you respond to and and on the Ukraine front, I think Republicans would argue that's what voters voted for.

They knew Trum was not going to continue that.

So how would you respond to those arguments that Republicans might make supporting these cuts?

Look, I think, you know, we have a system in the United States.

We have people at every single agency that are responsible for monitoring waste, fraud and abuse every single day.

They're called inspectors general.

We have them at every single agency.

Donald Trump came right in and fired 17 of them.

The vast majority of them at every single agency.

The people that do that work of guarding against it.

The other piece I'd say is, I think those arguments about cutting spending would actually carry a lot more weight.

If we weren't at the same time saying that we're cutting with our left hand while pushing a budget that's going to add over $4 trillion to the national deficit with our right hand, tax cuts through the tax cuts, right.

Funding, you know, all of these cuts that are being made and being proposed are ultimately being used to fund tax cut for the wealthiest of Americans.

And I tell people, we're not even talking regular rich people, right?

We're not talking about peopl who make, you know, six figures.

We're talking about people who make several million dollars a year.

We're about to provide them one of the massive, one of the largest tax break that this country has ever seen.

All while, at the risk of cutting Medicaid benefits, all while at the risk of cutting Snap benefits to the people that need it the most.

And we're in a we're in a state where we can't afford, we simply cannot afford to supplement that sort of, loss in federal revenue.

With our state budgets, we simply can.

So it's going to lead to detrimental outcomes here in this district.

Let me switch gears and talk about tariffs.

That's been the buzz word for the last two weeks, ever since Trump implemented his, Liberation Day tariffs.

So, I mean, nobody has a magic ball.

Nobody truly understands.

I mean, I think what's in the president said, but what are you all hearing?

Because obviously it has, aggressively disrupted the economy, you know, institute tariffs, take them back, pause them all that kind of stuff.

What are y'all hearing in D.C. in terms of what the endgame is here?

Are we going to have these tariffs for the long term, or is it a negotiating tactic where the president gets a better trade, deals with stuff?

What are y'all hearing from the inside in Congress?

Look, I think, you know, one of the major points of concern with this administration is none of their actions seem to be driven by an endgame.

They seem to be shooting from the hip with a lot of things, with no plan, with no forethought, with no, thought through the impacts of it, or even a plan for implementation, in many cases.

And so with the tariffs, you know we're hearing from both sides, I've had conversations wit both Republicans and Democrats, that are concerne about a broad swath of tariffs against basically every country in the world.

You know, including our allies.

I'm a big fan of, of a, very aggressive trade polic with China, for obvious reasons.

But when we look at our counterparts, when we look at our allies, when we look at Canada, we look at Mexico, we look at European partners.

It is not wise to do what we're doing.

And we don't have the capacity here in America to win a trade war.

You know, China will be able to ramp up manufacturing to offset, you know, anything that that's going to cost them more, to import.

We don't have that luxury here in the United States.

Too much of our economy is dependent on importing goods from other countries.

Too much of Alabama's economy our auto industry imports parts from other countries, which means it's going to cost more mone for them to import those goods, more money to manufacture the cars, meaning they're going to have to sell the cars at a higher rate because you and I and every other constituent in this country, that's who will pay these tariffs, that's who's going to pay for China.

It's not going to pay for them.

Right.

The consumer will pay for them because the prices will be jacked up, which means we're going to be selling fewer cars that are produced at our Hyundai plants and our, Mercedes plants and Toyota's, which means that you're going to need fewer workers to do it.

So there's a trickle dow effect here that I don't think, you know, this administration is thinking through how this is going to impact us locally.

I mean, Donald Trump told us years ago that he was going to build a wall and Mexico was going to pa for it, primarily through tears.

That didn't work out right.

It didn't work out because all those companies would do was just raise the prices t what they're sending to America.

And it's just it's just not a, not a very clear, thought out plan.

That's why we're watching it very closely.

Well, let me ask you about that because it kind of ties everything together.

Is everything kind of a matter of degrees because, you know, think about the immigration front.

Right?

I think a lot of people were, were supportive of Trump cracking down on immigration, especially the violent gangs, criminals that gan trafficking, that kind of thing.

But it's a matter of degrees to go too far and violate due process, right?

The pendulum swings too far.

The I you know, I think a lot of people, a lot of his, you know, voters said, yeah, we're going we've gone too fa on some of this Dei work stuff.

But then you go too far and really, you know, cancel the Tuskegee Airmen and stuff like that.

So it's a matter of degree.

Same thing with the economy.

Yes.

Fix the economy but maybe we don't want to go.

Yeah, we do need better trade deals but no tariffs on the whole world.

So as part of that, just kind o the pendulum swinging too far.

And is that maybe a lesson for both parties of man.

Just really stick to what matters.

And when you go too far you can have some negative consequences.

I think this is something that's unique to this particular president.

Most presidents operate within a, within a, most of its history, and most administrations operate within a sort of middle area, because that's where most of America is, and not going so far and leaving things, you know, up to, decisions being made by people who are on the far end of the spectrum, because that's how you end up with a situation like the Tuskegee Airmen being pulled out of training material, Jackie Robinso being pulled out, the airplane, the Enola Gay that dropped the atomic bomb being pulled off the defense website because it has the word gay in it.

That's how you end up in that space when you have these reckless decisions that are not well thought out that are not being implemented, that have been implemented, quite frankly, by people who are not experienced in what they are doing.

The United States government is, is, is a is a very big operation.

We know this, but it's also an operatio that facilitates local economies in a very big way.

Snap benefits are not just about using that for an example.

They're not just about th people receiving the benefits.

All of that money has to be spent and it's spent in those local stores, right?

That that provide those local jobs.

And so we just have to have a, leadership in this country that is thinking through the policies that they are attempting to implement.

Because regardless of how you feel about, the cuts, I think we can all agree that it's a better way to do it than what we've seen done.

Well, I wante to ask you about Space Command because the inspector general report came out earlier this week basically about the, the last decision.

Right.

Because go back to 2021.

It's on the list for, you know Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville to be the headquarters of Space Command.

Biden administration reverses that decision.

Looks like the Trump administration is going to reverse it again.

And hopefully look at it in Huntsville.

What what is your conversation been like with your delegation colleagues about I mean, sounds I've heard Tuberville talk about it.

I've heard, Chairman Roger talk about it, about pretty bold comments about, hey, it's coming.

What are you hearing?

On Space Command?

I'm.

I'm hearing that it's coming.

I'm also hearing a collective sense of, unity within the entire, Alabama congressional and senatorial delegation, that we're all supportive of it coming.

I never should have not been coming.

It's been through multiple processes that were independent, free from political pressure, that said that Huntsville was the best location for it.

And at the end of the day, something that's good for Huntsville is good for the state of Alabama and something that we all need to be supporting.

So I'm hoping that we can get this behind us as soon as possible and get, get vertical, as Dale strong says.

That's right.

I found that interesting.

Huntsville.

Well, and maybe this is an example because you all talk about it all the time about how the Alabama delegation really does work together on, on issues like that that is so big for the entire state.

We were just upstairs with.

And Senator Brett, you ran into Senator Britt in the hallway.

Obviously have a good relationship.

Is that a reminder of how y'all really do work across the aisle together on things that matter for Alabama?

Look, I think you have to at the end of the day, all of us were sent up there not to represent the entire United States of America.

We were all sent up there to represent people in the state of Alabama.

And at the congressional level.

You specifically sent up there to represent, the people in your district.

You cannot lose sight o the reason you go to Congress.

The reason that people sent you there is to take care of the people back home, to improve the life outcomes, to work on the issues that matter the most, that are impacting people the most in your communities.

I think collectively we understand that.

And we've, since I've been up there, we've had our, each other's backs on things that relate to Alabama.

We've seen a very, you know, some very nuanced things that have happened that impact Alabama, very specifically, indirectly.

And we've been able to reach out to Senator Byrd in some of those cases and other members of the delegation, to try to you know, right those wrongs and, you know, and everybody's always been receptive.

And we have good cordial relationships.

And putting Alabama first is the thing that we're all committed to doing.

And that's what we do every day.

Well, congratulations on your first 100 days.

Good luck.

The rest of the Congress also at the Trojans before.

But thank you for being so accessible to Alex Angle, our reporter in DC.

Doing a great job up there.

And I really appreciate y'all being so responsive to her.

So, best of luck for the rest of the Congress.

Thank you man, I appreciate it.

We love Alex, man.

Thank you.

We'll be right back.

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Joe Cain is regarded as the founder of Mobile's modern day Mardi Gras celebration.

In 1868, some say in defiance of the Union occupation that of mobile, Joe Kane and six others paraded through downtow in a decorated charcoal wagon.

Cain was dressed as fictional Chickasaw chieftain Flaca Bam Renee Cole along the route, Cain or the chief symbolically declared an end to mobile suffering and signaled the return of the city's parading activities.

Joe Kane Day, also know as the People's Parade, occurs on the Sunday before Fat Tuesday.

It has becom a cherished tradition in mobile since the first procession in 1967.

Joe Kane is buried in the Church Street graveyard in downtown mobile.

His granite tombstone, incised with the image of a jester, reads here lies old Joe King, the heart and soul of Mardi Gras in Mobile.

Before we go, Governor Kay Ivey released an Easter message to Alabama this week.

Here's what she had to say.

Happy Easter, Alabama.

As we welcome the beautiful seeds of the spring, we also celebrate the most important moment in our faith the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

First Peter chapter one verse three reads, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrectio of Jesus Christ from the dead.

This Easter, may your hearts be filled with the living hope we are all promised through our Savior.

And may God continue to bless each of you.

In this great state we call home.

And that's our show for this week.

Thanks for watching.

We'll return on Monda to resume our nightly coverage of the Alabama Legislature right here on Alabama Public Television.

For our Capital Journal team, I'm Todd Stacey.

We'll see you next time.