Terri Sewell to host Fourth Annual Veterans Resource Fair
In support of those who served our nation, Alabama 7th District U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell will host her Fourth Annual Veterans Resource Fair on Thursday, Oct. 5, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Birmingham VA Medical Center Annex. The free event aims to provide assistance with issues unique to veterans including VA benefits, transportation resources, health screenings, housing options, mental health services, caregiver support, women’s services, career services, and more. Over 25 resource groups and service officers will be onsite to help attendees. The event is free and open to the public. For those unable to attend, Sewell has published a Veterans Resource Guide to help the brave men and women of Alabama’s 7th Congressional District who have answered the call to serve in our armed forces as they transition back into their communities. The guide helps our veterans obtain the proper benefits and assistance they have earned through their service.
Alabama receives $6.6 million grant to support early childhood learning program
Pregnant women and families — particularly those considered at-risk — in the Yellowhammer State will continue to reap the benefits of a federal program that provides necessary resources and skills to raise children who are physically, socially, and emotionally healthy and ready to learn, thanks to a newly awarded grant. The State of Alabama was awarded a $6,593,481 federal grant this month to continue to provide voluntary, evidence-based Home Visiting services through the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program. The MIECHV program funds scheduled visits by nurses and other health workers to help at-risk new parents and families with health, education, and parenting problems. The visits have been tied to improved academic outcomes for children, better economic opportunities for families, as well as a decline in child abuse. Ahrough its First Teacher Home Visiting program, the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education allocates MIECHV funding to eligible Home Visiting programs that provide support to parents with young children up to kindergarten entry. Currently, MIECHV supports Home Visiting services for more than 1,500 families in 43 counties across the state. These families are enrolled in one of three early learning Home Visiting programs, Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY), Parents as Teachers or Nurse Family Partnership. “Home Visiting programs have played an essential role in helping families across the state learn how to be more engaged in their child’s life during their child’s critical early years,” said Jeana Ross, the secretary of the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education. “This grant will help ensure that more Alabama families will be able to receive developmentally appropriate resources and support in their own homes to help them provide more early learning opportunities for their children.” Click here to see a map of First Teacher Home Visiting sites in Alabama.
Mike Rogers: Showing respect for our country
As you may have seen on the news recently, a sports organization that has been such a favorite pastime of our country, the National Football League (NFL), has become a complete and utter embarrassment to our country. I have been appalled by the recent and ongoing disrespectful acts by some of the NFL players that refuse to stand to honor the American flag during the playing of the National Anthem. These disrespectful protests only serve to divide us and do nothing to foster unity. It is a display of such disrespect to kneel during the playing of our country’s National Anthem. The playing of the Star Spangled Banner should be a time we show respect to those who have put everything on the line to fight for America. It is a time we should show respect for all of those families who forever mourn the lives of loved ones who died fighting for our country. And a time we should show respect for each other. Those few minutes during the National Anthem is a time when we all stand together – no race, no sex, no status – just Americans standing with hand over heart. I applaud President Trump for standing up against this obnoxious behavior. I agree with him 100 percent. The NFL should be ashamed it allowed these despicable actions to take place. Everyone is afforded the right to protest. But these protests should be on their own time and not during the playing of the National Anthem. Last week I was proud to cosponsor H.Res. 532, introduced by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that persons present who are not in uniform or are not members of the Armed Forces or veterans “should face the flag and stand at attention with their hand over the heart.” The National Anthem and the American flag are symbols of all that makes America great in our never ending effort to become a more perfect union. May God continue to bless our great nation. I want to hear from you on this or any issue. Please sign up for my e-Newsletter by visiting mikerogers.house.gov. To stay up to date, you can also like me on Facebook at Congressman Mike D. Rogers, follow me on Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram at RepMikeRogersAL, on Tumblr at repmikerogersal.tumblr.com and you can also subscribe to my YouTube page at MikeRogersAL03. ••• Mike Rogers is a member of U.S. Congress representing Alabama’s 3rd Congressional District.
AG Steve Marshall leads fight to keep cross at Pensacola park
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall on Tuesday led a coalition of 14 state attorneys general in filing a friend of the court brief supporting the City of Pensacola, Florida’s, right to keep a historic cross on display in a public park. Marshall’s filing was in response to the well-known Bayview Cross in a Pensacola public park that was ordered to be taken down this summer following a controversial ruling where a federal judge decided in favor of a group of people who sued the city who claimed the cross is offensive. In June, federal judge Roger Vinson wrote a 23-page order explaining why he, reluctantly, ruled for the cross to be removed. “After about 75 years, the Bayview Cross can no longer stand as a permanent fixture on city-owned property,” Vinson wrote in his ruling. “I am aware that there is a lot of support in Pensacola to keep the cross as is, and I understand and respect that point of view. But, the law is the law.” He added, “Count me among those who hope the Supreme Court will one day revisit and reconsider its Establishment Clause jurisprudence, but my duty is to enforce the law as it now stands.” The City of Pensacola has since appealed the decision. Marshall’s brief was filed with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in support of the appeal. “The large cross in Pensacola’s Bayview Park is a local landmark dating back more than seven decades,” said Marshall. “The cross is woven into the fabric of Pensacola’s history and its presence in a public park does not violate the First Amendment’s prohibition of the establishment of religion, as opponents have claimed. To continue down the road of the lower court’s reasoning would open the door to challenges of religious symbols on thousands of monuments and memorials on public property across the country.” The 34-foot-tall white concrete cross has stood in the popular Bayview park since 1969, The city spends roughly $233 a year, which comes out to about 0.03 percent of the city’s annual maintenance budget to keep it cleaned, painted, and illuminated at night. On Wednesday, Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward wrote an op-ed in the Washington Examiner explaining, the cross has “become a community gathering place, an integral part of my town’s fabric, a symbol to our local citizens — religious and non-religious — of our proud history of coming together during hard times.” According to a press release, Marshall’s brief in the case asserts that the lower federal court ruling against the display of the cross ignores legal precedent protecting the display of historical monuments, including religious symbols, on public property. “States, counties, and municipalities have historically included, or allowed private parties to include, religious texts and symbols on monuments and other displays on public property. The amici States have an interest in maintaining that practice, consistent with a proper understanding of the Establishment Clause,” the brief stated. Alabama was joined by Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Utah in filing the brief.
Trump budget chiefs says no bailout for Puerto Rico debt
The White House’s budget director says Puerto Rico shouldn’t expect a federal bailout of its debt – even after President Donald Trump spoke of the need to “wipe out” that red ink as part of the island’s recovery after Hurricane Maria. Mick Mulvaney tells reporters that the administration plans to send Congress a disaster aid package that’ll include money for the U.S. territory. But Mulvaney says: “We are not going to be offering a bailout for Puerto Rico or for its current bondholders.” Trump told Fox News on Tuesday that federal officials would have to look at Puerto Rico’s debt structure and “we’re going to have to wipe that out.” Before the hurricane, Puerto Rico’s government was negotiating with creditors to restructure a portion of its $73 billion in debt. Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
Ex-Obama officials begin health insurance sign-up campaign
Former Obama administration officials are undertaking a private campaign to encourage people to sign up for coverage next year under the Affordable Care Act. With the start of open enrollment on Nov. 1, the Trump administration has slashed the Obama health law’s ad budget, as well as grants to outside organizations that are supposed to help people sign up. Although Republican attempts to repeal the law have proven futile so far, President Donald Trump hasn’t changed his view that the program is a “disaster.” The former Obama officials said their campaign, set to begin Wednesday, will focus on young adults and try to encourage people to sign up for government-backed private health insurance because of subsidies available to cushion the impact of rising premiums. The effort is headed by Lori Lodes and Joshua Peck, who directed outreach and sign-up efforts during much of former President Barack Obama‘s second term. Joining them are Andy Slavitt, who ran federal health insurance programs for Obama, activist-actors Alyssa Milano and Bradley Whitford, social commentator Van Jones and insurance industry veteran Mario Molina. Lodes said the campaign has a modest budget for now, meaning that targeted internet advertising is probably all it can manage, at least initially. About 10 million people are signed up for subsidized private insurance plans through HealthCare.gov and state-run insurance markets. That figure is well below projections when the law was passed in 2010. An additional 11 million or so have signed up for Medicaid in states that took advantage of the law’s expansion of the program to serve more low-income adults. Under Trump, the open enrollment period for 2018 has been shortened by about half. It now runs through Dec. 15. That’s the last day when people can sign up to get coverage that will be effective on Jan. 1. Some Democrats say that’s another indication that Trump is trying to “sabotage” insurance markets. But health insurers, with a vested interest in enrolling people, say a shorter, focused sign-up season period may actually be more manageable. Returning customers will be automatically re-enrolled unless they shop around and pick another plan. Health care consultant Dan Mendelson, president of data-tracker Avalere Health, said in an interview that he expects enrollment will remain relatively stable. “If you think about it, most of the people who are enrolled need the insurance,” he said. “They are heavily subsidized and they are going to show up because they need insurance for themselves and their families. I think there will be a base stability to enrollment, but I wouldn’t be looking for any major expansion.” Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., are trying to negotiate a limited bipartisan deal to stabilize state-level markets for individual health insurance policies. People covered under the health law represent about half of those who purchase individual policies. Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
US Supreme Court weighs case on detention of immigrants
The Supreme Court wrestled for a second time Tuesday with whether the government can indefinitely detain certain immigrants it is considering deporting without providing a hearing. An eight-member court, deadlocked 4-4, didn’t decide the issue last year. Now that Justice Neil Gorsuch has joined the court he will presumably break a tie. But the justices seemed to struggle Tuesday with the issue just as they did when the case was first heard last November. The case the justices were hearing is a class-action lawsuit brought by immigrants who’ve spent long periods in custody. The group includes some people facing deportation because they’ve committed a crime and others who arrived at the border seeking asylum. The San Francisco-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled for the immigrants, saying they generally should get bond hearings after six months in detention, and then every six months if they continue to be held. The court said the government must show why they should remain locked up. The government disputes that ruling, a position shared by the Obama and Trump administrations. The American Civil Liberties Union, which brought the case on behalf of the immigrants, says about 34,000 immigrants are being detained on any given day in the United States, and 90 percent of immigrants’ cases are resolved within six months. But some cases take much longer. In the case before the justices, Mexican immigrant Alejandro Rodriguez was detained for more than three years without a bond hearing. He was fighting deportation after being convicted of misdemeanor drug possession and joyriding, and was ultimately released and allowed to stay in the United States. The court’s liberal justices suggested sympathy for immigrants like Rodriguez who face lengthy detention. Justice Stephen Breyer said that in most other cases where someone is detained they get a hearing to determine whether they should be freed. “We give triple ax murderers, at least people who are accused of such, bail hearings,” Breyer said. Justice Elena Kagan told the government’s lawyer, Malcolm Stewart, that asylum seekers have some constitutional rights, such as “not to be tortured, not to be placed in hard labor.” She suggested a similar right “not to be placed in arbitrary confinement.” But the appeals court’s decision that a hearing is necessary at six months and every six months thereafter seemed to give other justices pause. Justice Samuel Alito told ACLU lawyer Ahilan Arulanantham that “it’s quite something to find six months in the Constitution.” “Where does it say six months in the Constitution? Why is it six? Why isn’t it seven? Why isn’t it five? Why isn’t it eight?” he asked. A decision in the case, Jennings v. Rodriguez, 15-1204, is expected by June. Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
