Here are the top 10 ways the proposed 2018 Farm Bill will affect Alabama
Alabama is home to a $70 billion agriculture economy, which is why the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018, H.R. 2, better known as the “Farm bill” is particularly important for Yellowhammer State farmers. The bill is headed for a vote on Friday by the U.S. House of Representatives. Already, some Alabama representatives are speaking out in support of the bill, but if passed, how will it really affect the Yellowhammer State? Alabama 3rd District U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, the only Alabama member of the House Committee On Agriculture, issued a statement on Thursday explaining how the bill will affect Alabama’s many farmers. “The truth is that the agriculture industry makes up over 40 percent of the economy in the State of Alabama,” said Rogers. “Every five years, Congress has to renew the Farm Bill and the policies that are critical to setting the guidelines for our farmers and producers.” Rogers continued to say that the Farm Bill will reform the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by encouraging individuals to get work or free training to help pull themselves out of poverty; a condition that will only apply to able-bodied adults. The bill will also help bring higher quality broadband service to rural areas in the State by incentivizing providers. “I was also pleased my amendment was included, the SNAP Vitamin and Mineral Improvement Act,” Rogers said. “It would allow low-income Americans to purchase a daily multivitamin-mineral supplement with their SNAP benefits to make sure they are getting their daily nutrients and add choices to SNAP while not changing the costs.” Top 10 ways the 2018 Farm Bill affects Alabama: Farm policy: ARC and PLC. The bill reauthorizes and strengthens the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) options through 2023. Producers are given an opportunity to make a new election between ARC and PLC with several improvements, including allowing a new yield update opportunity for producers who were facing severe drought during the previous yield update, allowing reference prices to adjust to improved market conditions, and prioritizing the use of RMA data for administering ARC to minimize disparities between counties. Nutrition. Over 35 improvements are made to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the nation’s flagship nutrition program. Most notably, existing work requirements are strengthened, streamlined and paired with a variety of options to increase opportunities for SNAP recipients, including participating in a fully-funded, guaranteed Employment & Training (E&T) slot. Individuals may choose not to participate, but they will no longer be eligible for SNAP. The Farm Bill would not kick 1,000,000 SNAP recipients off the program: Anyone who would leave the program would do so because they have obtained employment with sufficient income and are no longer be eligible or they choose not to work or participate in a work or training program for at least 20 hours per week. No one would be kicked off SNAP due to a mandatory work requirement. The bill would not enforce work requirements on the disabled, the elderly, expectant mothers, caretakers of children or children: Any able-bodied adult on government assistance should be working at least 20 hours per week. SNAP is a tool to bring individuals and families out of poverty using the work requirements and training program. Dairy policy. The Margin Protection Program is renamed the Dairy Risk Management (DRM) program. The first 5 million pounds of milk production on a dairy is made eligible for higher coverage levels at lower premiums. Milk production not covered under DRM is made fully eligible for a comparable crop insurance policy. Finally, feed costs are studied to ensure accuracy in the DRM, and class I milk calculations are adjusted to help dairy farmers better manage risk in the futures market. Trade. Given escalating use of illegal trade actions by foreign countries, the farm bill stands by Alabama’s farmers and ranchers, providing a strengthened safety net and authorizing and restoring funding for vital tools for trade promotion and market development. The farm bill also maintains long-standing legal authority for the secretary to provide assistance to farmers and ranchers affected by unfair foreign trading practices. Establishes an International Market Development Program. Maintains and strengthens the program purposes of the Market Access Program (MAP), the Foreign Market Development (FMD) Program, the Technical Assistance for Specialty Crops (TASC) Program, and the Emerging Markets Program (EMP), bringing these initiatives under the single umbrella of a $255 million per year International Market Development Program, with no less than $200 million for MAP, no less than $34.5 million for FMD, $10 million for EMP, and $9 million for TASC. Conservation. The farm bill prioritizes working-lands conservation by retaining and folding the best features of the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) into the nation’s flagship incentive-based program for voluntary conservation—the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). This supports and enables a significant investment in emerging conservation practices like the use of cover crops Crop insurance. At the request of virtually every farmer, rural banker and rural business in the country, the farm bill enhances and protects crop insurance. According to the Ag Committee, “some improvements are made but, overall, the farm bill doesn’t fix what isn’t broken.” Rural development. Rural areas of Alabama lack the same access to broadband and infrastructure that urban areas do. The bill authorizes substantial annual appropriations for rural broadband and requires USDA to establish forward-looking broadband standards. The farm bill also strengthens the suite of rural development initiatives to promote jobs and economic activity in rural Alabama where employment is suffering due to the sharp downturn in the farm economy. Tackling the opioid crisis. Provides the secretary the authority to prioritize projects that help communities meet the challenges of the opioid crisis. Funds projects that provide access to telehealth services and build medical facilities in rural communities. It also provides a 33 percent ($25,000,000) increase in authorized funding for critical telehealth grants under the distance Learning and Telehealth Program. Beginning farmers and ranchers. The bill maintains several provisions to help beginning farmers and ranchers establish themselves in agriculture. The bill establishes a scholarship program at
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin endorses Walt Maddox for governor
Talk about a game-changer. Birmingham Mayor and media darling Randall Woodfin threw his support behind Tuscaloosa Mayor and Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Walt Maddox in a joint press conference Thursday afternoon. “From Mobile to Muscle Shoals, from Dothan to Decatur, from Woodlawn to West End. Alabama we deserve better… It is my great privilege to offer my endorsement and my support to Walt Maddox to be the next Governor of the great state of Alabama,” said Woodfin. Maddox thanked Woodfin before taking the mic himself. “Mayor Woodfin’s election last year was an indication that Alabama is standing on the threshold of a new generation of leaders. A generation of leaders that are focused on social, economic and environmental justice. Leaders who are focused on transparency and accountability. Leaders who are focused on results and not rhetoric. Leaders who transcend petty politics and the differences who once divided us. And leaders who believe in the future,” said Maddox. “Mayor Woodfin is a leader who believe all of those things and I am honored beyond measure to have his endorsement.” Following the press conference, Maddox took to Facebook to share the news; “Extraordinarily honored to have the endorsement of Mayor Woodfin! #MaddoxMomentum,” he posted. Watch the endorsement below:
LGBTQ nonprofit rescinds Patricia Todd’s job offer after tweet trying to ‘out’ Kay Ivey
An Orlando-based LGBTQ nonprofit has withdrawn its job offer to outgoing Alabama State Rep. Patricia Todd after she posted on social media calling Governor Kay Ivey gay and saying she deserves to be outed. One Orlando Alliance, central Florida’s largest coalition of LGBTQ advocacy groups, had named Todd, Alabama’s first openly gay lawmaker, as their new executive director earlier this month. “The Board affirms that Ms. Todd’s recent comments are not aligned with the values of One Orlando Alliance,” said Jennifer Foster, chair of the alliance’s board of directors, which unanimously voted Thursday to withdraw Todd’s employment contract. “We strongly believe that coming out is a personal choice, and we do not support involuntarily outing.” “While Ms. Todd has a well-established record of outstanding service to the community, her lapse in judgment has led us to end our relationship with her,” Foster said. “We admire her many decades of exemplary service and believe that, with the right opportunity, Ms.Todd will continue to use her many talents to make significant progress advocating for justice and equality.” The post On Tuesday, Todd took to both Twitter and Facebook in an effort to “out” Ivey. “Will someone out her for God’s sake….I have heard for years that she is gay and moved her girlfriend out of her house when she became Gov. I am sick of closeted elected officials,” she posted. The Alliance Eighteen organizations formed the alliance in June 2016 following the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando to offer short-term crisis counseling, emergency care packages, and money to victims and their families. Since then, the alliance has grown to more than forty groups with a long-term vision to support and empower LGBTQ residents in central Florida. Todd had been hired to bring together LGBTQ+ organizations and work to transform Central Florida into an accepting and unified community for all. She was set to begin in her new role June 1. Todd did not respond to requests for comment.
Daniel Sutter: Sales taxes and Alabama’s future economy
Presidential tweets and a Supreme Court case have reignited the question of taxing internet sales. The Court in April heard arguments in South Dakota v. Wayfair regarding whether a retailer must have physical presence in a state to have to remit sales taxes. The physical presence rule goes back to 1967 and mail order catalogs. E-commerce has been costing state and local governments tax revenue, as South Dakota argued in the case. But instead of trying to collect sales taxes online, perhaps we should abandon a 20th Century economy tax. General sales taxes produced 23 percent of state and local tax revenues nationally in 2015, while “selective sales taxes” on gas, tobacco, and alcohol contributed another 11 percent. Alabama raises 48 percent of our tax revenue from these taxes. Abandoning sales taxes would open a chasm in Alabama government budgets. Economics shows that we will have less of anything which we tax. Taxes affect our behavior, creating a cost beyond the revenue raised for the government. “Optimal tax theory” examines keeping this extra cost as low as possible while raising needed government revenue. Efficiency is not, of course, the only factor for evaluating taxes, as most of us also care about fairness. First widely used in the 1930s, sales taxes readily funded local governments when most people shopped at stores near home. The local sales taxes Alabamians paid went to their city or county government. Times have changed. Sales taxes have always had drawbacks. For one, they are regressive, meaning that taxes as a percentage of family income falls as income rises. Although economists disagree about how progressive taxes should be (with a progressive tax, payments as a percentage of income increase with income), few view regressive taxes as fair. Beyond regressivity, services have also proven hard to tax. Malls and big box stores avoided a local sales tax by locating beyond the city limits. Consumer use taxes, enacted for purchases made without paying sales taxes, have proven cumbersome. High taxes on cigarettes have led to cross-border shopping and smuggling. Online retailing worsened collection problems. Although Amazon now generally collects sales tax, universal collection will be neither easy nor cheap. Differential tax treatment of online and brick-and-mortar sellers raises economic and fairness concerns. Avoiding sales taxes helps keep inefficient online retailers in business. And brick-and-mortar retailers face unfair competition when consumers can avoid sales taxes online. Internet shopping has improved life for shoppers and entrepreneurs. Shoppers can choose from sellers world-wide without leaving the house. Makers of unique products no longer need to rely on mail order catalogs, and social media groups promote the products to interested consumers. The cost of collecting sales taxes for small businesses, however, is substantial: 13 percent of tax revenues for small retailers, versus 2 percent for large retailers. Public service ads today encourage people to shop local retailers to fund local government. But optimal tax theory says we should not let taxes distort economic activity too much. Should we potentially halt the evolution of e-commerce, and all the benefits this may bring, simply because local governments can more easily collect sales taxes from local stores? Our city and county government provide valuable services like police and fire protection, streets, schools, and garbage collection. These services should be adequately funded. I also believe in federalism and want local governments to impose their own taxes. Having Washington collect more taxes and then fund local governments undermines federalism. Alternatives exist for sales tax revenues. In Alabama, our lowest in the nation property taxes represent an alternative. We might want to try pollution taxes, which promise sound environmental policy and could fund government. Should we substantially revamp our tax system? If sales tax collection does not stifle e-commerce, my concern becomes moot. Ultimately government in the United States is supposed to serve our interests. Perhaps sales taxes are as outdated as Sears, Toys-R-Us, and the famous retailers who collected them. ••• Daniel Sutter is the Charles G. Koch Professor of Economics with the Manuel H. Johnson Center for Political Economy at Troy University and host of Econversations on TrojanVision. The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of Troy University.
Orange Beach breaks ground on new high school
Over 200 city, county, school officials and members of the community attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Orange Beach Middle/High school on Friday. The public was encouraged to attend the event which kicked-off at 11:30 a.m. The new school site is located off Williams Silvers Parkway near the entrance of the Orange Beach Sportsplex. “This is a game changer, in my humble opinion, for the city of Orange Beach,” said Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon. “We have always been a wonderful community and a place to find family values, tradition, safety, protection but with this school, in my humble opinion, it completes us. It makes us that multi-generational community that I think we’re lacking in some ways.” Architectural renderings were also revealed at the ceremony; the proposed building will consist of 101,000 square feet of education space, and will cost approximately $16.1 million. The City of Orange Beach itself contributed greatly to the new site, donating the 40 acres of land that the school will sit on, and will also be funding the performing arts center and future athletic fields at the campus. The new schools mascot will be the Mako Sharks, or Makos for short “This is a true cultural game changer for the City of Orange Beach,” said Baldwin County Schools Superintendent Eddie Tyler. “People come here because they know all about you – the sun, the fun, the beach – all of those things. And what I like, you keep it family oriented and that’s hard to do sometimes. But you will be getting a state-of-the-art school … and it’s because of a partnership.” Preparation work for the new school’s site will begin within the next month with construction set to begin in July.
GOP-hopeful Rich Hobson is giving away AR-15 to celebrate the 2nd Amendment
Roy Moore’s former campaign aide and candidate for Alabama’s Second Congressional District is giving away an AR-15, in an effort to draw importance to the Second Amendment. “Get a Free AR-15 for freedom!” Rich Hobson declares on his website. The campaign made the announcement Tuesday that it will hold a drawing to give away a Smith & Wesson AR-15 rifle on Memorial Day. “The name will be drawn on Memorial Day because “[i]t seems only fitting that we would do so on the day that we use to honor those who died defending our freedom,” said Hobson. “America was founded on the idea that people were made to rule themselves. The framers of our Constitution acknowledged that our rights were from God and that our government was to be formed only by the consent of the governed. This is something I believe to my core,” Hobson explained. “But our Founding Fathers also realized that freedom is not possible unless our citizens act with self-restraint, govern their own morality, and take responsibility for every basic need in our life. To that end, true Americans are expected to be hard-working, responsible, and prepared. Because of that, I believe that it is right and proper for every family in the country to own an AR-15 Defense Rifle.” According to a website dedicated to the giveaway, participants must be at least 18-years of age and meet all legal requirements to be a gun owner under federal, state, and local law. Southern Outdoor Sports in Dothan, Ala. will handle the necessary background checks and other legal requirements. The deadline for entry is 12:00 noon CT on Monday, May 28. The publicity stunt is a familiar one for Republican candidates. Just this month, a county judge candidate in Kentucky, Myron Miller, did the same thing. Missouri U.S. Senate-hopeful Austin Petersen launched his second AR-15 giveaway in April, behind Kansas Congressional hopeful Tyler Tannahill’s giveaway in February. Hobson joins for Member of Congress Bobby Bright, State Rep. Barry Moore and Army veteran Tommy Amason in challenging Martha Roby in the June 5 Republican primary. The winner will go on to face whomever prevails from the Democratic primary — Tabitha Isner or Audri Scott Williams — in the Nov. 6 general election.
Donald Trump: If FBI spied on my campaign, ‘bigger than Watergate!’
President Donald Trump lent credence Thursday to reports that FBI informants had infiltrated his presidential campaign, saying that “if so, this is bigger than Watergate!” Trump’s comments came on the anniversary of Robert Mueller’s appointment as special counsel to head the Justice Department probe into possible coordination between Russia and Trump campaign officials, an investigation Trump repeatedly has called a “witch hunt.” “Wow, word seems to be coming out that the Obama FBI ‘SPIED ON THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN WITH AN EMBEDDED INFORMANT,’” Trump said Thursday on Twitter. “Andrew McCarthy says, ‘There’s probably no doubt that they had at least one confidential informant in the campaign.’ If so, this is bigger than Watergate!” McCarthy, a contributing editor at the National Review, wrote an article published last week headlined “Did the FBI Have a Spy in the Trump Campaign?” The New York Times reported separately this week that at least one government informant met several times with Carter Page and George Papadopoulos, both former foreign policy advisers on Trump’s Republican campaign. The newspaper attributed the information to current and former FBI officials. The Watergate scandal in the early 1970s occurred following a break-in by five men at Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate building in Washington and subsequent attempts by the administration of President Richard Nixon to hide its involvement. Nixon, a Republican, ultimately resigned from office as a result of the ensuing investigation. Meanwhile, Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani said that the president still wants to testify in the Russia probe. Speaking Thursday on “Fox and Friends,” the former New York mayor said Trump will only sit down with Mueller if “we feel there’s a way to shorten this thing.” He added that Trump remains eager to offer his “side of the case.” Giuliani has been urging Mueller’s team to wrap up the investigation now that the probe has reached the one-year mark. Giuliani’s team has been weighing whether to allow Trump to sit for an interview with Mueller. He said the legal team is “pretty comfortable, in the circumstances of this case, that they wouldn’t be able to subpoena him personally.” While the Supreme Court has never definitively ruled on the subject, it appears that a sitting president could be forced to testify. In 1974, justices held unanimously that a president could be compelled to comply with a subpoena for tapes and documents. If Trump were subpoenaed and did not want to testify, he could always invoke his constitutional right not to testify against himself and decline to answer questions. But that act would pose significant political risk. Giuliani also repeated that Mueller’s team has indicated it would not attempt to indict Trump, as he told The Associated Press on Friday. Justice Department legal opinions from 1973 and 2000 have suggested that a sitting president is immune from indictment and that criminal charges would undermine the commander in chief’s ability to do the job. Giuliani told Fox News Channel’s Laura Ingraham on Wednesday that Mueller “has all the facts to make a decision” after 12 months investigating Russian meddling in the election and possible collusion with Trump’s campaign. “Mueller should now bring this to a close,” said Giuliani. “It’s been a year. He’s gotten 1.4 million documents, he’s interviewed 28 witnesses. And he has nothing, which is why he wants to bring the president into an interview.” “It’s about time to say enough. We’ve tortured this president enough,” he added, describing the investigation as being “like a big weight” on the president’s back. So far, the special counsel’s office has charged 19 people — including four Trump campaign advisers — and three Russian companies. Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and his deputy campaign chairman, Rick Gates, have pleaded guilty and are now cooperating with the probe. Trump, however, has panned it as a “witch hunt” intended to discredit his presidency and has insisted that Russia had nothing to do with his winning campaign. Giuliani, who is working for the president pro bono, said Wednesday that the probe “is not good for the American people, and the special counsel’s office doesn’t seem to have that sort of understanding that they’re interfering with things that are much bigger than them.” Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Jailed former Sue Bell Cobb staffer, sex offender Paul Littlejohn now out on bond
Sue Bell Cobb‘s former campaign aide, Paul Littlejohn III was released on bond from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department, Friday morning on an $11,000 bond the office confirmed to Alabama Today. Littlejohn turned himself in on Friday after the Sheriff’s Department issued an arrest warrant Wednesday after finding him in violation of the state’s Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). On Wednesday the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department was notified he was in violation of SORNA as he was working as a pastor at Greater Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, which also runs a daycare and is near a school. As a registered sex offender, Littlejohn is prohibited from both living and working near an elementary school or daycare. Littlejohn, is a former inmate at the Draper Correctional Facility in Elmore County where he spent 30 years following his 1984 conviction for three crimes: rape by forcible compulsion, sodomy I and robbery I. Court records indicate Littlejohn was convicted of raping a 20 year old female and sodomizing a 30 year old female. Littlejohn failed to disclose this information to the sex offender registry. Violation of SORNA is considered a felony. Turning himself in at 6:41 p.m. CT on Thursday, Littlejohn was released early the next morning at 1:15 a.m, after his bail of $11,000 was posted. Cobb accepted Littlejohn’s resignation on Friday, but called the charges “politically motivated.” “Why? The Republicans don’t want to run against Sue Bell Cobb. Governor Ivey doesn’t want to run against Sue Bell Cobb. They found that as an opportunity to take advantage of information that had been sent out into the public forum,” Cobb told AL.com. A court date for Littlejohn has yet to be set.
Donald Trump draws rebuke for ‘animal’ remark at immigration talk
While railing against California for its so-called sanctuary immigration policies, President Donald Trump referred to some people who cross the border illegally as “animals” — drawing a sharp rebuke from Democratic leaders for the harsh rhetoric. Trump’s remark at a meeting with local leaders was in response to a comment about MS-13 gang members. “We have people coming into the country, or trying to come in — and we’re stopping a lot of them,” Trump said during the immigration roundtable after Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims complained about state restrictions that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. “You wouldn’t believe how bad these people are. These aren’t people. These are animals.” Trump has repeatedly referred to members of the violent street gang as “animals” in speeches, rallies and at White House events. He has also used the term to describe terrorists and school shooters. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., responded on Twitter to the president, saying, “When all of our great-great-grandparents came to America they weren’t ‘animals,’ and these people aren’t either.” And House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi said, “Every day that you think you’ve seen it all, along comes another manifestation of why their policies are so inhumane.” Trump was joined at the Wednesday White House meeting by mayors, sheriffs and other local leaders from California who oppose the state’s immigration policies and who applauded his administration’s hard-line efforts. “This is your Republican resistance right here against what they’re doing in California,” said Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez, coopting a term used by Democrats opposed to Trump’s presidency. She, like others, said the president and his policies were far more popular in the state than people realize. They were criticizing legislation Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law last year that bars police from asking people about their immigration status or helping federal agents with immigration enforcement. Jail officials can transfer inmates to federal immigration authorities if they have been convicted of one of about 800 crimes, mostly felonies, but not for minor offenses. Brown insists the legislation, which took effect Jan. 1, doesn’t prevent federal immigration officials from doing their jobs. But the Trump administration has sued to reverse it, calling the policies unconstitutional and dangerous. Some counties, including San Diego and Orange, have voted to support the lawsuit or have passed their own anti-sanctuary resolutions. Republicans see backlash to the law as a potentially galvanizing issue during the midterm elections, especially with Trump’s anti-immigrant base. And Trump has held numerous events in recent months during which he’s drawn attention to California’s policies. During the session, Trump thanked the officials, saying they had “bravely resisted California’s deadly and unconstitutional sanctuary state laws.” He claimed those laws are forcing “the release of illegal immigrant criminals, drug dealers, gang members and violent predators into your communities” and providing “safe harbor to some of the most vicious and violent offenders on earth.” Brown responded on Twitter, writing that Trump “is lying on immigration, lying about crime and lying about the laws of CA.” The Democratic governor added: “Flying in a dozen Republican politicians to flatter him and praise his reckless policies changes nothing. We, the citizens of the fifth largest economy in the world, are not impressed.” The discussion comes as the Trump administration is under fire for a new policy that is expected to increase the number of children separated from their parents when families cross the border illegally. Trump, in his remarks, wrongly blamed Democrats for forcing his administration’s hand. “I know what you’re going through right now with families is very tough,” he told Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, “but those are the bad laws that the Democrats gave us. We have to break up families … because of the Democrats. It’s terrible.” But no law “the Democrats gave us” mandates the separation of children from their parents at the border. The administration is using protocols described in a 2008 law designed to combat child trafficking that gave special protections to Central American children at the border. While the bill was authored by Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, it unanimously passed both houses of Congress and was signed by Republican President George W. Bush as one of his last acts in office. Nielsen on Tuesday defended the practice, telling a Senate committee that removing children from parents facing criminal charges happens “in the United States every day.” The event also came as top House Republicans worked to head off an attempt by party moderates to force roll calls on four immigration bills. Republican leaders privately warned GOP lawmakers Wednesday that such a drive could damage the party’s prospects in the fall’s congressional elections by dispiriting conservative voters, according to people at the closed-door meeting. The House leaders fear the winning legislation would be a compromise bill backed solidly by Democrats but opposed by most Republicans, an outcome that could anger conservatives, according to Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif., a leader of the effort to force the immigration votes. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., issued the warning, said a second person who was in the room and spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the private conversation. Asked about his remarks, McCarthy said his objection to the procedure was that it would in effect “turn the floor over” to Democrats. House Speaker Paul Ryan said the petition would be “a big mistake” that would “disunify our majority.” He said the leaders were “working with the administration.” The moderates said later Wednesday that House leaders were trying to end the immigration standoff and that they could soon see a specific proposal on how to do that. “We’re willing to see what this looks like,” said Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., a leader of the lawmakers trying to force the House to address the issue. Conservatives had their own session with party leaders and also suggested there had been movement, but offered no specifics. Many of the legislators demanding action face potentially competitive re-election races in congressional districts with large numbers of Hispanic, suburban
Hey, John Cooper, ALDOT, Governor Kay Ivey: you guys have one job…
By now everyone’s seen the sign mix up at malfunction junction here in Birmingham. It would just be another government employee snafu (or more appropriately a bunch of snafus because someone designed that, someone made it, someone transported it and someone installed it all the while no one catching the error) that has gone viral on social media, but I think it’s bigger than that. It’s just another indication that Alabama’s Department of Transportation (ALDOT) keeps missing the mark. It’s clear: we have serious transportation problems in our state. From failing roads and bridges to general maintenance issues, there’s no shortage of projects for ALDOT to prioritize, so why do they continue to focus on the wrong projects? One look at the “Fix My Roads” project on Facebook — a page designed to allow citizens across the state to report roads and bridges that are in need of repair by taking photos/videos and posting them on this page along with a first person narrative — and you can see what Alabamians across the state would consider most important. But ALDOT rarely seems to prioritize what Alabama citizens do. Nevertheless the inevitable solution is to give ALDOT more money. Perhaps ALDOT actually needs more money. There is no denying the sad state of affairs when it comes to our infrastructure, but I have a novel idea for ALDOT spend the money you have already better. Prioritize. That’s what families and businesses around the state have to do on a daily basis. In a column I wrote for AL.Com that was published today, “Where ALDOT and two mayors get it wrong it’s up to Governor Ivey to get it right,” I make the case for John Cooper the Director of ALDOT and Governor Kay Ivey to take a look at what’s really necessary in our state and start there. We need our elected officials, at every level of government, in addition to those they appoint or hire, to work for the citizens they represent and prioritize of projects that will have the greatest benefit for everyone. The list of infrastructure projects that require funding from ALDOT and the states limited budget is never ending; and they aren’t concentrated to one area of the state. From I-595 in Huntsville, to I-10 in Mobile, the mess that is Birmingham highways our needs throughout the state are great. It seems like a novel idea, but instead Cooper and others want to spend taxpayer money with little to no evidence of need. If Ivey doesn’t step in, or Cooper doesn’t step up, how can they both look at taxpayers with a straight face and say that they’re true conservatives calling on tax increases? Why should either be given more money if they can’t spend what they have efficiently? Read the whole column to see an egregious example of a $87 million (before cost overruns of course) project that Cooper is pushing, a bridge that locals call the #BridgeToNoWhere. Here are the bills related to increasing gas taxes from last year as described by National Conference on State Legislatures. You can safely bet these bills will be back and in a non-election year your elected officials are more likely to pass them: AL S 86 2018 Alabama Road and Bridge Rehabilitation and Improvement Status: Failed – Adjourned – HOUSE Date of Last Action:* 2/6/2018 Author: Dial (R) Additional Authors: Beasley (D);Allen Ge (R);Holley (R);Whatley (R);Livingston (R) Topics: Bonding and debt, State taxes on gasoline and diesel, Transportation appropriations Summary: Provides for the establishment and incorporation of the Alabama Road and Bridge Rehabilitation and Improvement Authority, establishes the ATRIP-II Projects Special Fund, provides that the authority may issue bonds in an aggregate principal amount not exceeding a certain amount of which a certain amount thereof shall be issued to finance county and municipal road and bridge rehabilitation and improvement projects and the balance thereof issued to finance state road and bridge. History: Click for History AL S 89 2018 Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Taxation Status: Failed – Adjourned – SENATE Date of Last Action:* 1/9/2018 Author: Orr (R) Topics: State taxes on gasoline and diesel Summary: Relates to gasoline and diesel fuel taxation, authorizes a county commission to call for a referendum on the levy of an excise tax on gasoline and diesel fuel not to exceed a certain amount per gallon for specific road and bridge projects identified by the county prior to the referendum, provides that the excise tax could only be in effect for a period not to exceed a certain time period, provides for subsequent local referendums asking that new levies be authorized. History: Click for History AL H 360 2018 Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Taxation Status: Failed – Adjourned – House Transportation, Utilities and Infrastructure Committee Date of Last Action:* 2/1/2018 Author: Mooney (R) Topics: State taxes on gasoline and diesel, Transportation appropriations Summary: Relates to gasoline and diesel fuel taxation, authorizes a county commission to call for a referendum on the levy of an excise tax on gasoline and diesel fuel not to exceed five cents ($.05) per gallon for specific road and bridge projects identified by the county prior to the referendum, provides that the excise tax could only be in effect for a period not to exceed five years, provides for subsequent local referendums asking that new levies be authorized. History: Click for History AL S 377 2018 Colbert County Status: Vetoed – Pocket Vetoed by Governor Date of Last Action:* 04/08/2018 – Vetoed Author: Stutts (R) Topics: Local transportation funding, State taxes on gasoline and diesel Summary: Relates to Colbert County, authorizes the Colbert County Commission to levy a road and bridge construction excise tax on gasoline and other motor fuels, provides for the distribution of the proceeds to the county road and bridge fund to be used by the county and municipalities in the county for road and bridge construction in the county. History: Click for History
ALGOP Chair Terry Lathan slams Doug Jones over opposition of CIA nominee
On Tuesday, Alabama’s newly elected junior senator, Democrat Doug Jones cast his vote again Gina Haspel to be confirmed as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Now, the Chairman of the Alabama Republican Party is calling him out for opposing the confirmation. Lathan says Jones “is choosing to put partisanship over our nation’s security.” And that “Alabama voters will remember this when they head to the polls to choose their next U.S. Senator in 2020.” Read Lathan’s full statement below: Alabama United States Senator Doug Jones’ decision to deny a vote to confirm Gina Haspel, a highly qualified CIA veteran with three decades of experience, is shameful at best. The recipient of several prestigious awards (including the prestigious George H.W. Bush Award for Excellence in Counterterrorism) and positive recommendations by three former CIA directors, Ms. Haspel is more than deserving of a confirmation by the U.S Senate. Senator Jones says he will not vote to confirm Ms. Haspel because of her stance on the agency’s former torture policy which she denounced as wrong and as a practice that will not be continued. Several Democrats and the Senate Intelligence Committee have approved Gina Haspel for a confirmation as CIA director. With this much steady support for the nominee, what valid reason does Senator Jones have to not cast a yes vote for this confirmation? In voting no to confirm Gina Haspel, Senator Jones is choosing to put partisanship over our nation’s security. Alabama voters will remember this when they head to the polls to choose their next U.S. Senator in 2020. Alabama and President Trump vow to put America First. This decision by Senator Jones simply does not do that.
US has a daunting to-do list to get ready for NKorea summit
Who sits where? What’s on the agenda? Will they eat together? What’s the security plan? President Donald Trump and his team have a daunting to-do list to work through as they prepare for next month’s expected summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Trump’s plan to meet with Kim may have come as a surprise decision, but his team hopes to leave nothing to chance when they come together in Singapore. They’re gaming out policy plans, negotiating tactics, even menu items. “We’re working on the details, the actual blocking and tackling at the meeting,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” ″We have been working on them for weeks.” With two unpredictable leaders, it’s hard to anticipate every possibility. But White House aides are expecting hard-ball negotiating tactics — already in evidence this week as the North Koreans cast fresh doubt on the sit-down. Leader summits on this level are a massive undertaking. Much like icebergs, only a small fraction of the work is visible above the waterline. And when the meeting involves the heads of two technically still-warring states, the list of logistical concerns expands, including sensitive items like the number and deployment of security officers. Officials on both sides are still determining the format for the meeting or meetings, whether Trump and Kim will share a meal, and the extent of any one-on-one interactions. All of that comes as the U.S. formulates its strategies for the talks, including what the U.S. is prepared to give up and how precisely to define “denuclearization” on the Korean Peninsula — Trump’s stated goal. “I would say there are hundreds if not thousands of hours put into summit preparations,” said Patrick McEachern, a public policy fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center and a former State Department official. Scott Mulhauser, a former chief of staff at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, said that in the leadup to summit meetings, staffs try to anticipate the various negotiating positions their counterparts might take, adding that “if you’re not gaming that out, you’re not preparing adequately.” Trump is relying heavily on his top diplomat, Mike Pompeo, in preparing for the summit. Pompeo has met with Kim twice in Pyongyang, once as secretary of state and once as CIA chief, and has spent more time with the reclusive leader than any other American official. The amount of face time Pompeo has had with Kim rivals even that of most Asian leaders, apart from the Chinese. Pompeo assembled a working group to handle negotiations with North Korea led by a retired senior CIA official with deep experience in the region. That team, based at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, remains the center of the administration’s North Korea expertise. Planning for the summit started quickly after Trump announced on Twitter his plans to meet with Kim, but kicked into higher gear after John Bolton became Trump’s national security adviser last month. In addition to Pompeo’s two trips to Pyongyang, U.S. officials have also been coordinating with the North Koreans through what’s known as the “New York channel” — North Korean diplomats posted to their country’s mission to the United Nations. A key question is the format for the meeting if the two countries are able to proceed to full-fledged nuclear negotiations, U.S. officials have said. That includes decisions about whether to keep the talks limited to the U.S. and North Korea or whether to bring other governments into the process, such as South Korea, China, Russia and Japan. Also key is what the U.S. will negotiate away. “One thing that is unclear to us is what the U.S. is willing to negotiate in exchange for North Korea’s promises on denuclearization,” said Jean Lee, director of the North Korea program at the Woodrow Wilson Center and a former Associated Press bureau chief in Pyongyang. “The North Koreans are going to be armed and very ready to negotiate. The Trump administration needs to be ready as well.” One initial hurdle that Pompeo managed to clear during his second visit to Pyongyang was the venue for the summit. North Korea was adamant that Kim not be put in any kind of situation where his security could be at risk, U.S. officials said. North Korean officials pushed very hard for the meeting to be in Pyongyang, so Kim would not have to leave the country and they could have 100 percent control over access and communications, according to the officials. When North Korea objected to Trump’s preferred choice of the demilitarized zone on the border between North and South Korea, the U.S. countered with Singapore. Some White House officials also opposed the DMZ choice, believing the optics on Korean rapprochement would distract from the focus on denuclearization. U.S. officials said they believed one reason the North Koreans agreed to Singapore was that Kim had just returned from a successful trip to China the day before Pompeo arrived for his second visit. Many analysts, including U.S. officials, believe that Kim’s flight to the Chinese port of Dalian — the first trip abroad by aircraft by a North Korean leader in decades — was likely a test of the country’s ability to safely transport Kim by air. Kim’s previous trips to China had all been by train, as was the custom of his father. The North formally signed off on Singapore while Pompeo was in Pyongyang. Even before Trump announced the summit site by tweet a day after Pompeo’s return, White House officials who traveled with Pompeo to Pyongyang were already on the ground in Singapore to begin working out summit logistics. Very few people have had much direct contact with the North Koreans, so there are few people for the Trump administration to check with for guidance. Bill Richardson, the former New Mexico governor and U.N. ambassador who has negotiated with the North Koreans, had one suggestion. He said that in the meeting setting, the North Koreans will be very formal, so building a rapport between
