Tag: Congress
Alabama on Display at State of the Union
Alabama will be on display during tonight’s State of the Union address by President Joe Biden.
U.S. Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama will be giving the rebuttal on behalf of the Republican Party after the speech ends.
She is the first woman elected senator from Alabama and, at 42, the youngest Republican woman elected to the Senate.
Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, a Democrat, is taking three of the foot soldiers from the Selma to Montgomery marches as her guests to the State of the Union. She said in a press release that her choice was especially fitting because the address is falling on the 59th anniversary of Bloody Sunday.
Alabama Finally Has a New Congressional Map After a Lengthy Legal Fight
The lines on Alabama’s congressional map have shifted — along with some of the state’s political power.
After a high-profile legal fight that lasted roughly two years, a panel of three federal judges on Thursday picked a map that will be used when Alabamians cast their 2024 vote for who will represent them in the U.S. House.
The new map adds a second congressional district where Black voters’ preferred candidate is projected to win a majority of the time. Read more.
Alabama Argues Its New Standards — Not SCOTUS Order — Should Dictate Congressional Map Redraw
Lawyers for the state defended Alabama’s new congressional map before a panel of judges who previously ruled the 2021 map violated the Voting Rights Act. Read more.
‘Earmarks’ Are Back, but Not All Alabama Lawmakers Are Participating
It has a new name and many new requirements, but the process known as earmarking, or designating federal funds for distribution at the request of members of Congress, is now officially back on Capitol Hill.
This spring, the House Appropriations Committee invited all House members to submit proposals for “Community Project Funding,” a new term for the age-old practice of earmarking that has been banned by rule for the past ten years. In a new effort at ensuring transparency, those proposed projects have been published member by member.
Alabama’s House delegation was split on the prospect of placing community projects in the budget. Reps. Robert Aderholt, R-Haleyville, Mike Rogers, R-Saks, Jerry Carl, R-Mobile and Terri Sewell, D-Selma each submitted multiple projects for consideration, while Reps. Mo Brooks, R-Huntsville, Gary Palmer, R-Birmingham, and Barry Moore, R-Enterprise, did not. Read more.
Alabama Congress Members Caught Off Guard by Violence at the Capitol
At a Wednesday morning rally near the White House, U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Huntsville, told the pro-Trump crowd that “today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass.” Brooks is the leader of a group of representatives challenging the Electoral College votes of three states President-elect Joe Biden won in the November election.
A few hours later, he was among hundreds of legislators hunkering down and then fleeing as Trump supporters broke through police lines and stormed into the Capitol building, leading to a lockdown that stalled certification of November’s vote. One woman was shot in the chest and died, and several law enforcement officers were injured in the melee, the District of Columbia mayor said in a press conference.
“DOORS LOCKED! CAPITOL COMPLEX BREACHED! CHAMBER DOORS LOCKED. SPEAKER LEAVES!” Brooks first tweeted while detailing his experience in the Capitol.
He later tweeted that the police evacuation of the House of Representatives was “hurried but otherwise orderly” and said he “heard loud shouting echoing down Capitol halls during evacuation.” Read more.
The Partisan Divide Isn’t That Wide Between Alabama’s Two US Senators, Though It Still Is a Canyon Among House Members
Although they differ on many high-profile issues, Alabama’s two U.S. senators voted together about half the time on key issues during 2019.
Republican Richard Shelby, who has served in the Senate for 31 years, and freshman Democrat Doug Jones have voted together 11 times and on opposite sides on 10 occasions this year, according to weekly reports compiled by Voterama in Congress for BirminghamWatch.
The two have parted ways, however, over many of President Trump’s nominations for federal judgeships, cabinet posts and other positions, according to weekly reports by Voterama. Jones voted to confirm five of the president’s nominees and against nine. Shelby voted for all 14. Read more.
