Tag: U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell
BW Recommends | Oct. 19, 2025
Biden Budget Plan Could Close ‘Coverage Gap’ for 300,000 Alabamians
MONTGOMERY — A provision of the massive budget proposal being considered in Congress this week would offer as many as 300,000 low-income, uninsured Alabamians tax credits to pay for health coverage.
Billed as President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan, the far-reaching proposal would spend $1.75 trillion on long-sought Democratic priorities, including universal pre-school, an expanded child tax credit, measures to combat climate change, low-income housing and reduced prescription drug costs.
As written, the budget also extends tax credits for the uninsured in the 12 states that have not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, including Alabama. The White House estimates that will allow 4 million Americans to afford private insurance through the healthcare.gov exchange, including 300,000 in Alabama.
Alabama Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Selma, has pushed for expanded health coverage in the bill and worked with colleagues in other non-expansion states to see the provision included in the final House bill.
“Alabama has over 300,000 people that fall in that gap, where they make too much money to qualify for Medicaid, but too little to afford health insurance premiums,” Sewell said in an interview. “We just made this our No. 1 ask. In every room that I’ve sat in, whether it’s at the White House or smaller tables here in Congress, health care is just my No. 1 issue. Read more.
Sewell, Alabama’s Lone Congressional Democrat, Seeks to Strengthen Voting Rights, Defeat Party Infighting
Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, the lone Democrat in Alabama’s seven-member congressional delegation, is seeking to grow the party with a two-pronged approach — countering Republican-backed voting restrictions while raising money to protect Democratic incumbents against challenges from the left.
First elected in 2011, Sewell has for four successive congresses introduced legislation to restore much of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, legislation that mandated federal oversight of election laws in areas with a history of racial discrimination. That historic legislation was largely struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013. The court’s ruling that the law’s requirements were outdated led to state legislatures issuing a ream of voting restrictions in the wake of that decision.
This year, Sewell again introduced the bill, House Resolution 4, newly named the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act in honor of the Alabama-born Georgia congressman and civil rights icon who died last year.
Read more.
