Bradley Byrne strikes optimistic tone in Montgomery Chamber of Commerce speech

MONTGOMERY – Congressman Bradley Byrne (AL-1) addressed a packed crowd at the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce’s Eggs and Issues Breakfast on Tuesday morning, striking a notably optimistic tone about his outlook for the state of Alabama and the nation as a whole.

Byrne began the substantive part of his speech by noting that the mainstream media largely ignores the real issues on both the federal and state levels, instead opting to cover divisive “wedge” issues and pour gas on partisan flames.

“The national news media makes its money off of doing things to get more eyeballs on the screen,” Byrne said. “In order to get more eyeballs on the screen, they like to generate controversy.”

He then gave an example of a roughly ten-minute segment CNN filmed this past spring at the annual reenactment of the Selma-to-Montgomery march of bipartisanship between himself and Democratic Rep. Terri Sewell (AL-7). The two talked about working together for the betterment of Alabamians, despite their different political leanings and demographic backgrounds. CNN never ran the footage.

“Because two people working together to make things better for people is not news,” Byrne explained. “Now, if she had called me a name or I had said something bad about her, yeah you would’ve seen that [on CNN]. But it’s sad to say, that America today, we can make great progress on things and you’ll never know it.”

The congressman from southwest Alabama then began listing accomplishments that have flown under the radar.

“The House of Representatives this Congress, the last two years, has passed over 1,000 bills. 80 percent of them – bipartisan. Some of them very strongly bipartisan,” Byrne advised.

Rebuilding the military

Byrne followed this statistic by highlighting the Senate’s historic success in approving President Donald Trump’s conservative judicial nominees, along with the actions taken to rebuild America’s military. For Byrne, both of these marked much-needed changes from the Obama Administration.

“When I got to Congress five years ago, I gotta tell you – I was shocked at the state of our military. Not a result of their lack of leadership, but as a result of [the federal government’s] lack of resourcing them,” he advised.

In the last two years, not only has the military been given the necessary resources and support, but members of the armed forces have been given consecutive pay raises, too.

The renewed support of the military, as Byrne said, is particularly impactful for Alabama, from Mobile to Montgomery and the Wiregrass to Anniston and Huntsville.

“[T]he fact that we have under-resourced them for all these years is a disgrace, and I’m glad we finally turned that around,” Byrne added.

Foreign affairs

His next topic was trade, with Byrne emphasizing that he is a “strong free-trader” and that Alabama relies heavily on foreign trade. However, while standing behind free trade’s important role, he also expressed his support for President Trump’s battle to ensure America is not being taken advantage of by its trading partners.

“Free trade is important, but fair trade is also important,” Byrne advised. “We need to have good deals when we cut these trade deals, and I’m pleased to see the trade deal that the president has cut [with South Korea] and the most recent announcement about the multilateral trade agreement that he’s reached with Canada and Mexico.”

On trade momentum, Byrne added, “We need to keep going.”

He is confident that the president can come to a deal with the European Union but explained that “China is a more difficult issue” because of their malicious behavior when it comes to intellectual property theft.

While he sees China as largely a competitor economically, Byrne said it was great to see the country work with the United States to de-escalate tensions with North Korea.

Tax and regulatory reform

Byrne then moved back to domestic economic issues.

“Let’s talk about tax reform,” he said, before criticizing the national news media for their slanted reporting following the passage of last year’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act – better known as the Trump Tax Cuts.

“[H]ere’s the way that I look at it: the average family in my district will see their tax bill will decrease this year by $2,187. Now, some people may call that peanuts, but in southwest Alabama we call that real money,” Byrne commented.

He said he is a supporter of pro-growth conservative economic policies and described how small business owners in his district have talked about giving out bonuses and investing back into their companies because of Republican tax reform.

Byrne also sees the tax bill as a driver of the national economy, which has seen a once struggling GDP growth leap to approximately four percent.

Because of this, Byrne said, Americans are seeing significant wage growth over the last few months. And now, the issue is finding enough qualified workers for the jobs currently available instead of not enough jobs being available.

“[I]t’s extremely important for our country that we continue that great growth and we believe that tax reform had a big part in it, as did regulatory reform,” Byrne added.

Byrne then touched on infrastructure, praising the recent passage of vital water infrastructure legislation that will benefit the Port of Mobile and the state in general. He also stressed the importance of getting a comprehensive infrastructure package passed at the federal level soon, including more money into the highway fund.

Closes with forward-looking optimism

Byrne then transitioned into his closing message, which painted a bright outlook for the future.

“You would think that our country is falling apart by what you see from the national news media – that’s not what I see every day in Washington,” Byrne emphasized.

[“D]espite what I call ‘the noise’ at the national level, our economy is booming, our military is strong again and getting stronger, our communities are indeed safer and the data shows that they are safer, and the American people are better off,” Byrne added.

He continued, “And I believe very strongly the people of Alabama are better off. My family’s been here since before there was a state of Alabama, you know the bicentennial is coming up next year. And I can tell you … Alabama has never seen a point in time like we’re seeing right now.”

Yet, this current success is only a jumping off point, with exponential growth possible with continued strong leadership.

“Please don’t let ‘the noise’ and the naysayers make you doubt the state of Alabama or our potential. We need to embrace the future of our state and of our country. Despite what some people may believe, we don’t need to try and rewrite the past. The past is the past, we can learn from it, but we don’t have to be the prisoners of it. Instead, let’s use what we’ve learned from the past, from what we’re learning from the present, to chart a future for our state and our country that works well for our children and grandchildren,” Byrne remarked.

“I’m not just saying this because I’m up here on the stage in-front of you, but the best days are ahead for Montgomery, Alabama and this region,” Byrne concluded. “The best days of the state of Alabama are ahead of us, and, ladies and gentlemen, the best days for the United States of America are clearly ahead of us. We won’t get there divided as a country, we get there being united as a country.”

The bottom line

For Byrne, this was an event that previews his likely U.S. Senate run in 2020. The speech was out of his district, with a general focus on the state as a whole rather than just localized topics.

After the address, Byrne also held a media availability, in-which he was asked about the possibility of challenging Sen. Doug Jones (D-Mountain Brook).

.@BradleyByrne holding press availability in Montgomery. Says he is still taking a look at 2020 US Senate campaign, but his immediate focus is on his re-election in 3 weeks. However, adds @DougJones’ views do not match up with the majority of the state. #alpolitics pic.twitter.com/cUE5l1FReE

— Sean Ross (@sean_yhn) October 16, 2018