Bradley Byrne: 'There is real progress in local economies that we haven't seen in years'

Republican Rep. Bradley Byrne (AL-1) spoke Wednesday at a press conference alongside leadership from the United States House of Representatives regarding his recent “Better Off Now” town hall tour, praising conservative policies that have led to a booming economy in his district and across Alabama.

Byrne opened his remarks by sharing his deep appreciation for the first responders and linemen who worked throughout Tuesday night as Tropical Storm Gordon came ashore.

Over the August district work period, Byrne held twelve town hall meetings in Salipta, Atmore, Brewton, Dauphin Island, Millry, Citronelle, Mobile, Grand Bay, Monroeville, Seminole, Loxley and Spanish Fort. All the town hall meetings were open to the public.

Read the full transcript of Byrne’s remarks as follows:

“I’d like to give a quick shout-out to the first responders and utility linemen in Southwest Alabama who are responding to the aftermath of Tropical Storm Gordon. We took a pretty big hit, but it looks like we’re going to be OK, but I appreciate their efforts.

“As Cathy said, I spent my August going all over my district. I held 12 town hall meetings. I visited dozens of businesses, talked to dozens of groups of people. I called all of this the Better Off Now Town Hall Meeting Tour. And it was wonderful.

“Literally everywhere I went, there was optimism. There is real progress in local economies that we haven’t seen in years. And it was very uplifting.

“We are also, in my district, making one of the ships for the United States Navy, the Littoral Combat Ship. Very important to building our fleet to 355. We’re going to be christening another one of those ships in two weeks. That shipyard is at full tilt.

“We have some shipyards in a little town called Bayou La Batre, by the way, that was affected by the storm. Those shipyards have been in a down spot for years now. They’re coming back to life. They’re actually back to ship building, back to ship repair.

“But I was really struck by what I saw at some of the rural areas in my district, and let me just tell you about two of them.

“There’s a little town in my district called Brewton. They have a new company there called Provalus, that’s a high-tech I.T. business. Now, Brewton is a very rural part of my district. It’s one of those places that I’ve done town halls before and people would show up at the town hall and say, ‘Our little town is dying.’

“And then when I went to it this time, Provalus is actually up and going. They’ve got 70 employees — high-tech I.T. jobs in Brewton, Alabama.

“Another town I went to, Monroeville. A great town.

“You all know Monroeville, by the way. You don’t know that you know it. That’s where Harper Lee’s from. That’s where ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ was based.

“So I did my town hall in the old courthouse there. But before I went to the courthouse, I got to go to Sterling Package. Sterling Package is — was originally a Canadian company. They’ve moved from Canada to Monroeville, Alabama. They make the cartons that you put craft beer in, which is a growing market, as we all know. They also make the cartons you put specialty vegetable products in. Doing great stuff.

“Now, you have communities like Brewton and Monroeville who I can tell you even last year were still struggling, and now they have this sense of optimism and economic growth and a rising quality of life that they just didn’t have.

“So, from the metro area of my district, Mobile, to these rural areas, people not only are better off, they feel that they’re better off, they express that they are better off.

“So when I go to my town hall meetings, we talk about what can we do to keep it rolling. And the one message that I continue to hear from people in my district is, ‘Keep doing what you’ve been doing. Do more of it. ’cause it’s making the lives of everybody in this community better.’

“Our towns are not dying, they’re thriving and we need to continue to thrive.”

From Mobile to more rural areas, people in Southwest Alabama are not only better off, but they feel that they’re better off and they express that they are better off. #BetterOffNow pic.twitter.com/HhBpgRMIfF

— Rep. Bradley Byrne (@RepByrne) September 5, 2018