The American people have spoken loud and clear. They delivered the Republican Party majorities in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives and sent President Donald J. Trump back to the White House. With this electoral triumph achieved, it is time to unite as a nation and get America back on track.

The sweeping results at the ballot box confirm the American people want conservative, commonsense solutions to the challenges we all face. President Trump has proven time and again that he can and he will deliver results for the people of Alabama and our nation. I have great confidence he will act on day one to begin securing our southern border, unleashing American energy dominance, slashing the red tape strangling our economy, and return to a proven doctrine of peace through strength. He did that during his first term, and he’ll do it again.

I will take a backseat to no one in fighting alongside him and advancing the agenda that Alabamians overwhelmingly support.

One of the most important tasks Congress will have in the next two years is passing a pro-family, pro-growth tax package in 2025. This is a generational opportunity to renew and enhance the beneficial tax credits President Trump signed into law in 2017. I look forward to building on the success of his first tax package in order to strengthen economic opportunity, incentivize ingenuity, and lift up the hardworking American people who were left behind by the Biden-Harris Administration.

A key pro-family provision I am working to include in this tax package is the bipartisan child care legislation I introduced in July. The Child Care Availability and Affordability Act and the Child Care Workforce Act will strengthen existing tax credits to lower costs and increase the supply of child care. The goal is to ensure no American is forced to choose between participating in the workforce or taking care of their kids.

Alabama’s labor force participation rate is 57.9 percent, according to Federal Reserve statistics, while the national rate is 62.7 percent. We currently rank 47th out of 50 states in this regard. For those parents who want to work but can’t because of the lack of affordable child care, it is critical we create relief without creating an entitlement program.

Another integral focus for the tax package is building up small businesses and industry, including our tremendous Made in America manufacturers. We need to cut overly burdensome regulations and spur growth. A priority is restoring full expensing of the research and development tax credit. This will incentivize the kind of visionary entrepreneurs who made America great in the first place. In President Trump’s first term, this tax credit spurred major investment across the country—contributing substantially to our economic boom.

Supporting Alabama’s family farmers is another opportunity for the tax package. Congress should repeal the Death Tax, which is an unfair, punitive tax that has the potential to drive family farms out of business. Those who feed and clothe America need our support in order to preserve U.S. food security for future generations.

To that end, we also must pass a Farm Bill that’s actually focused on farmers. I will fight to protect Title 1 commodity support programs and crop insurance at all costs—in the wake of disaster, farmers need to have the confidence they can replant. The next Farm Bill also requires reining in SNAP spending, which astonishingly accounts for about three-quarters of the bill’s expenditures, preserving base acreage for Alabama’s peanut and cotton farmers, and addressing the problem of feral swine.

With President Trump and majorities in both the Senate and the House, we will put Americans back in the driver’s seat, so we can determine our own destinies.

The future is bright. Let’s get to work.

U.S. Senator Katie Britt proudly represents the state of Alabama in the United States Senate, where she serves on the Committees on Appropriations; Banking, Housing, and Urban Development; and Rules and Administration.

U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) on Tuesday took to the Senate floor to blast the Biden administration over the crisis which continues to engulf the nation’s southern border.

In his remarks, Alabama’s junior senator outlined what he saw as policies that incentivize migrants to enter the United States through unlawful means as well as the security threat illegal immigration poses to American citizens.

“When their policies have failed and created chaos, the Biden administration has had a choice between doing what’s right and making our government work better, or shaming those expected to do more with less,” said Tuberville. “The Biden administration has always chosen the latter. The Biden administration routinely chooses to hide behind platitudes and broken promises instead of addressing the crises of their own making. And because of that, the consequences of this administration’s illogical and inconsistent policies will be felt by Americans for decades.”

He added, “President Biden’s weak border policies impact every aspect of our nation’s immigration system; but, the problems go far beyond the crisis we’ve seen unfold over the last 9 months at the southwest border.”

The freshman senator made mention of guidance issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) which ended worksite enforcement operations, stifling U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) ability to detain those who are illegally employed.

“Without the threat of removing illegal workers, this new guidance creates a pull factor, or a magnet, attracting more people to the U.S. through illegal means,” said Tuberville. “Illegal immigrants come with the knowledge that the consequence for breaking our laws under President Biden is a minimal or nonexistent pattern.”

Tuberville said that holding the status of being an American citizen is the most valued status globally, further stating that illegal aliens who have been “naturalized through fraudulent methods devalues our most sacred privilege” and that it “cheapens the inherent principles of our great country.”

The senator went on to note that U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) has seized more than 10,000 pounds of fentanyl this year, saying that the “cartel economy is booming.”

“Earlier this year, CBP estimated the cartels make an average of $14 million per day smuggling people and drugs into the U.S.,” he advised. “The cartels are running a multi-billion-dollar business along our border, and the President is just letting it happen.”

Tuberville concluded, “Never before have we experienced illegal immigration on this scale, and it can all be tracked back to the bad policy decisions of the President. U.S. law allows for legal immigration, as well as pathways to work within the U.S. economy. When we allow people to continuously break our laws, we should not be surprised when more people join in. We should not be surprised when our laws no longer carry weight or authority in our country.”

Dylan Smith is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL

U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, on Monday announced his opposition to Democrats’ partisan approach to the fiscal year 2022 appropriations process.

As the upper chamber begins crafting legislation to set next year’s federal government spending priorities, the strategy Senate Democrats’ have employed falls short of adequately funding the U.S. military, according to Alabama’s senior senator.

“Chairman Leahy’s decision to unilaterally unveil partisan spending bills is a significant step in the wrong direction,” said Shelby. “This one-sided process has resulted in bills that spend in excess of the Democrats’ own budget resolution and fail to give equal consideration to our nation’s defense.”

Shelby made mention of the majority party’s exclusion of provisions which he contends have traditionally received bipartisan support during his tenure in the Senate.

“Their bills are filled with poison pills and problematic authorizing provisions, and they remove important legacy riders on topics like terrorism, abortion, and immigration that for years have enjoyed broad support on both sides of the aisle,” he added.

Among the issues to which Shelby and his Republican colleagues have taken exception include what they deem to be a “reckless” domestic spending agenda, progressive reforms to border security and immigration, abortion “financing” domestically and internationally, partisan labor reforms and “Green New Deal” priorities.

“A successful appropriations process rests on trust and bipartisan cooperation like we had in recent years under the Shelby/Leahy framework,” the senator continued. “Regrettably, we’re a long way from that now. If Democrats want full year appropriations bills, they must abandon their go-it-alone strategy and come to the table to negotiate.”

According to the release from Shelby’s office, Democrats have placed “poison pills” within the appropriations bills which it claims would “weaponize government agencies against Democrats’ political opponents.”

His office cites Democrats’ proposal to increase the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) budget by 14% and the removal of “a longstanding prohibition on the IRS issuing rules to regulate political groups,” a measure which was adopted after the tax collection agency targeted Tea Party groups during the Obama administration.

Shelby concluded, “We need a topline agreement that does not shortchange our nation’s defense and a willingness to set aside partisan politics. Only then will we be able to produce full year bills for the American people. Otherwise, we will oppose these partisan drafts. The clock is ticking.”

Dylan Smith is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL

U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) took to the Senate floor on Tuesday to tout the contributions of Alabama’s HBCUs (historically black colleges and universities) and the impact the schools have had across the nation.

According to a recent study, the Yellowhammer State’s HBCUs have delivered more than $1.5 billion of economic impact, played a significant role in the creation of over 15,000 jobs and produced $12.5 billion in lifetime earnings.

Last month, Tuberville and fellow U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) introduced a resolution to establish a “National HBCU Week” dedicated to honoring the impact the institutions have had across the United States.

The former Auburn head football coach recalled his time visiting recruits, playing witness to the conditions surrounding the nation’s youth who reside in underserved communities.

“I’ve recruited hundreds and hundreds of students from across our country,” said Tuberville. “I have been in their homes. I’ve seen how they lived. I’ve seen how they’ve grown up. Unfortunately, for many children from difficult backgrounds, a large percent coming from one or no-parent homes, real opportunities can be hard to come by, very hard.”

The freshman senator noted the tradition-rich culture of HBCUs and their legacy of creating opportunities which stem from their research and workforce development programs.

“Many students across the country have turned to Historically Black Colleges and Universities, better known as HBCUs, to answer these questions because of the pathway HBCUs provide,” he added. “While they are respected for their strong traditions, HBCUs are the ultimate opportunity creators for students all across this country.”

Tuberville touted the number of HBCUs that call Alabama home, which is more than any other state in the Union.

“I am proud that the great state of Alabama is home to 13 HBCUs, the most of any state in the nation,” the senator said. “These colleges are major contributors to communities across our state, producing more than 15,000 jobs annually for our local economies. And they also prepare students for the 21st century job market.”

In 2019, Congress passed bipartisan legislation which permanently designated more than $250 million a year to the nation’s HBCUs, which was signed into law by then-President Donald Trump.

He continued, “Overcoming decades of adversity and opposition, HBCUs continue to be competitive, educational institutions with programs for students who want higher education, career tech training, or to position themselves for better employment opportunities. We need to honor accomplishments by the HBCUs and celebrate their significant contributions to our society.”

Tuberville praised the South Carolina senator’s work in promoting HBCUs and his efforts to formally recognize the important role the institutions play in building a strong economy.

“Over the last decade, my colleague Senator Tim Scott from South Carolina has been focused on doing just that,” said Tuberville. “I’m thankful to have joined him the last month to introduce a resolution to formally designate the week of September 6 as National HBCU Week because their work and the work of their leaders, these institutions are deserving of national recognition.”

Dylan Smith is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL

There is nothing quite like serving in the United States Senate. One could argue those seats comprise the 100 best jobs in the world.

The six-year terms allow for a more methodical approach to fundraising and campaigning, while the heightened level of influence in the deliberative body of the greatest nation in the world carries quite an allure.

With the venerable statesman Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) announcing his retirement at the conclusion of this term, one of those 100 seats will be open, and it will be contested right here in Alabama.

There is no shortage of those aspiring – both publicly and in private – to fill the legend’s seat. In an effort to measure potential candidacies, Yellowhammer News has consulted with its oddsmakers to handicap the likelihood of various individuals qualifying to run for the Republican nomination to the U.S. Senate in 2022.

These are not odds to win the seat or the nomination. These odds merely represent the market’s assessment of the likelihood an individual will submit the necessary paperwork with the Alabama Republican Party to qualify as a candidate.

In addition, our oddsmakers have segmented the list into several different groupings which reflect their collective chances of running.

Here’s how the board currently looks:
(more…)

U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) had time to vote for himself on Friday, however, he was missing in action when it came time for the senator to represent the people of Alabama on the floor of the United States Senate the same day.

Jones touted that he voted on Friday morning in the upcoming general election via in-person absentee ballot in Jefferson County.

It is unclear why Jones did not do this when the U.S. Senate was not in session. Absentee voting has been open in Alabama since September 9, and Jones’ campaign even has launched a website touting that “Every day is Election Day in Alabama.” In-person absentee voting in Alabama is open through October 29; the same date is the deadline to apply for an absentee ballot via mail.

While Jones voted for himself and the Democratic presidential ticket of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on Friday, the Senate conducted seven roll call votes. Jones was marked as “not voting” for each of these votes.

This comes after Jones also missed all votes in the Senate on Monday and Thursday. In total, Jones has now been absent from the Senate for 67% of the chamber’s votes this week. (more…)

Governor Kay Ivey has joined 23 other Republican governors in sending a letter to U.S. Senate leadership supporting the confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court of the United States.

The letter was dated on Thursday and released to the public on Friday.

“As governors, we strongly support President Trump’s nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court of the United States, and we urge the Senate to confirm her appointment as an Associate Justice,” the governors wrote.

Ivey tweeted about her staunch support of the nominee on Friday morning, sharing the letter. (more…)

U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne (AL-01) has announced the launch of his U.S. Senate campaign’s grassroots leadership team, which covers all 67 counties and includes “200 key community leaders,” according to a Monday press release.

“It is an honor to have so many people from every corner of the state joining us in the fight to bring our Alabama values to the U.S. Senate,” Byrne said in a statement. “We are going to win this primary and defeat Doug Jones thanks to this team of homegrown supporters.”

“Bradley was the first candidate to announce financial contributions from all 67 counties and is now the first candidate to announce a full 67 county leadership team. The people of Alabama are ready for a Christian, conservative fighter, and they know Bradley is the man for the job,” added Byrne’s campaign manager, Seth Morrow. (more…)

While former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore has not made an official decision to jump into the 2020 U.S. Senate race in Alabama, Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Fairhope) believes the failed 2017 GOP nominee could announce his candidacy within the coming days.

“People who I believe know what they’re talking about say that Judge Moore intends to announce his candidacy for the Senate in June. I welcome him to the race,” Byrne said in an interview with The Hill.

While he has not spoken directly with Moore, Byrne said those conversations occurred within the last week, according to his sources close to Moore. (more…)

Congressman Mo Brooks (AL-05) reintroduced the “Ensuring Lawful Collection of Hidden Assets to Provide Order Act,” more familiarly known as the “EL CHAPO Act,” House companion legislation to Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) Senate bill by the same name on Wednesday.

The EL CHAPO Act reserves approximately $14 billion in assets forfeited to the United States Government as a result of the criminal prosecution of El Chapo, the former leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel, as well as other drug lords, for border security funding measures to include construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall.

Brooks also sponsored the EL CHAPO Act in the 115^th Congress. (more…)

In a bipartisan effort, the United States Senate unanimously passed Rep. Mo Brooks’ (AL-05) bill, H.R. 6513, to designate a United States Postal Service Office located in Athens, Alabama, as “Judge James E. Horton, Jr. Post Office Building.”

Judge Horton bravely issued an order setting aside the jury’s guilty verdict and ordered a new trial for one of the “Scottsboro Boys” in 1933.

“I’m pleased the United States Senate unanimously passed my bill naming the Athens Post Office for Tennessee Valley luminary, Judge James E. Horton Jr.,” Brooks said, per a statement. “Now, the only remaining hurdle for the bill to become law is presidential signature, and I encourage President Trump to sign the bill.” (more…)

Alabama State Auditor Jim Zeigler has announced an exploratory campaign to “test the waters” for a potential 2020 United States Senate seat occupied by Sen. Doug Jones (D-Mountain Brook).

In a press release, Zeigler says the exploratory campaign “will gauge support and ability to raise the funds to get our message out.”

(more…)

Senator Doug Jones (D-Mountain Brook) confirmed on Tuesday that he will run for re-election to the United States Senate in 2020, according to a tweet by Zach Cohen of the National Journal.

Jones’ comments came in a small press “scrum” on Capitol Hill, with Alabama’s junior senator reportedly saying his campaign is “[a]lready off and running.”

He was named by CNBC on the same day as the senator most likely to lose his or her seat in the upcoming 2020 cycle.

According to public data available on the Federal Election Commission’s (FEC) website, Jones has yet to officially file his paperwork for re-election.
(more…)

Though he faced a contentious confirmation process, now-Attorney General Jeff Sessions received a warm farewell from his colleagues in the U.S. Senate. Following his final address as a senator on Wednesday, the Mobile native received a standing ovation.

Jeff Sessions was confirmed as the next U.S. Attorney General by a vote almost along party lines. One Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin (D- W. Va.) crossed the aisle to help Republicans approve Sessions’ nomination. He resigned his office Wednesday at 11:55 p.m.

His nomination spurred 30 hours of debate in the final days before he received final approval.

“I appreciate the president and his confidence in me,” Sessions said in his final speech. “By your vote I have been given a real challenge. I’ll do my best to be worthy of it.”

During his remarks, he encouraged his Senate colleagues to find unity and focus on the common ground that both parties shared.

“I don’t think we have such a classical disagreement that we can’t work together,” Sessions said. “I’ve always tried to keep my disagreements from being personal. I’ve always tried to be courteous to my colleagues.”

Throughout the weeks leading up to his confirmation, the former Alabama Senator faced waves of debunked attacks on his character. He expressed hope that future confirmation processes did not have to exhibit similar rancor.

“I would say what would be my prayer for this body is that in the future maybe the intensity of the last few weeks would die down and maybe somehow we get along better,” he said.

The White House swore in Sessions on Thursday morning.

“A new era of justice begins,” Trump said as Sessions was sworn in. “And it begins right now.”

“Mr. President, I thank you for this great honor,” Sessions said. “It’s something that I never thought would happen in my life.’

(Video Above: Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) discusses Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen’s congressional testimony.)

WASHINGTON — Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) has a simple but pointed response to questions about the United States Federal Reserve and its Chairman Janet Yellen: “I’m not sure the Fed knows what they’re doing.”

In the wake of Yellen testifying before the Shelby-chaired Senate Banking Committee, Alabama’s senior senator told CNBC he believes The Fed, as it is known, has a credibility problem.

“They’ve got a credibility issue in a lot of ways,” said Shelby. “The one I was referring to is that I’m not sure the data they collect everywhere and claim to be such experts at is working for them… Something’s amiss there, and we’re not sure what it is. I think it’s inside The Fed.”

The Fed’s money printing operation has pumped over four times as much money into the economy as President Obama’s stimulus package, all without the approval of Congress.

As a result, Shelby has in the past referred to the Federal Reserve as “the biggest enabler of our exploding debt.”

But in spite of their efforts, the U.S. economy remains sluggish.

“If you look at the history of artificial fiscal stimulus, it generally doesn’t work,” Shelby intoned. “The economy is really not as bright as the Fed chairman would tell us. The real unemployment rate is still too high, the economy is not growing the way we’d like it to do.”

Shelby also placed some of the blame on Congress.

“I’ve always thought we borrow too much money, we save too little money and we spend too much,” he said. “That’s congress and this administration, too.”

Many Republicans, including Sen. Shelby, believe Yellen’s monetary policies put the United States at enormous risk of experiencing rapid inflation. That would make every product Americans buy more expensive.

Also of note, while China is often mentioned by budget hawks as a major holder of U.S. debt — and it certainly is — the U.S. Federal Reserve actually holds almost twice as much of the U.S. debt than do the Chinese.

“She should know what she’s doing,” Shelby concluded of Yellen. “I’m not sure The Fed knows what they’re doing.”

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — United States Senator Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) easily won re-election to a sixth term Tuesday evening, closing out a contentious primary battle that was one of the nastiest in the country. Shelby hovered around 67% of the vote throughout the night, and precincts are continuing to report their results.

“Tonight’s about the future,” Shelby told a crowd of supporters in Tuscaloosa. “It’s about what kind of America we want, what kind of opportunities we want to give our children. With your help, this is the first step. It’s the primary. It’s a good night. I want to thank everybody in the state.”

Shelby beat back four primary opponents, including 33-year-old Jonathan McConnell, who ran almost 100% negative ads attempting to paint Shelby as an out-of-touch Washington insider.

After ignoring the attacks for months, Shelby pushed back hard in the closing weeks of the campaign, hammering McConnell for his immigration position and numerous integrity issues.

McConnell’s campaign was hampered by character questions from the beginning. Another candidate accused him of trying to pay him to exit the race; he was found to have been guilty of numerous elections violations in his college SGA race; and his business record included accusations of outsourcing jobs to foreign nationals and helping a partner company skirt immigration laws.

Immigration became the central policy issue of the campaign after audio surfaced of McConnell advocating for giving illegal immigrants tax-ID numbers, a position that drew amnesty accusations from many conservatives.

Shelby’s conservative bonafides were strengthened by endorsements from the National Rifle Association, National Right to Life and the country’s largest Tea Party group, but the race’s biggest endorsement came from Shelby’s U.S. Senate colleague, Jeff Sessions, who called Shelby his “rock-solid partner on immigration and budget battles.”

Shelby was first elected to the U.S. House in 1978 and served three terms in Congress before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986. He is currently chairman of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, but is in line to become chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee in 2017, if Republicans are able to maintain control of the upper chamber.

This article will be updated as more details emerge.

A recently released Field Poll shows the deep blue state of California has someone in mind to replace their longtime liberal U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Cal.), but it is probably not anyone you would expect.

Alabama native and former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice received the highest level of support of any potential candidate polled, even higher than California Attorney General Kamala Harris, who is the unquestioned Democratic frontrunner going into the race.

The poll sampled just shy of 1,000 likely California voters and offered 18 potential candidates, asking whether survey respondents “would be inclined or not inclined to vote for that person.”

Rice, who the L.A. Times has called the GOP’s “dream candidate,” has so far rejected overtures to enter the race. Polls have shown that as many as three in ten Democrats would abandon their Party to vote for the popular former Bush Administration official.

The Black Conservatives Fund has frequently joined the chorus of individuals and groups urging Rice to return to public life, going as far as to say that her running “might even put California in play for a GOP presidential candidate.”

“Condi is a true American success story. Her father was a minister. She’s an accomplished pianist, diplomat, and a role model for millions,” the group said in a fundraising email. “But the best news of all is that if she runs, she can steal California’s U.S. Senate seat from the Democrats.”

Rice is a former Stanford Provost and currently serves as a political science professor and on the faculty of the university’s graduate school of business. Her private sector experience includes board positions for the Carnegie Corporation, Chevron, Hewlett Packard, Charles Schwab, Rand Corporation and more. But she is most well known for her time in the Bush administration. She became the first female National Security Advisor during President George W. Bush’s first term. She went on the become the 66th Secretary of State, succeeding Colin Powell as the nation’s top diplomat.

In spite of Party leaders’ numerous attempts to coax her back into the spotlight, Rice continues to signal little to no interest in returning to politics.

“I’m quite content to spend my life helping young people find themselves, I’ve had my fill of politics,” she said late last year. “I’m a very happy university professor… the best thing about being a university professor is that you see young people as they’re being shaped and molded toward their own future and you have a chance to be a part of that.”

After a different poll showed Rice as California voters’ top choice for U.S. Senate last year, Rice’s chief of staff said it “doesn’t change her position about running for Senate. She plans to stay at Stanford.”

There is little reason to believe anything has changed since then, but California voters — not to mention Republicans all over the country — continue to hold out hope that she will reconsider.

WASHINGTON — Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) on Thursday released a stunning chart illustrating that over 96% of the illegal alien minors arrested in the United States are being allowed to stay in the country, rather than deported back to their country of origin.

According to a release from The Senate Subcommittee on Immigration And The National Interest, which Sessions chairs, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has apprehended 126,902 “unaccompanied” illegal alien juveniles in the past several years, with the number increasing each year. During that same time period, only 4,680 were removed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), or roughly 3.6 percent of the total apprehensions.

“Clearly, the overwhelming majority of these purportedly unaccompanied illegal alien juveniles are from Central America, and not Mexico – where it is easier to do a quick return (even though many are not),” Sessions’ committee staff said in a release. “Even if one assumes that all of the purportedly unaccompanied illegal alien juveniles from Mexico were immediately deported, it would still mean than only 4.8 percent of those who illegally entered during this period were removed.”

During a recent hearing, Senator Sessions asked the Executive Associate Director of ICE, Tom Homan, if increased enforcement would result in a dramatic reduction in attempts to come to the United States illegally.

“I think if you have a consequence of deterrence to illegal activity, the illegal activity will slow down,” he replied.

The lack of enforcement under the Obama administration has led to an influx of illegal unaccompanied minors coming into the country and has caused a humanitarian crisis at the border in recent years.

According to a top Pentagon staffer, the U.S. government has considered housing some of them at military bases around the country, including Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.

Senator Sessions and his Alabama colleague Senator Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) responded by sending a strongly worded letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell expressing their objection to any plan to house illegal aliens in the state, particularly at the military installation.

“Instead of wasting resources searching for housing locations more than 900 miles away from our southern border, we firmly believe that the Administration should be expeditiously and humanely transporting these individuals back to their homes,” the senators wrote.

In addition to this and other illegal immigration, each year the U.S. issues more than 1 million green cards, admits 700,000 guest workers, and allows roughly 500,000 foreign students to study in the U.S.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeMnzzhopBY&feature=youtu.be
(Video above: Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) hears testimony in a U.S. Senate Committee hearing titled “Attacking America’s Epidemic of Heroin and Prescription Drug Abuse”)

WASHINGTON — With the head of U.S. drug policy sitting before him in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) on Wednesday stated a little-discussed fact: America’s porous borders are not only a national security and economic issue, they are contributing to an exploding heroin epidemic all across the country.

A revealing report by the Washington Post late last year detailed the rise of U.S. heroin use and the Mexican drug lords that keep the drug in ready supply.

A sophisticated farm-to-arm supply chain is fueling America’s surging heroin appetite, causing heroin to surpass cocaine and meth to become the nation’s No. 1 drug threat for the first time. As demand has grown, the flow of heroin — a once-taboo drug now easier to score in some cities than crack or pot — has changed, too.

Mexican cartels have overtaken the U.S. heroin trade, imposing an almost corporate discipline. They grow and process the drug themselves, increasingly replacing their traditional black tar with an innovative high-quality powder with mass market appeal: It can be smoked or snorted by newcomers as well as shot up by hard-core addicts.

They have broadened distribution beyond the old big-city heroin centers like Chicago or New York to target unlikely places such as Dayton. The midsize Midwestern city today is considered to be an epicenter of the heroin problem, with addicts buying and overdosing in unsettling droves. Crack dealers on street corners have been supplanted by heroin dealers ranging across a far wider landscape, almost invisible to law enforcement. They arrange deals by cellphone and deliver heroin like pizza.

Senator Sessions, known as a no-nonsense advocate of law and order, spent years in the U.S. Justice Department and as Alabama’s Attorney General. During that time, he saw first-hand how the justice system tackled with varying degrees of success the proliferation of illicit drugs.

“In the 1970s I became an Assistant United States Attorney and I was given 17 heroine cases to prosecute — they were small ones, the didn’t trust me with anything bigger — and it was almost all coming from Turkey,” Sessions recalled. “President Carter was very aggressive on that. I give him credit. I came back in 1981 as United States Attorney and we went several years before we saw a heroin case.”

Sessions also took aim at prescription drug abuse.

“We had some doctors (illegally dealing the drugs) and we had some pharmacists — which we didn’t expect,” he said. “The simple deal was, the DEA and the local police chief signed a one-page memorandum in my office that nobody would have a plea bargain on a prescription drug (charge) until they told us where it came from. It came from a very limited number of sources. And that problem of that particular drug was virtually eliminated in Alabama for a while.”

Sessions told those stories Wednesday as America’s top drug policy officials sat before him in a U.S. Senate Committee hearing titled “Attacking America’s Epidemic of Heroin and Prescription Drug Abuse.”

Sessions asked Michael Botticelli, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, if he believed “reduced price, high purity, and increased accessibility of heroin are the major drivers of the recent increase in rates of heroin use.”

Mr. Botticelli said those factors have indeed “significantly increased heroine use rates in the United States.”

“Well, I think that’s a good answer,” Sessions replied, “and the lack of enforcement at the border is a big part of this…We can impact supply—heroin at low prices and high purity on the streets [is] dangerous, and prosecutions are critical to this. People need to go to jail for pushing this kind of addictive power into our communities and destroying lives and families.”

.@SenatorSessions: America’s open borders are fueling an exploding heroin epidemic https://t.co/UMkQzunblE

— Cliff Sims (@Cliff_Sims) January 28, 2016

*This article has been updated to add a fourth candidate who qualified just before the deadline.*

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) has attracted a handful of challengers in his bid for a sixth term in the U.S. Senate, none of whom appear to pose a serious threat to the popular conservative closing out his career on his own terms.

First elected to the Alabama State Senate in 1970, Shelby went on to serve four terms in the U.S. House before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1987.

The anti-incumbent sentiment among the U.S. electorate has led to the defeat of several longtime incumbents in recent years, most notably former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Ms.) also barely survived a challenge last year.

But Shelby has insulated himself from similar issues by voting with his constituents — Heritage Action currently ranks him the third most conservative U.S. Senator and he has a lifetime A+ rating from the NRA and conservative immigration group Numbers USA — and by remaining accessible. Unlike many Senators, who only have to run for re-election once every six years, Shelby still maintains his primary residence in his home state and holds public town halls in every county in the state ever year (almost 2,000 and counting).

“I am running for the United States Senate because I’m not done fighting for Alabama,” Shelby told Yellowhammer. “My unmatched record of proven, conservative leadership puts me in the best position to stand up for Alabamians against big government policies in Washington. I have always and will continue to put Alabamians first.”

With all of that in mind, here’s what you need to know about the four Republicans challenging Alabama’s most powerful politician:

The Fairhope resident has only lived in Alabama for a few years. He manages regulatory affairs and compliance for Standard furniture manufacturing, according to an online bio. Bowman’s résumé also includes a stint managing transportation-policy research projects “for an Asian company located in Washington, D.C.,” where he lived prior to moving to the Yellowhammer State. He holds a Masters of Public Policy (MPP) from George Mason University and a B.S. in Finance and minor in Economics from Iowa State University.

His most recent political involvement was as chairman of the Baldwin County Young Republicans.

Martin is a Dothan resident who flew reconnaissance drones for the U.S. Army during the Iraq War.

Flying the RQ-7B in Iraq.

— John W. Martin (@kahuna22) January 9, 2010

Here’s how the Marines describe the RQ-7B Shadow that Martin flew:

The RQ-7B Shadow is designed to provide reconnaissance, relay communications and assist in target acquisition. The RQ-7B Shadow keeps an eye above the battlefield for extended periods of time, constantly relaying information between air and ground controls.

He has been a commercial pilot since returning from the Middle East.

Martin ran for Congress in 2008, only raising about $1,000 total.

Political insiders in the Wirgreass say Martin could serve as something of a stalking horse for Tea Party leader Becky Gerritson’s campaign in Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District by helping push up turnout among grassroots conservatives in that part of the state.

McConnell was Auburn University SGA President in 2004 before going on to serve as a Captain in the U.S. Marines from 2005 – 2008. He was stationed on the outskirts of Fallujah, Iraq in 2006 and later redeployed to the Syrian Border in 2007.

He now runs a maritime security firm called Meridian Global Consulting, protecting merchant ships from piracy.

McConnell is also the son of former Alabama Republican Party Chairman Roger McConnell, giving him some state party ties that other candidates may not have. The McConnell camp took some early hits, even before announcing his candidacy, after being turned away by dozens of elected officials and party leaders whose endorsements they sought ahead of his public announcement. Undeterred, McConnell is most likely angling to raise his name recognition for another run in the future.

Official announcement: Jonathan McConnell will be running as a Republican candidate for the 2016 US Senate race #McConnell2016 #ChangeforAL

— Jonathan McConnell (@mcconnell2016) November 6, 2015

In a 2010 election cycle that was very good for Alabama Republicans, McGill pulled off a stunning State Senate victory over longtime incumbent Democrat Lowell Barron, one of the Legislature’s most powerful members.

An otherwise unremarkable senate term was briefly interrupted when the McGills made national headlines in 2013. Sen. McGill’s wife took to Facebook to vent about women she says emailed or Facebook messaged her husband “inviting him to explore” and also “sending pictures of themselves.” Her post went viral, landing them on countless national websites and even resulting in a nationally-televised interview on ABC News.

Sen. McGill said the Facebook messages finally caused his wife’s frustrations to boil over after two strippers had previously come to his house in the middle of the night during his campaign.

“During the campaign, we had two strippers come to my house at 1 o’clock in the morning,” Sen. McGill recalled. “Me and my wife both got up to address the situation. They did inform me that they were strippers at a particular club in Huntsville. In my 35 years, I’ve never had that happen.”

He chose not to run for re-election in 2014, but is back now and will likely be angling for the support of Alabama’s large evangelical population.

Here’s what you need to know about the three Republicans challenging @SenShelby https://t.co/LzaRnStlWI

— Cliff Sims (@Cliff_Sims) November 7, 2015

On Friday, conservative talk radio icon Rush Limbaugh praised Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) for being one of the leading opponents of Loretta Lynch, President Obama’s nominee to succeed Eric Holder as U.S. Attorney General, declaring that Sessions is “the one who’s making the most sense about this.”

During one of Lynch’s confirmation hearings earlier this year, Sessions posed a simple question to her: “Who has more right to a job in this country, a lawful immigrant who’s here, a green card holder, or a citizen, or a person who entered the country unlawfully?”

It was an expected line of questioning from Sessions, who said last year that the Senate should reject any proposed replacement for current AG Eric Holder who supports the President’s immigration policies.

But even if the question was predictable, the answer was not.

“Well Senator, I believe the right and obligation to work is shared by everyone in this country, regardless of how they came here,” Lynch calmly replied.

In a single sentence, Lynch, by freely admitting she believes illegal immigrants have just as much of a right to American jobs as do U.S. Citizens, made immigration the central issue of her nomination. That, in turn, increased Sessions’ profile during her nomination process, and he has not held back.

Here’s an excerpt from a recent Sessions statement:

My concerns are furthered by Ms. Lynch’s unambiguous declaration that “the right and the obligation to work is one that’s shared by everyone in this country regardless of how they came here…”

Such a notion of civil rights, as Civil Rights Commission Member Peter Kirsanow articulated, is “incoherent and ahistorical.” Essential to civil rights is the equal and uniform application of the laws. When the President capriciously suspends those laws and provides benefits to people here unlawfully, he injures the rights of lawful workers—denying them the protections Congress passed to secure their jobs and wages.

We are at a dangerous moment. Professor Jonathan Turley described it as a “constitutional tipping point.” For the Senate to approve this nomination would bring us another step closer to the point’s edge.

Sessions’ Alabama colleague Sen. Richard Shelby has also been outspoken against Lynch’s nomination, telling Yellowhammer Radio recently that “she’s supposed to defend the Constitution, but what she wants to do is defend the President, and that’s wrong.

However, other Republicans, most recently Republican Presidential candidate Jeb Bush, have said Lynch should be confirmed.

“I side totally with Senator Sessions on this,” Limbaugh declared. “He is right on the money. Well spoken and brilliant on it… He thinks it is wrong to confirm somebody who is openly committed to breaking the law. He believes Eric Holder is lawless and President Obama is lawless, particularly in the area of immigration. And they are.

“We’re not enforcing existing immigration law. And since Obama cannot get a law he wants out of Congress, he’s prepared to do amnesty via executive order, which is outside the Constitution. He does not have the Constitutional authority, and yet he is going to do it and Eric Holder is right there with him. Lynch has promised to do the same thing. So Jeff Sessions, in describing why the President’s executive amnesty is lawless, says… ‘No senator should vote to confirm anyone in this position — the top law enforcement job in the country — who’s supported the President’s unlawful actions. Congress must defend it’s Constitutional role, which is clearly threatened.’ He’s encouraging all Republicans to oppose her because she has flat out admitted that she will engage in unlawful behavior.”

Limbaugh lamented the “Republican establishment’s” lackluster opposition to Lynch’s nomination and urged them to follow Sessions’ lead.

“(W)hat Jeff Sessions says never enters their calculations, and yet he’s the one who’s making the most sense about this.”

Like this article? Follow me on Twitter and let me know what you think.

— Cliff Sims (@Cliff_Sims) December 3, 2014

Here are two statements, both made on the floor of the United States Senate. One of them was delivered by the U.S. Senate’s most liberal Democrat, the other by one of the body’s most conservative members.

See if you can tell the difference.

Statement A:

I come to the floor today to ask a fundamental question: Who does Congress work for? Does it work for the millionaires, the billionaires, the giant companies with their armies of lobbyists and lawyers? Or does it work for all the people. People are frustrated with Congress… Mostly it’s because they see a Congress that works just fine for the big guys, but it won’t lift a finger to help them. If big companies can deploy armies of lobbyists and lawyers to get the Congress to vote for special deals that benefit themselves, then we simply confirm the view of the American people that the system is rigged.

Statement B:

Three of our greatest ‘Masters of the Universe,’ I like to refer to, have joined in an op-ed in the New York Times just last week to share their wisdom from on high and to tell us in Congress how to do our business…

Sheldon Adelson… Warren Buffett… and Bill Gates… all super billionaires, aren’t happy, apparently. They don’t have much respect for Congress, and by indirection the people who elect people to Congress, it appears by the tone of their article.

[…]

Those three billionaires have three votes. The individual who works stocking the shelves at the grocery store, the barber, the doctor, the lawyer, the cleaners operator, [and] the person who picks up our garbage are every bit as valuable as they are. So I know who I represent. I represent citizens of the United States of America…

Both statements take direct aim at the big-money special interests who average Americans increasingly believe are controlling the country. Statement A was made by Democrat Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the presidential candidate of choice for many in the Democratic Party’s far-left base. Statement B was made by Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions, whose conservative political positions could not place him any farther away from Warren’s views on the ideological spectrum.

So how is it that two pols who are diametrically opposed on basically every issue could sound so incredibly similar?

They’ve both — better than any other elected officials in the country — grasped the fact that “Americans of all stripes agree: The system is stacked against them.”

The Wall St. Journal’s Neil King lays out the results of a recent NBC-WSJ poll:

58 percent of Democrats; “51 percent of Republicans; 55 percent of whites; 60 percent of blacks; 53 percent of Hispanics; as well as decent majorities of every age and professional cluster, including blue-collar workers, white-collar workers and retirees” all hold that belief that America’s economic and political systems are stacked against them.

But, just like Sens. Warren and Sessions, there is significant disagreement among American voters about what should be done to rectify the inequities.

“A majority of Republicans who feel things are stacked against them say the government is doing too much,” King explained, “while an even larger majority of Democrats of similar mind think the government should do more.”

Sessions is proving that Republicans can compete and win by engaging this large and growing segment of the voting population. But while Sen. Warren enjoys “the biggest spread in positive goodwill” with that voting bloc, no potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate other than Sen. Rand Paul maintains a net positive image among them.

“Anyone running for the White House in 2016 will want to appeal to this huge block of the politically and economically alienated,” King said.

And Sessions is giving Republicans the blueprint for how to do it.

[h/t The Fix]

Like this article? Follow me on Twitter and let me know what you think.

— Cliff Sims (@Cliff_Sims) December 3, 2014

With the 2014 primary elections behind us, all attention is focused on the United States Senate, where the Democrats are clinging to a slim majority and facing a challenging electoral map.

Here’s a quick look at the 2014 U.S. Senate races by the numbers:
35: Number of seats up for re-election
21: Number of contested seats held by Democrats (60%)
6: Number of Senate seats Republicans need to win to regain control
6+: Average number of senate seats the minority Party normally gains in a midterm election in a president’s second term
7: Number of the contested seats held by a Democrat in a state Romney won last time

Those numbers have given Republicans a great deal of optimism this election cycle. But in Alabama, that optimism is multiplied by the fact that Alabama’s senators are well positioned to be major players in the next session of Congress, thanks in large part to senate rules, which heavily favor the senators who have served in the body the longest.

Alabama’s senior U.S. senator Richard Shelby will be the 7th most senior member of the United States senate when it convenes in January of 2015. Shelby entered the body in 1987.

Alabama’s junior U.S. senator Jeff Sessions will be either the 18th or 19th most senior member of the senate next year, depending on whether Democratic senator Mary Landrieu holds on to her hotly contested seat in Louisiana. (That looks unlikely at this point.) Sessions entered the body in 1997.

That means the average seniority of Alabama’s senators will be either 12.5 or 13. The only senate delegation that will eclipse that level of seniority is California’s, whose two senators will have an average seniority rank of 10.5.

So why does that matter?

In addition to perks like better office space and a desk closer to the front of the Senate Chamber, senior senators get plumb committee assignments and chairmanships.

If Republicans re-take the senate, Sen. Shelby will Chair the Banking Committee and be the second-ranking Republican on Appropriations. Sen. Sessions will chair the Budget Committee.

Back in April, Yellowhammer summarized how big of a deal that scenario would be:

If Republicans take control of the Senate in 2014, Alabama would likely be the only state with two chairmen of A-level committees. No other state has that level of seniority.

On top of that, the way that the Budget and Appropriations committees interplay with each other would create a unique situation in which Alabama’s senators would be playing leading roles in shaping U.S. economic policy. There’s a very realistic potential scenario in which one Alabamian (Sessions) sets the number for how much money the federal government has to spend, and another Alabamian (Shelby) plays a major role in how the money is spent.

That’s why it’s safe to say that Alabama stands to gain as much or more than any state in the country by a Republican takeover of the Senate.

Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims

The United States Senate began a five-week recess on Friday, in spite of it having not voted on a package to address the border crisis before leaving town.

But while the body as a whole is on vacation, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) remains in D.C., and even went to the floor of the empty Senate chamber today to address the American people and the President of the United States, urging him not to overstep the Constitutional bounds of his office.

“The immigration policies of President Obama are having a devastating effect on the classical American goal of a fair, lawful system of immigration that serves the national interests,” Sessions said to open his remarks. “He has directed federal immigration officers not to enforce plain law. He meets privately with pro-amnesty, open borders groups, and special interest business groups and promises to take even more action to erase law.”

Sessions derided the Obama Administration’s willingness to bend words — and even the Constitution itself — to advance their agenda.

I know this is a somewhat postmodern time where many believe words have no meaning except as they advance one’s agenda of the day. But, such approaches are wholly inconsistent with the founding concepts of America. We were founded on the belief that words do have meaning, that sound principles must be adhered to, and that truth is real and must be sought.

While we debate many issues and good people can disagree, surely we can all agree that at this moment we are in the United States Senate chamber and that it’s daylight outside. Those are matters not for debate else we are indeed through the “looking glass.” Likewise, surely it’s not a matter of debate, among Democrat or Republican, that the President cannot make law or nullify law. He just cannot.

Thus, we must in unity call on President Obama not to go through with his stated desire to eviscerate long and duly established American immigration law. What law might the next president ignore, bend, or nullify?

At that point Sessions spoke directly to President Obama, as well as the officials inside his Administration who are, in Sessions’ view, being asked by the president to break the law.

Mr. President, frustration and pique can result in hasty and unwise decisions. Please do not do this. And, to the officials and lawyers who have received this directive, you must always remember that your first duty is to the Constitution and the nation’s laws. Our history has been littered with events when officials have had to stand up for the Constitution and tell the President “no.” Usually, after a time, they cool down and back off. That’s what you must do now.

Sessions closed by appealing to the people, urging them to push back against the president’s lawlessness and to ask their senators where they stand on the issue.

My message to the American people today is this: you can stop this. We can stop this. We will not let this stand. And that fight begins with a vote on the House-passed bill to block this new executive action. The Senate cannot be allowed to surrender to the President’s lawlessness. I am calling today on every Senator to support this bill, and to demand Majority Leader Reid call it up for a vote…

And to every member of the public, red state or blue state or purple state, call your Senator and ask them where they stand. Ask them if they support the House bill to block executive amnesty and if they will demand it receive a vote. You are a citizen of this country and you are entitled to a clear answer to this question.

Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims