By Paul DeMarco
With all of the national election results finally in, Republicans will now control the presidency and have majorities in both the United States Senate and House of Representatives. Most of the talk has been about Donald Trump returning to the White House and the leadership changes in the U.S. Senate.
With Republicans taking over the Senate, this will soon give President Trump the ability to get both his policy initiatives passed and his judicial nominees confirmed as he did his first term in office. Senator Tommy Tuberville will probably be the closest ally of President Trump in the Senate. Senator Katie Britt has become the appropriations workhorse for Alabama.
And with the GOP maintaining control of the House, Alabama is in a strong position the next session. Alabama’s U.S. Congressman Robert Aderholt and Mike Rogers will continue to serve in two of the more powerful roles in Washington D.C.
Representative Aderholt will continue to serve in his role as Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health & Human Services, and Education. which oversees funding the operations of some of the largest portions of the federal government. He is the dean of the Alabama delegation and one of a select Congressman who will lead the Nation’s budget decisions.
Representative Rogers serves as Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, which oversees ongoing military operations and the Department of Defense. For Alabama this is important considering how many military facilities sit in Alabama and citizens serve their country in the uniform.. The state will have one less Republican Congressman in the 119th Congress that convenes in January with the loss of Mobile’s Representative Jerry Carl after a new district was drawn and Democrat Shomari Figures was elected. Thus, Alabama’s House delegation will need the power of their two senior Congressman to deliver for the state.
There will be a lot of action in the Nation’s capital the next two years and with Representatives Aderholt and Rogers, Alabama will be in a good position.
Paul DeMarco is a former member of the Alabama House of Representatives and can be found on X, formerly Twitter, at @Paul_DeMarco