Dear Mr. xxxxxx:

Good morning from Haleyville on this first SEC Football Saturday of the season.

I hope you’ve had a good August as summer wraps up and the kids have headed back to school.  As you may know, Congress goes into recess during August each year, simply meaning there are no votes during that time.

However, I've actually heard some commentators on TV says "lawmakers are on a month long vacation."  Well, nothing could be farther from the truth.  Our office in Washington and our four offices in the district are still open.  And the business of helping constituents goes on.  And I get an opportunity to travel across the district to hear the concerns of people here at home and talk to them about what's happening in Washington.

I'd like to share with you some of what has happened during this very busy August.

Reckless Taxing and Spending

President Biden and House Democrats passed a massive $750 billion tax and spend bill in the name of “inflation reduction.”

The law will cost small businesses an extra $52 billion in new taxes and American manufacturers hundreds of billions from the 15 percent tax on corporations, all while offering China more than $350 billion in green subsidies, as they control 80 percent of the rare earth elements used to make electric vehicles and solar panels.

This is the last thing our country needs as we continue to fight rising prices and inflation. We need to see common-sense conservative policies that work for Americans rather than against them.

Biden’s Student Loan “Forgiveness”

Last Wednesday we saw President Biden’s latest move to appease his base ahead of the midterm election by “forgiving” $10,000 in student loans for individuals making less than $125,000 per year. But let’s be clear, hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of student debt does not simply disappear with the stroke of a pen.  Think of the people who made a decision not to go to college and took up a successful trade instead.  Or the people who worked hard and paid back their student loans. President Biden now expects those people to pay for others' college degrees.

The President knows that this cost will further damage the economy and interrupt the legitimacy of lending by the government to future students. This harmful policy will set a precedent for individuals to borrow as much money as they can with the expectation that the government will cover their bill the next time a Democrat is elected president.

Artemis 1

At the time I'm sending this email out on Saturday morning, NASA is slated to launch Artemis I this afternoon from Cape Canaveral down in Florida.  (This of course could change, especially since the weather forecast isn't looking great.) Artemis 1 is the first of several missions aimed at putting American astronauts back on the moon and eventually on to Mars.

Artemis I will be an unmanned mission sending the Orion capsule around the moon in preparation for the first crewed mission. The capsule will ride on top of the Space Launch System (SLS), the largest and most powerful rocket ever built. That's right, even more powerful than the Apollo program's Saturn V.

As threats from China and Russia in space continue to mount, this mission is the first in the goal of establishing American permanence on the moon’s surface.  No one has walked on the moon since December of 1972, when the Apollo moon missions ended. This time when we go to the moon, we are planning to stay. 

Around The Fourth District in August

Rendering Plant Reversal

Caroline and I enjoyed visiting with the Gadsden community to discuss the successful efforts to reverse the plans for the poultry rendering plant on the municipal airport property.  This was a community effort to stop this project. I was happy to do what i could on the Federal level to express concerns about the proposal to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Rural Broadband in the 4th District

Last week we celebrated Tombigbee Electric’s Freedom Fiber expanding into Franklin County. As you may know, I have made expanding rural broadband a priority. This is a big step in the right direction towards my goal of making Alabama’s 4th District the most connected rural district in America.  Since I created the ReConnect Program within the USDA back in 2018, thousands of people in the 4th District have been connected to high-speed internet.

Young Farmers

I got a chance to speak and take questions from the Young Farmers Advisory Board at the annual Alabama Farm Credit meeting in Cullman.  We covered a lot of different topics that our farmers and ranchers are concerned with, especially with an administration in the White House that seems to want to introduce a lot of new regulations.

League of Municipalities

I gave a Washington update at the Alabama League of Municipalities 4th District meeting.  It was held in Guntersville.  Mayors, council members, county officials and elected leaders from across the 4th District were in attendance.  It's always good to meet with these folks because a lot of the funding we secure in Washington is put into action locally by them.

I'd also like to note it was good to see elected leaders from Florence and Lauderdale County at this event.  Because of redistricting due to population changes, starting officially on January 3rd, most of Florence, and the western half of Lauderdale County, will be in the 4th District.

Northwest Alabama Council of Local Governments

I also enjoyed getting to speak at the Northwest Alabama Council of Local Governments annual fish fry.  NACOLG does so much good in Northwest Alabama.  They are involved in so many projects that help the local community that it would be almost impossible to list them all here.  They serve people in Lauderdale, Colbert, Franklin, Winston and Marion Counties.  I look forward to this event every year and getting to visit with everyone.

Happy Fall

I hope it's not too early to wish everyone a Happy Fall.  By the time I send out my next newsletter it will be fall.  Also, September 1st marked the beginning of meteorological fall.  And as the top Republican on the House Appropriations Subcommittee that funds the National Weather Service, I fully embrace the idea of it being fall, now!

May God bless you and your loved ones.

Sincerely,


Robert B. Aderholt