In tonight’s episode of Capitol Journal on Alabama Public Television, U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Alabama, talks about her vote on the $1.2 trillion federal spending bill approved late last week, six months into the federal fiscal year.
Britt is on the Senate Appropriations Committee and though Republicans are in the minority in that chamber, she said conservatives “got some really strong wins” in the funding package.
Britt was the only Republican from Alabama to vote for the bill. She said she wasn’t sent to Washington to kick the can down the road “but to roll up my sleeves and do the hard things.”
“I am incredibly frustrated by the lack of people’s willingness to do just that — their job. So if you look back, we actually finished our job on the Appropriations Committee in the Senate about 239 days before we actually finished passing these bills on Saturday at 2 a.m. And if you look at that, in that time period, (Senate Majority Leader Chuck) Schumer went 128 days without ever putting an appropriations bill on the floor. Now we did all 12 bills individually. We allowed for them to be marked up and we actually put it out for the public to see. And so the fact that people are reluctant to actually get in there and do their job has been incredibly frustrating.”
Passing budget bills six months into the fiscal year and relying on continuing resolutions to support federal agencies and workers shouldn’t be acceptable, she said.
“When we do these, it costs people more money,” Britt said. “We kick the can down the road and it doesn’t allow for predictability and strength across the globe. And so when you do talk to your members of Congress, encourage them to do their job and do it on time. That’s something that I think would make a significant change and would put the American people in a much stronger position.”
The funding bill also has a lot of wins for the state of Alabama and its people, Britt said.
“When you look at our servicemen and women across the nation and obviously here in Alabama, they got a 5.2% pay raise,” Britt said.
The funding bill included more than $6.2 billion for investments in Alabama, including money for projects at the military bases.
Britt said those investments will help keep those installations open in another base realignment and closure.
“… Every single dollar that we can invest into bases here in our state, not only do I believe is what is right for national defense, but I think it makes it more and more likely that we’ll be able to sustain those economic engines here in Alabama and be able to serve the country from those posts for years to come.”
Other spending in Alabama included the Port of Mobile and a hospital in Sheffield
“From the top to the bottom, from the Shoals, from Helen Keller Hospital, to the shores, we made sure that Alabama was well represented and I was proud of the over $7 billion that we secured for the state of Alabama to have secured over $1 billion of that myself.”
According to Punchbowl News’ analysis of the spending bill, U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville secured a $2.7 million earmark for a Demopolis storm shelter, but eventually voted against the bill.
Britt also talked about her recent “no” vote for more aid to Ukraine and other ways to support Ukraine in its attacks from Russia, funding for security efforts on the southern U.S. border and the pending legislation that would ban the app TikTok if its China-based owner doesn’t sell its stake.
She compared the app to a foreign spy device in people’s homes.
“We have to put up some guardrails to protect our children and protect their opportunity to grow,” Britt said.
Capitol Journal airs Fridays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 12:00 noon.
Below is a clip of Britt’s response to a question about Israel and recent comments from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.