Presented by the Alabama Farmers Federation
Good morning! MIKE MIKE MIKE MIKE, guess what day it is? It’s Hump DAAaay! Hope your week is going well. Here’s your Daily News for Wednesday, June 27, 2018.
1. Big day at SCOTUS.
[The picture above is from the “running of the interns,” in which news organizations challenge their interns to be the first to relay hard copies of Supreme Court decisions back to eager correspondents. Congrats to ABC’s Liz Brown-Kaiser.]
The high court mades some big rulings yesterday, so let’s get into it.
Travel Ban
- The Supreme Court affirmed the president’s authority to regulate immigration. In a 5-4 ruling, the court ruled that the law grants “ample power” to the president on “decisions whether and when to suspend entry, whose entry to suspend, for how long, and on what conditions.”
- Remember that the “travel ban” in question is the third iteration. The Trump Administration cleaned it up after two false starts.
- It heavily restricts travel and immigration from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen – all countries known as hotbeds for terrorism. Read more in USA Today HERE.
Abortion [but really more speech]
- The Court also struck down a California law requiring pro-life crisis pregnancy centers to inform their patients of free and low-cost abortion options.
- The issue came to be one of free speech.
- Solicitors asked, “Can the government impose and compel a faith-based ministry to proclaim a message that they are fundamentally opposed to with the risk of being fined or shut down?”
- The Court said no, it can’t. Read more HERE.
You can read the rulings for yourself, and you don’t even need an intern to fetch them!
The ruling for the travel ban is HERE and the abortion/speech ruling is HERE.
2. Where is immigration?
- The House of Representatives is going to vote on a “compromise” comprehensive immigration bill today.
- That bill will fail, according to most everyone I’m in touch with on Capitol Hill.
- Remember that a more hard-lined approach also failed last week.
- It’s embarrassing for House Republicans, but apparently Speaker Ryan promised both camps a vote.
- They’ll likely pick up the pieces and pass a bill specific to the family separation issue in short order.
- Everyone gets to tell their constituents they tried to tackle the big issue and got something done on the more immediate one.
- NEW THIS MORNING, the Department of Justice is saying Congress needs to fix the immigration issue after a judge ruled that the separated families must be reunited.
Brooks’ bill is up
- Speaking of voting, the House is scheduled to vote on Congressman Mo Brooks’ bill designating NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville “to provide leadership to the U.S. rocket propulsion industrial base.”
- H.R. 5345, the American Leadership in Space Technology and Advanced Rocketry (ALSTAR) Act expresses the sense of Congress that Marshall Space Flight Center should help coordinate and collaborate rocket propulsion activities for the public and private sector.
- That’ll be a feather in the cap for North Alabama, especially given the competition going on for rocket systems at the moment. And the Space Force, of course.
- Read more about Brooks’ bill HERE.
????A Message from the Alabama Farmers Federation????
- The Alabama Farmers Federation expresses its sincere appreciation to U.S. Reps Aderholt, Brooks, Byrne, Palmer, Roby, and Rogers for supporting the H.R. 2, the Agriculture and Nutrition Act, commonly known as the farm bill.
- The bill was approved by the full House on June 21, and authorizes agricultural and nutrition programs for the next five years. Agriculture is a $70 billion industry in our state, and all of this economic activity starts on the farm.
- The farm bill helps farmers mitigate many of the risks and challenges that are inherent to farming.
- The bill also authorizes essential funding for many programs to enhance the quality of life in rural Alabama such as expanding broadband access. Alabama consumers also benefit from the policies that keep our food supply safe and affordable.
- The Senate is expected to take up its version of the farm bill as soon as this week.
3. Steve Marshall speaks.
- The funeral services for Bridgette Marshall, wife of Attorney General Steve Marshall, are set for Friday in Boaz.
- She died Sunday after what the AG’s office described as “a long battle with mental illness.”
- There has since been an outpouring of support from within the political community and far beyond it.
- Later this morning, AG Marshall is planning to talk to the media in Albertville to answer questions and maybe steer coverage away from the family a little.
- It’s a shame that he has to.
- The family has requested that, in lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Shepherd’s Cove Hospice. That’s a local organization Mrs. Marshall was passionate about, volunteering her time to help families facing end-of-life situations.
- See ways to give online HERE.
4. Skip Tucker: Here’s a book and please share the hemlock.
- I like it when Skip Tucker writes about the old days.
- In his latest piece for Alabama Daily News, Skip tells the story of Congressman Carl Elliot, a Jasper native who helped put Walker County on the map.
- He was a statesman in Skip’s eyes, the likes of which we don’t have enough of these days. Here’s an excerpt:
As a young man, Carl would walk a couple of miles to borrow books from a neighbor. He’d return them and get two more.
Carl told me once that a book lives longer than anything man ever built. Carl read books, studied them and wrote them.
By the time he left the U.S. Congress, he’d authored and passed one of the most important pieces of legislation ever to come out of those hallowed halls: the National Defense Education Act. It served and serves as the basis for funding for libraries and bookmobiles.
Anyone who has gotten a book from a library has, in large part, Carl Elliott to thank.
- Elliot also had some things in common with Socractes. You’ll have to read to find out what, though. Check it out HERE.
5. News Briefs
Crazy election last night
- Mitt Romney is going to be a U.S. Senator, unless something crazy happens. President Trump congratulated him on Twitter, which is everything.
- Congressman Joe Crowley, the Democratic Caucus Chairman, went down in a stunning primary defeat last night. It speaks to what I wrote yesterday about the growing dissatisfaction with establishment Democrats on the political Left.
- Republicans spared themselves some embarrassment and maybe an election loss by nominating New York Congressman Dan Donnovan instead of former Congressman Michael Grim, who is a convicted felon and kind of a jerk.
We’re still in debt
- The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that federal debt compared to the size of the economy will reach 78 percent this fiscal year, the highest level in nearly seven decades.
- The debt will grow even as government revenue flattens out in the next few years. Meanwhile, spending on Social Security and Medicare is projected to take a larger share of the pie.
- More of the government’s spending will be dedicated to servicing the debt, to the point that interest payments will about equal spending on Social Security in 30 years.
Tarrifs
- Gov. Kay Ivey is still going there on tariffs.
- She is telling the Trump Administration that its trade policies could result in as many as 4,000 lost jobs in Alabama, particularly in the auto industry. That’s a lot.
- She said all this in a letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and mentioned it to Vice President Pence in person. You can read more about it HERE.
Headlines
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Skip Tucker: Carl Atwood Elliot: Here’s a book and please share the hemlock.
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Supreme Court upholds travel ban.
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Opening statements begin in bribery trial.
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Paul Ryan sets House vote on immigration.
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Budget analysts give grim projections for US debt.
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – Upset of Democratic Caucus leader points to party divisions.
ALABAMA DAILY NEWS – DOJ says Congress must fix immigration after judge’s order.
MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER – Checkers plans three Montgomery locations.
MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER – ACT scores, college-career ready gap highlights Montgomery’s magnet/nonmagnet disparity.
MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER – Police officer resigns after criminal case dropped.
YELLOWHAMMER NEWS – Jeff Poor: Trump is getting hammered in the tariff public relations fight in Alabama.
YELLOWHAMMER NEWS – Pepper Bryars: Why conservatives need a (partially) viable Democratic party in Alabama.
DECATUR DAILY – Alabama 42nd in Kids Count, but has best performance since 1990.
DECATUR DAILY – Morgan joins national mental health program.
TUSCALOOSA NEWS – Expert: Health insurance is critical for kids to thrive in school.
GADSDEN TIMES – Ivey visits Little Canoe Creek AdvantageSite, offers praise.
ANNISTON STAR – Failed and jailed: Lack of mental health resources can lead to tragic outcomes.
ANNISTON STAR – Force of ideas triumphs over force of insults.
AL.COM – Bribe or no bribe? Opening statements in Drummond, Balch & Bingham officials’ trial.
AL.COM – Columnist John Archibald: Alabama bribery trial will be a spectator sport.
AL.COM – Ivey tells Trump Administration Alabama could lose 4,000 jobs due to tariffs.
AL.COM – Alabama leaders scramble against migrant tent city plan.
AL.COM – CNHI, Alabama-based newspaper chain, up for sale.
AL.COM – Sen. Doug Jones helps pass legislation to hold VA nursing homes accountable.
AL.COM – Three years after Supreme Court ruling, at least 8 Alabama counties won’t issue marriage licenses.
WASHINGTON POST – Travel-ban ruling could embolden Trump in remaking the U.S. immigration system.
WASHINGTON POST – A top House Democrat loses in upset; Trump extends his winning streak in GOP primaries.
WASHINGTON POST – To Trump, Harley’s tariff decision is a personal — and unexpected — betrayal.
NEW YORK TIMES – Sonia Sotomayor Delivers Sharp Dissent in Travel Ban Case