MONTGOMERY, Ala. — As the number-one issue for voters this election cycle, concerns around the economy and inflation will play a pivotal role in the outcome of the 2024 election. The candidates for Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District shared with Alabama Daily News what their approach would be to easing the economic squeeze on families.
Republican Caroleene Dobson and Democrat Shomari Figures are running to represent District 2, which stretches across lower Alabama, from Russell County to Mobile. The district was redrawn last year by order of a federal court, turning what has traditionally been a Republican stronghold for decades into a competitive, Democratic-leaning district.
Dobson: ‘We have got to cut the reckless government spending’
Dobson said that first and foremost, reducing federal government spending would be the first step in her approach, if elected, to cutting costs and bolstering the economy.
“To truly do anything meaningful about inflation, we have got to cut the reckless government spending,” Dobson told ADN.
“We certainly have funding needs that the federal government needs to address, many in the 2nd Congressional District, but we cannot be spending money recklessly, we need to really focus on funding that improves the lives of Alabama citizens.”
More specifically, Dobson pointed to the $7.5 billion included in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act for the construction of electric vehicle charging stations – $80 million of which will go toward Alabama – as wasteful spending, and suggested the money would be better spent on roads and sewage projects.
“We’ve got to focus on the basics and stop spending so recklessly because the more that the government spends, the more inflation will continue to rise,” she said.
Secondly, Dobson said increasing domestic energy production would also help to reduce the economic stress on Americans, and pointed to President Joe Biden’s decision to halt the construction of the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline in 2021 as a contributor to rising energy prices.
“One of the reasons that energy costs have risen 40% in the past three-and-a-half years is the fact that this administration has overregulated the energy industry,” she said.
And lastly, Dobson said cutting regulations on businesses would be her third primary approach to improving the economy and further cutting costs for Americans.
“And thirdly, we have to cut back the regulatory state,” she said. “The number of executive orders (and) regulations that have come out of this administration are a true burden to many businesses, to agriculture, to manufacturing. That’s continuing to drive up prices for the average consumer.”
Dobson also pledged to, if elected, make the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which is set to expire next year, permanent.
Often referred to as the ‘Trump tax cuts,’ the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act reduced income taxes in all but the lowest income tax bracket, and reduced the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%.
The landmark legislation of the Trump administration was pitched as an economic stimulus bill that, while projected to cost $1.9 trillion over ten years, would eventually pay for itself and then some through increased investments, wages and economic growth.
While the tax cuts did boost investment into the U.S. economy, in some cases significantly so, tax revenues fell short of projections, with the cuts estimated to cost roughly $400 billion a year beginning in 2027. Trump’s projection that the cuts would result in an average annual wage increase of $4,000 also fell short, which, according to a recent study from the National Bureau of Economic Research, were closer to $750.
Still, some models, such as one developed by the Cato Institute, a Libertarian think tank, using data from the Tax Foundation show the tax cuts would pay for themselves by 2033.
“The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was huge in ensuring that small businesses can continue to grow and flourish, and that’s what makes up a large part of the economy in this 2nd Congressional District,” she said.
“It’s a district that’s made up by and large of a lot of small towns and rural communities, and we have got to fight for our small business owners.”
One area where Dobson differed slightly from Trump’s platform was on tariffs, with Trump pledging a tariff of at least 10% on all imports.
In a break from the past few decades of American presidents, Trump has repeatedly leaned into, at least rhetorically, enacting tariffs on imported goods, particularly from China, as a tool to boost domestic manufacturing.
Tariffs on imported goods were more commonplace between 1947 through the 1970s, resulting in stable trade when considering imports and exports. A deficit emerged, however, in the 1980s with the abandonment of protectionist trade policies.
Not only has that deficit ballooned since then, with the United States’ trade deficit in 2023 at $773.4 billion, but American manufacturing suffered as a result, at least in part, with the loss of approximately 7.5 million manufacturing jobs since 1980.
Dobson, while noting that she, echoing Trump’s words, was a proponent of “fair trade,” suggested that a flat tariff on all imports could financially harm Alabama businesses, many of which, like Hyundai, Austal and Airbus, are headquartered in other countries, and thus, often use imported goods and services.
“We’re so grateful for these companies, private foreign investors that have seen the value in investing in Alabama, they’re very much integral to the communities, to education in our state,” she said.
“I’m a proponent of fair trade that incentivizes our Alabama manufacturers and ensures that our manufacturing strength can be restored, but not to the extent that it stymies the growth of the companies in Alabama that are creating so much opportunity because a lot of our economic opportunity in the 2nd Congressional District is tied to companies that utilize parts from different places throughout the world.”
Figures ‘Increasing (health care) access increases our ability to be economically viable’
When asked what role Congress should play in improving the economy and lowering prices, Figures first named targeting price gouging as among his first targets.
“Congress’ role I think is to ensure the United States is implementing and enforcing sound fiscal policies and strategies at the government spending level and also making sure that companies are playing fair as it relates to consumers and not just jacking up prices because they can,” Figures told ADN.
He also said addressing the national debt, which as of October was $35.8 trillion, would be a priority of his as well if elected, and that it could be accomplished without making cuts to social safety net programs or defense.
How to actually accomplish that, Figures said, was to shift a greater share of federal investments toward revenue-generating items like infrastructure.
“We have to do everything that we can to make sure that we’re living within our means, which I think we can do without sacrificing the programs that are needed by so many people in this country like Social Security, like Medicare, like making sure that we’re in a strong position for national security and defense,” he said.
“So we can do these things and still make investments that are likely to produce revenue at the end of the day, like infrastructure projects, like the dredging of the port here in Mobile, expanding our airport capacity, building a new bridge; these are all investments from the federal government side that will generate revenue for the federal government.”
Another major factor in bolstering the economy, Figures said, was expanding health care access, particularly in Alabama, which remains one of 10 states yet to expand its Medicaid program under the 2010 Affordable Care Act.
Figures has regularly campaigned on working to see Medicaid expanded in the state during his campaign. While the authority to expand the program rests only with the governor and state lawmakers, Figures has pledged to reauthorize and potentially expand federal incentives for states to do so if elected.
As to how expanded access to health care would improve the economy, Figures said that beyond the increased health care spending that would come with Medicaid expansion, a lack of access to health care serves as a significant deterrent for capital investment.
“We have six counties in this district that don’t have hospitals, and just in this race we’ve had four hospitals close in counties that make up this district; so what does that mean and how does it relate to the economy?” he said.
“Well it’s this: in order to bolster your economy, you’ve got to have jobs; in order to have jobs, you’ve got to be able to recruit and retain businesses, and that’s a very tough recruiting pitch to make when it begins with ‘we don’t have a hospital.’”
Alabama has seen a number of hospitals either close their doors or shutter services in recent months, particularly in the state’s rural counties, which cover a majority of the state. As of July, at least 34 of Alabama’s 52 rural hospitals reported financial losses on services, with 28 at risk of closing, and 24 at immediate risk of closing, according to a report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform.
By further incentivizing Alabama to expand its Medicaid program, Figures argues, those at-risk hospitals, who often foot the bill for uninsured patients, could remain financially sound, and thereby, boost interest in said communities for economic investment.
“Increasing that access increases our ability to be economically viable and attractive,” he said. “So that’s why one of the first things that I want to dive into in Congress is how we can get these hospitals back open in these rural communities.”
On the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Figures said some of its components, particularly when it came to businesses, should be preserved.
“There were benefits there that allowed business owners such as myself and others to be able to take that money and reinvest it into the business, to be able to help grow and increase output and opportunities and hire more people,” he said. “That’s ideally what we like to see done.”
However, regarding the income tax provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which saw an overwhelming share of the benefit go to the highest earners, Figures suggested those should be allowed to expire, or at the very least, adjusted.
“We know that the Trump tax cuts benefited overwhelmingly not the average working man and woman, that the largest benefits went to the people who make the most, and that is something that we have to understand,” he said.
“For them to benefit at the expense of revenue to things like Social Security, Medicare (and) Medicaid, that’s something we have to seriously assess in terms of securing our future, especially for our seniors and vulnerable populations.”
According to the Tax Policy Center, households with incomes in the top 1% will receive an average tax cut of more than $60,000 in 2025, with those in the bottom 60% projected to receive less than $500. The total value of tax cuts for those in the top 5% are projected to be more than triple the value of those enjoyed by those in the bottom 60%.
“When a police officer, a soldier in the Army, a firefighter, when a teacher goes to file their taxes, they don’t get the benefit of all these fancy tax exemptions, loopholes and rebates,” Figures said. “So we have to understand that people have to pay their fair share.”