Rep. Robert Aderholt, left, speaks to Colony Mayor Donnis Leeth at Wednesday's breakfast meeting.
CULLMAN – On Wednesday morning, political and business leaders from all over Cullman County met at the Cullman Area Chamber of Commerce to hear U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Alabama (Alabama’s 4th District) speak about what citizens can expect to see in Washington as President-Elect Donald Trump takes office Friday and his administration gets underway.
Aderholt first took time to reflect on the Nov. 2016 elections, stating, "They were historical in many ways. First of all, the House, the Senate and the president went to Republican control, as we know. This has only happened twice since World War II. The average length of when the Republicans had the majority of the House, the Senate and the presidency has been about 3.5 years. So, the bottom line is, Republicans understand time could be of the essence, time could be limited, and we must have a good strategy, and we must not make a misstep."
He shared the numbers in the House and Senate:
House–241 Republicans, 194 Democrats
Senate–52 Republicans, 46 Democrats, two independents who caucus with Democrats
Aderholt noted that these numbers are surprising to many, as Republicans were predicted to lose several more congressional seats than they did.
He shared interesting information and statistics about presidential inaugurations and the upcoming inauguration of Trump. The ceremony will take place at noon on Friday, Jan. 20. It will be the 58th U.S. presidential inauguration, and will make Trump the 45th president. Up to 800,000 people are expected to attend, and the event is predicted to draw up to 400,000 pro- and anti-Trump demonstrators
Of Trump's cabinet and other appointments, Aderholt stated, "After Jan. 20, the Trump-Pence administration will have a full agenda, getting their appointees into place into different agencies. As you know, the hearings have already started. Our own Jeff Sessions had his hearing last week for attorney general. The administration is currently focused on trying to get those appointees through the Senate confirmation. Yesterday we had the secretary of education that was before the Senate, and the secretary of the interior that was before the Senate. Those two, I'm sure, will continue on."
Aderholt noted that, while the Senate has already been seated and is at work, it cannot vote on these appointments until after the presidential inauguration. As a result, any confirmation votes are likely at least a week away.
He then shared the list of recommended appointees and their prospective posts:
- Commerce – Wilbur Ross
- Defense – Gen. James Mattis
- Education – Betsy DeVoss
- Energy – Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas
- Health and Human Services – Rep. Tom Price M.D., R-Georgia
- Homeland Security – Gen. John F. Kelly
- Housing and Urban Development – Dr. Ben Carson
- Interior – Rep. Ryan Zinke, R- Montana
- Justice – Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Alabama
- Labor – Andrew Pudzer
- No nominee has been named for Secretary of Agriculture
- Office of Management and Budget – Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-South Carolina
- CIA – Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kansas
After walking the audience through the confirmation process, he gave an overview of the Trump administration's top five priorities in its first 100 days:
- Reversing Pres. Obama's regulations and executive orders
- Tax relief and tax simplification
- Infrastructure legislation
- Repealing and replacing Obamacare
- Immigration reform
He explained a little about each, and stated, "Those are all things that are very high priority, and I think in the first hundred days you'll see most, if not all, of those addressed."
And exactly how is Trump planning to repeal the actions of the Obama administration? Aderholt laid out three means:
- Budget resolutions and a budget reconciliation bill
- Cabinet appointments, using expanded powers Obama granted to those posts
- Passing legislation through Congress
On the matter of reversing the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), Aderholt explained that Obamacare will begin to be repealed first through House and Senate through a budget reconciliation bill, as this can pass with the simple majority that Republicans have in the Senate. He was also careful to note that the goal of the Obamacare repeal is not simply to scrap the idea, but to replace it with something better.
"The healthcare replacement plan that I mentioned, that will happen about the time of the repeal, it will be almost simultaneously, as much as possible,” said Aderholt. “You can imagine, when you're trying to revamp an entire healthcare system, it's not going to be easy; but that's something we want to make sure that doesn't impact anybody in a negative way. And certainly, that's one thing that I want to do, is try to make sure that people of our district and people of Alabama are not penalized, and make sure they make a smooth transition if they did have Obamacare, to make sure they get onto a new Republican plan that'll be better."
He mentioned a few changes Republicans hope to include in a replacement plan:
- Allowing insurance companies to operate across state lines
- Expanded health care savings accounts
- A tax credit to help make coverage more affordable
- High risk pools for individuals with pre-existing conditions
Aderholt also addressed the issue of federal funding for Planned Parenthood.
"Planned Parenthood–the money that they have been receiving, those monies will be cut off as much as possible . . . A lot of people have been very frustrated, as I have been, that Planned Parenthood has received billions of dollars, and we want to invest this money in trying to help community health clinics and not just abortion clinics. And so, we're trying to re-route that money for community health clinics that can help people no matter what their needs are, instead of just focusing on abortion."
Aderholt gave a realistic assessment of issues in the Senate, where passage of most legislation requires 60 votes, but where Republicans only hold a small majority of 52 seats. He said that Trump will personally visit states that went for him in 2016 but who have Democratic congress members up for re-election in 2018. He hopes to put pressure on those legislators, especially senators, to "cross the aisle" on votes.
Aderholt finished with a brief view of the upcoming Supreme Court nomination, saying that Trump wants to act on that in his first two weeks, and that he has pledged to "get conservative judges that want to read the law as it's written." He noted that former Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor is rumored to be on Trump's short list of potential nominees.
Aderholt concluded, "We're pretty optimistic that as we start into this process that things will look good and, hopefully, we'll be able to accomplish some things real quickly."
After his presentation, Aderholt answered a few questions on various topics. A few brief highlights from his comments are below.
Infrastructure investment:
"We're all for trying to spend money to help create better infrastructure. What we want to be sure we do is not spend so much that we are putting ourselves deeper and deeper in debt. Infrastructure is very important, and we need to do a better job of putting infrastructure in place, but at the same time we have to be mindful that we can't just borrow another billion dollars and add that to our debt, and play like it's not there."
Getting federal money from large cities to "small-town America:”
"Donald Trump owes his victory to rural America, and so I can tell you I think he's going to be very committed to that."
Passing a federal budget:
"We have not even been able to pass a budget resolution over the past several years, because there's been so much frustration. I think now everybody's more on the same team, because we can do that with a simple majority."
Hanceville Mayor Kenneth Nail expressed hope that Aderholt might be appointed to replace Jeff Sessions as senator, a sentiment that brought a round of applause from the audience. Aderholt indicated that he has spoken to Gov. Robert Bentley about this already.
He added, "He wants to put the right person in, and I want him to put the right person in. My only suggestion to you is to keep me in your prayers, and if it's the right thing, then hopefully that door will open up. But if it's not, then hopefully it'll be closed."
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