Dear Friend,
Here is a quick update with the latest in what is happening in Washington and around Alabama's 4th District. As always, please let me know whenever I can be of assistance. Keep in touch and remember to follow me on Twitter and Facebook. Also, for updated information check out my virtual office and encourage your friends and family to sign-up for my monthly e-newsletter, the Aderholt Address.
Sincerely,
Robert B. Aderholt
Member of Congress
A New Year and A New Congress
On January 6th I took the oath of office for the 114th session of Congress. With the start of the new Congress, I am more hopeful than I have been in quite some time that with the help of a Republican controlled Senate and the majority of Republicans in the House, we can make substantive, conservative change for our nation and chart a new course away from the President’s executive overreach and liberal policies that we have seen.
Fighting Executive Amnesty
As I’m sure many of you are aware, in November of last year, President Obama decided to circumvent the constitutional responsibility of Congress and issue his own decree concerning immigration policy here in the United States. His executive actions granted de-facto amnesty for almost five million people living in the U.S. illegally. Not only do I believe the President overstepped his constitutional authority, as do many others, I also see his actions as ultimately unfair to those who are waiting to go through our immigration system legally.
Members of my staff I and talked to many of you about this and we discussed ways to push back on the unilateral action by the President. With that in mind, my staff and I worked over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays preparing legislation to stop this overreach. On the second day of the new term, I introduced legislation that would reverse the President’s executive action. It not only defunds the President’s Executive Amnesty but also removes the President’s discretion to grant work permits, Social Security, and other federal benefits to those here unlawfully. My legislation also puts limits on the President’s future ability to enact similar wide-reaching actions that would circumvent Congress. It returns legislating authority to where it rightfully belongs: the legislative branch.
I can report that what has become known as the "Aderholt-Mulvaney Amendment" passed the House and has been added to the funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security. This amendment defunds the President’s Executive Amnesty programs and passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 236 to 191. It is under consideration in the Senate.
Inauguration Day in Alabama
On January 19th I had the honor and privilege of attending the inauguration ceremony in Montgomery. This is a once-every-four-year event; it is always special. While I serve our state on the federal level, it takes a lot of cooperation on the state and local level to get things done and make life better for Alabamians. I congratulate Governor Bentley and the other constitutional officers of the state of Alabama as they begin to serve our state this term. Being in Montgomery also gave me the opportunity to reconnect with Alabama state leaders like Governor Bentley, Lt. Governor Kay Ivey, various state legislators, and constitutional officers. I know that our state and nation will face many challenges during the next few years and I look forward to working with my colleagues in Montgomery on the issues that impact our state.
The inaugural parade is a great tradition and featured several marching bands from schools across the 4th District and the state. The schools whose bands were featured, in order of appearance, were Brookwood High School, Walker High School, Gadsden City High School, Haleyville High School, Marion County High School, Albertville High School, Arab High School, and Muscle Shoals High School.
As someone who had the privilege to march in the governor’s inauguration back in January of 1979, I appreciate the students, band directors, teachers, principals and parents who helped make the day special and represented the 4th District so well. Also, luckily the weather on inauguration day was picture-perfect. It was a much different story when I marched in that same parade back in 1979. Did I mention we marched in the snow, uphill both ways? At least it seemed that way.
