Congressman Bradley Byrne lacks a challenger in this year’s election, so he’s able to spend his recess time back home reaching out to constituents and hearing what issues are important to voters across the 1st Congressional District.

Byrne said some issues he’s been fighting for have continued to be sticking points that he will continue to fight for, especially the proposed I-10 Bridge.

“Honestly, we’ve got everyone agreed on the need for this project,” Byrne said. “We’ve been able to bring together people from across the Gulf Coast region to address this traffic issue that affects all of us. This project is in Alabama, but the effects of the traffic going through Mobile are felt throughout the region.”

Byrne said the project is moving forward at the federal level and environmental impact studies that languished for eight years are now being done.

“We’ve expedited some of these studies and issues federally, but the ball is really with the state now,” Byrne said. “80 percent of the funding on this will likely come from federal sources, but the remaining 20 percent has to come from Alabama – and with some of the current budget issues the state is facing, that seems to be a problem we’re going to have to overcome.”

Byrne has also fought to extend the red snapper fishing season, an important issue to fishermen and charter boat captains here on the Gulf Coast.

“Our bill passed the House, but it’s still sitting in the Senate with about 300 other bills that they have yet to pass,” Byrne said. “And it looks unlikely they will pass it this term.”

Byrne said he’s working with Alabama’s senators and other regional Congressional members to help change the makeup of the research teams that provide the studies the federal government is using as its basis for shortening the seasons.

“We want to bring a northern Gulf regional approach to the science instead of bringing in researchers from Miami,” Byrne said. “If you get people who know this area in, you get the right numbers of fish. Right now, their researchers are vastly undercounting the fish and incredibly overcounting the catch, and that’s why we’re in the situation we are.”

Byrne said the No. 1 issue over the last few years has been the shipyard in Mobile, namely the LCS vessels being built for the U.S. Navy.

“I have to fight every year for the appropriation,” Byrne said.

Byrne said most of the criticism with the LCS program has been from other legislators who want those defense dollars going toward projects in their districts.
“They want the money going toward missiles that are built there or other items being built by contractors in their districts,” Byrne said. “Building those ships brings around 4,500 direct jobs and numerous indirect jobs to this region and we’re building ships that the Navy has said they want. I wouldn’t be pushing for these ships if the Navy said they didn’t want them but they’re excited to get to add them to the fleet.”

Byrne said one focus of his next term in office will be addressing poverty issues, especially in rural areas.

“We hear a lot about poverty in the urban areas and our cities, but there is also poverty that goes on in rural areas and there isn’t enough attention being paid to that,” Byrne said. “There aren’t as many organizations and programs aimed at those areas, so there are needs out there that are having difficulty being met.”

Byrne said he’s spent the last few months touring and talking with local organizations who work with people below the poverty line, including Habitat for Humanity, Baldwin County United Way, Prodisee Pantry and Catholic Social Services. He praised the organizations for their continued efforts and said he wants to make it easier for them to be able to help people.

“There is great work being done by these nonprofits, especially faith-based nonprofits and we need to change some of our regulations to help them better be able to access people in order to help them,” Byrne said.

Byrne said he’s also been working with legislators on both sides of the aisle to address educational opportunities to help people get training to get better jobs.

“We’re working hard to attract high-paying jobs to the area, but people still have to have skills and education to get those jobs,” Byrne said. “We need to give people opportunities to gain those skills, to learn how to do those jobs so that we can provide ways for them to lift themselves out of poverty.”

Byrne said despite public perception of Congress being in a constant gridlock and unable to move anything forward, the reality is completely different.

“We’ve actually been able to move some important pieces of legislation forward this last term with support from both parties,” Byrne said. “We were able to reauthorize the elementary and secondary education resolution that became the Every Student Succeeds Act, which help correct a lot of the damage done by No Child Left Behind,” Byrne said. “We were also able to pass a five-year highway bill for the first time in many years, and that helps us start to address many of the infrastructure problems we have across the country.”