7. Governor Ivey and other elected officials are ready to make a push for a full census count to protect Alabama’s House seats
— Ivey, Alabama Senate President Pro Tempore Del Marsh (R-Anniston), Speaker of the Alabama State House Mac McCutcheon (R-Monrovia) and Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange will join VOICES for Alabama Children at a rally on the lawn of the Alabama state capitol at 11 a.m. on April 2. There are hundreds of children that are expected to attend, and participants of the rally will encourage state legislators to provide proper funding and resources to guarantee a complete count of people in the 2020 census. The proper count of Alabama citizens will have an impact on federal representation, Electoral College votes and federal funding.
6. Joe Biden is still trying to decide if he’ll join the 2020 presidential race despite allegations that he has acted inappropriately with women
— Lucy Flores, a one-time Democratic nominee for Nevada’s lieutenant governor, has accused former Vice President Joe Biden of touching and kissing her without her consent during her 2014 campaign. Flores said that the experience left her feeling mortified, embarrassed and confused. Sunday, Biden responded to these allegations by saying that he doesn’t think he’s ever acted inappropriately toward women but will listen respectfully to suggestions he did. In response to the allegations, Kellyanne Conway said, “If anybody just types in ‘Creepy Uncle Joe Videos’ you come up with a treasure trove,” drawing attention to the many times Biden has been caught on camera showing affection to women and them clearly being uncomfortable. However, Biden is still considering running for president in 2020.
5. The House will vote on a resolution condemning the Trump administration’s efforts to repeal Obamacare
— House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced that the House will vote on the resolution to condemn the Trump administrations efforts to repeal ObamaCare this week. On Friday, Pelosi wrote a statement saying, “This week, the Trump Administration decided not only to try to destroy protections for Americans living with pre-existing conditions, but to declare all-out war on the health care for hard-working families across the country.” This comes after President Trump said that the GOP will become the party of healthcare after the Trump administration backed a ruling that overturned ObamaCare.
4. Illegal gambling continues in Jefferson County and the sheriff seems uninterested in addressing it
— After Walker County’s new sheriff went after illegal gambling in his county and drew the praise of Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall for doing so, attention shifted over to lawbreaking in Jefferson County. Democrat Sheriff Mark Pettway’s inaction on the issue may have something to do with the fact that his brother is in the gambling business. Bruce Pettway was one of four individuals granted the license to operate electronic bingo, which is really just slot machines with extra steps, in the city of Graysville. Further motivating inaction, Pettway’s bingo casino will be in a closed Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse that will have 3,000 electronic bingo machines and will pay the city $300,000 per month.
3. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) continues to pretend voter suppression is an issue and has yet to offer any evidence to back up his claims
— Without evidence, Jones seized on a tedious Democrat talking point alleging voting is getting harder. The senator said, “In the last few years we’ve seen a whole segment of our population that have had their voting rights restricted.” He has promoted a bill Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has called the “Incumbent Protection Act.” Secretary of State John Merrill has repeatedly noted that this is not an issue in Alabama. He has sought the input of both Jones and Congresswoman Terri Sewell (D-Birmingham) and has yet to be told of suppression issues. Media continue to uncritically boost this non-story.
2. As Doug Jones wants to keep ObamaCare, he is considered the most vulnerable senator in 2020
— Last week, President Donald Trump declared that healthcare would be a battlefield in the near future as the administration supports a move to rule ObamaCare unconstitutional. Jones thinks this is a bad call He called out the president and repeated his support for the unpopular law, advising, “Each time a new assault on the law is launched, folks get scared all over again wondering how they’ll be able to get the vital care they need.” Statements like this and his almost lockstep voting record with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) are some of the reasons he finds himself considered the most vulnerable senator in 2020.
1. President Donald Trump may close the border and has cut funding to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras
— President Trump is making good on his long-standing threat to cut direct aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras due to caravans from these countries fleeing north and overwhelming U.S. resources. The White House has also warned that these caravans could also lead to the closure of the entire southern border with Mexico. The step to cut funding comes after Mexico Interior Secretary Olga Sanchez Cordero said that “the mother of all caravans” could be coming to the U.S. soon from three nations.
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