HARTSELLE — Late last month, Club for Growth Action, the federal super PAC associated with the Washington, D.C.- based Club for Growth, announced it would resume running a TV ad that initially aired during the Iron Bowl opposing U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne’s (R-Fairhope) bid for the U.S. Senate.
The spot has been up and running in the Huntsville and Birmingham television markets, usually back-to-back with all the campaign spots associated with the GOP primary for the U.S. Senate in Alabama. In it, Byrne’s support for the Export-Import Bank is called into question.
During a campaign stop at a meeting of the Cullman and Morgan County BamaCarry Group, Byrne fielded a question about the advertisement. In his response, Byrne defended his support of the Export-Import Bank.
.@BradleyByrne speaking to the Cullman and Morgan County BamaCarry Group in Hartselle tonight #alpolitics #alsen pic.twitter.com/UTBqTN9erX
— Jeff Poor (@jeff_poor) February 11, 2020
“Do you know what the Export-Import Bank is?” Byrne said. “Export-Import Bank is a federal agency that provides finances for American companies to sell their goods in other countries, OK? Like, we’ve got a specialty printer company in Mobile. And they sell these specialty printers — kind of a niche market literally all over the world. And they can’t make those sales without the financing from the Export-Import Bank. What I do when I support that is I’m supporting Alabama businesses with Alabama employees, who make goods here in Alabama and sell them in other countries. And I think you want me to do that.”
According to Byrne, his support for the Export-Import Bank comes at no cost to the taxpayer.
“By the way, it doesn’t cost you a penny,” he added. “They charge fees for that and they live off their fees.”
The Baldwin County Republican congressman went on to call Club for Growth “anti-Trump,” and noted their opposition to U.S. Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), the former ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, in his run for U.S. Senate in Georgia.
“By the way, that group is a Washington-based anti-Trump group,” Byrne said. “They went against President Trump as hard as they could. They’re going against my buddy Doug Collins over in Georgia — remember Doug Collins, the guy on the Judiciary Committee who was standing up for the president? That’s who that is.”
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly and host of Huntsville’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 2-5 p.m. on WVNN.
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