Greene County Democrat

Tag: U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell

  • Newswire : Over 750,000 Alabamians will lose critical food assistance

    The Department of Human Resources said Monday it would suspend Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits on November 1.
    By: Anna Barnett, Alabama Reflector

    
More than 750,000 Alabamians, almost half of them children, will lose critical food assistance on Saturday, November 1, 2025
    The Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR) said Monday that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits will be suspended on Saturday. The suspension of the 100% federally-funded program comes on the 26th day of the government shutdown. Alabama DHR was notified of the suspension on Friday evening. 
    “We know SNAP benefits are vitally important to the more than 750,000 Alabamians who depend on the more than $140 million in support each month. Alabama DHR, along with many others, hopes Congress will come to a quick resolution on the federal government shutdown,” Commissioner Nancy Buckner said.
    The 750,000 Alabamians affected represent nearly 15% of the state population. Of that number, 330,000 (44%) are children, according to DHR.
    DHR said in its Monday statement that Alabamians can still apply for SNAP, even though DHR will not be able to administer any benefits. Buckner also said the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) told her on Friday that it plans to reimburse state administrative costs for November. 
    U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Alabama, joined other House Democrats on Friday in urging Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to release SNAP contingency funds that Congress made available for situations like this, according to a release. Sewell said nearly a quarter of households in her district, which covers the western side of the Black Belt and parts of Birmingham, rely on SNAP.
    “For so many, SNAP means the difference between a hot meal and going to bed hungry. The fact that President Trump and congressional Republicans would rather take food away from hungry families than work with Democrats to end this shutdown is shameful but not surprising,” Sewell said in a statement. “These are the same people responsible for making the largest cut to SNAP in American history less than four months ago.”
    Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), Alabama officials were aware that federal funding for SNAP would reduce in fiscal year 2027, increasing the state’s share. According to estimates in August, the federal cuts to the program would increase DHR’s budget request by $35 million in FY27 and $208 million in FY28 when the state is responsible for 10% of SNAP benefits. 
    The federal government shutdown is a dispute over health care. Republicans in Congress lack the votes to overcome a budget filibuster. Democrats say they want a bipartisan agreement to extend looming cuts in subsidies for Affordable Care Act plans. Republicans said they won’t negotiate that until a stopgap spending bill is passed. 
    Gina Maiola, Gov. Kay Ivey’s communications director said in a statement Monday that Ivey hopes Senate Democrats will “get on board” to reopen the federal government.
    Laura Lester, CEO of Feeding Alabama, a food bank network, said in an interview Monday afternoon that she is very concerned about how families will access food. For every meal that Feeding Alabama provides, SNAP provides nine.
    “So as a result, anytime there’s even a small reduction in SNAP, we see a significant increase in the demand on our food banks,” Lester said. “We’re deeply concerned about what this is going to look like.”
    Typically, Lester said Feeding Alabama serves both SNAP recipients and non-SNAP recipients. A SNAP recipient gets $6 per day per month to buy groceries. Lester said that money usually lasts about three weeks, then SNAP recipients go to food banks.
    “Folks work as hard as they can to help that money stretch, but it’s become, obviously, harder and harder with the increased grocery prices,” Lester said.
    Last year, she said, Feeding Alabama and its partners distributed over 90 million pounds of food. Lester said that Feeding Alabama needs a lot of support from the community in donations and manpower to sort and pack meals.

     

  • Federal court strikes down Alabama map, citing racial discrimination, defiance

    Cong. Terri Sewell and Shomari Figures

    The court ruled Alabama’s map violates the Voting Rights Act, ensuring continued use of a court-ordered map enabling two Black Congressional representatives.

    By Bill Britt, Editor-in-Chief, Alabama Political Reporters

    In a sweeping rebuke of racial gerrymandering, a federal court has struck down Alabama’s 2023 congressional map, ruling that it was enacted with “intentional racial discrimination” and violates both the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution. The decision clears the way for continued use of a court-ordered map that, for the first time in state history, enabled two Black lawmakers to win seats in Congress, in November 2024.
    The ruling follows a full trial in Milligan v. Allen, where judges concluded that Alabama lawmakers not only failed to correct the unlawful dilution of Black voting strength, but deliberately defied court orders to do so. The court found that the Legislature’s actions amounted to “a strategic attempt to checkmate the injunction that ordered it.”

    Historic Breakthrough in Representation
    The remedial map adopted for the 2024 cycle — drawn by a special master appointed by the court — culminated in a historic breakthrough: Alabama voters elected two Black representatives to Congress for the first time ever. U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-AL-7, was re-elected, and U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, D-AL-2, won his seat in a newly redrawn district designed to comply with the Voting Rights Act.
    “This win is a testament to the dedication and persistence of many generations of Black Alabamians who pursued political equality at great cost,” the plaintiffs said in a joint statement, emphasizing that “we know that all Alabamians will benefit from today’s victory, just as we have benefited from the work of others.”
    The case was first filed in 2021, on behalf of Evan Milligan, Khadidah Stone, Shalela Dowdy, Letetia Jackson, Greater Birmingham Ministries and the Alabama State Conference of the NAACP. The plaintiffs were represented by the Legal Defense Fund, ACLU, ACLU of Alabama, and the Birmingham-based firm Wiggins, Childs, Pantazis, Fisher and Goldfarb.
    U.S Rep. Terri Sewell offered her own insight on the federal district court’s ruling, saying, “In yet another victory for fair representation, a federal court has once again ruled unequivocally that the State of Alabama’s 2023 congressional map illegally dilutes the power of African American voters. Despite the state’s years-long legal battle to undo our progress, this ruling ensures that Black voters in Alabama will continue to have not one but two congressional districts where we can elect a candidate of our choice. Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act is indeed alive and enforceable!”

    Rep. Shomari C. Figures, D-AL-02, said the ruling reinforces the importance of equitable representation for Black voters. “The court ruled that the congressional districts in the state of Alabama were drawn in a way that did not allow Black people to have fair representation. The U.S. Supreme Court has already agreed once with the earlier ruling in this case, and it is my hope that this ruling puts the issue to rest because fair representation is central to the foundation of our democracy.”
    Court Unmoved by Alabama’s “Defiance”
    In its 600-page opinion, the three-judge panel concluded that the 2023 map, like its 2021 predecessor, unlawfully diluted Black voting strength by confining Black voters to a single majority-Black district despite clear evidence that two opportunity districts were both necessary and achievable.
    “We cannot understand the 2023 Plan as anything other than an intentional effort to dilute Black Alabamians’ voting strength and evade the unambiguous requirements of court orders standing in the way,” the judges wrote. They found that Alabama’s Black population is “sufficiently numerous and geographically compact” to form two such districts, and that voting in the state remains “intensely racially polarized.”
    The court cited trial testimony in which the state’s own legal team admitted that the Legislature “may have been hoping” to force another Supreme Court review by refusing to comply. The judges rejected this maneuver, writing that “if this record is insufficient to rebut the strong presumption of legislative good faith, then we doubt that the presumption is ever rebuttable.”
    A Legacy of Resistance — and a New Chapter
    Deuel Ross, deputy director of litigation at LDF, stated that Alabama’s “unprecedented defiance of the Supreme Court and the lower court orders harkens back to the darkest days of American history.” He called the ruling “a reaffirmation of the rule of law and the importance of protecting the fundamental right to vote.”
    Laurel Hattix, senior attorney at the ACLU of Alabama, said the decision was “an overdue acknowledgment of Alabama lawmakers’ persistent attempts to shut out Black voters from the electoral process,” and added, “for decades, Black Alabamians have organized and fought for not just their voting rights, but the voting rights of all Americans.”
    Davin Rosborough, deputy director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, underscored the broader implications: “The court has once again recognized that in order to comply with the Voting Rights Act, it is essential that Alabama’s congressional map have two opportunity districts for Black voters.”
    Preclearance Request and What Comes Next
    The court permanently enjoined Secretary of State Wes Allen from using the invalidated 2023 map in future elections and ordered continued use of the remedial map through the remainder of the decade. A status conference is scheduled for May 28, 2025, to determine next steps.
    The plaintiffs have also requested that Alabama be placed back under federal “preclearance,” a provision of the Voting Rights Act that would require the state to obtain federal approval before implementing any new congressional map — a safeguard typically reserved for jurisdictions with a history of repeated violations.
    In its concluding remarks, the court warned that Alabama’s actions “fly in the face” of its own claim that it no longer needs federal oversight, writing: “We are troubled by the State’s view that even if we enter judgment for the Plaintiffs after a full trial, the State remains free to make the same checkmate move yet again — and again, and again, and again.”
    As the case now enters a new phase, the ruling stands as one of the most forceful judicial rebukes of racial discrimination in redistricting in recent memory — and a landmark moment for the future of representation in Alabama.

  • Newswire : Trump DOJ ends plan for Alabama county’s sewage crisis over ‘distorting, DEI lens’

     

    Raw sewage next to children’s playground in Lowndes County, Alabama

    By Margaret Kates | mkates@al.com

    The U.S. Department of Justice ended its agreement with the State of Alabama regarding sewage in Lowndes County. 

    “The DOJ will no longer push ‘environmental justice’ as viewed through a distorting, DEI lens,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon in a news release. “President Trump made it clear: Americans deserve a government committed to serving every individual with dignity and respect, and to expending taxpayer resources in accordance with the national interest, not arbitrary criteria.” 
    Under President Joe Biden, the federal government opened two investigations into sanitation issues in the Black Belt and specifically Lowndes County. Residents of those counties frequently lack proper sanitation and some resorted to “straight piping” sewage into the ground. 

    In 2023, the DOJ reached a settlement agreement with the Alabama Department of Public Health, agreeing to suspend investigation of possible civil rights violations in exchange for the department of health implementing significant changes, including suspending criminal penalties for improper sanitation and assessing possible wastewater or septic systems in the area. 

    But now the DOJ is terminating that agreement, effective immediately, according to the news release. 
    “The federal Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services have terminated their Interim Resolution Agreement with the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) regarding sanitation concerns in Lowndes County,” Ryan Easterling, a spokesperson for ADPH, said in an email. “The installation of sanitation systems and related infrastructure is outside the authority or responsibilities conferred upon ADPH by state law. Nonetheless, ADPH will continue working with subgrantees on installation of septic systems as contemplated by the Interim Resolution Agreement until appropriated funding expires. After that time, ADPH will support and be available to provide technical assistance to other organizations that may choose to engage in this work.”
    “Resilient and sustainable sanitation is a problem in rural communities across the U.S.,” said Catherine Coleman Flowers, Lowndes County native and founder of the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice. “The people of Lowndes County exposed this issue to the American public. I pray that today’s action means that this administration will make sanitation a priority for all who are affected throughout rural America.”
    U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell (AL-07) released the following statement in response to the Department of Justice’s termination of the environmental justice agreement in Lowndes County:
    “This agreement had nothing to do with DEI. It was about addressing a public health crisis that has forced generations of children and families to endure the health hazards of living in proximity to raw sewage, as the DOJ itself documented. By terminating it, the Trump Administration has put its blatant disregard for the health of my constituents on full display.
    “Access to adequate wastewater infrastructure is a basic human right. Without support from the Trump Administration, it is vital that the Alabama Department of Public Health continue to do its part to remedy this injustice. I will continue fighting to address Alabama’s rural wastewater crisis and get our communities the infrastructure they deserve.” 
    The termination comes as a result of President Donald Trump’s executive order, “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” which forbid federal agencies from pursuing programs related to “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” according to the news release.
    “Environmental justice,” a term used to describe disproportionate environmental threats to lower income or minority communities, would be considered “DEI” initiatives, according to the news release. 
    Under the direction of U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, the DOJ is working to close cases like the Lowndes County case. 
    “Today’s closure is another step this administration has taken to eradicate illegal DEI preferences and environmental justice across the government and in the private sector,” according to the news release. 
    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency opened a second investigation related to sanitation in the Black Belt in 2023, when Biden was still in office. This investigation targets the Alabama Department of Environmental Management and whether the department discriminates against Black Belt residents when handing out grants as part of the Clean Water State Revolving Fund. 

    The investigation followed a complaint filed by Flowers, who received the MacArthur “Genius” grant for her environmental activism. Flowers filed her complaint in partnership with the Natural Resources Defense Council.  It’s unclear how today’s announcement would affect this investigation. 
    President Trump has worked to end “environmental justice” initiatives since returning to office. Last month, the EPA closed its environmental justice and “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” offices at the direction of Trump. Top officials in the Justice Department froze civil rights litigation in the weeks following Trump’s return to office, according to the Associated Press. 

  • Newswire : Ahead of the 84th anniversary of the first-ever Social Security check, Rep. Sewell vows to protect and expand Social Security benefits

    Washington D.C. — Ahead of the 84th anniversary of the first-ever Social Security check, U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell (AL-07) released the following statement vowing to protect and expand Social Security benefits for the over 153,000 beneficiaries in Alabama’s 7th Congressional District. Rep. Sewell is an original cosponsor of the Social Security 2100 Act which would enhance benefits for the first time in more than 50 years.

    “Every American deserves to retire with dignity after a lifetime of work,” said Rep. Sewell. “While some in Washington are attempting to cut and ultimately privatize benefits, I am working to protect and expand Social Security so that seniors and others get the benefits they’ve rightly earned.”

    Tomorrow marks the 84th anniversary of the first Social Security check which was issued to Ms. Ida May Fuller on January 31, 1940. Social Security benefits were last enhanced more than 50 years ago. Alongside nearly 200 House Democrats, Rep. Sewell is an original cosponsor of the Social Security 2100 Act to enhance benefits for the first time in over 50 years and extend the program’s solvency for generations to come.

    Conversely, in September, nearly every House Republican voted to cut Social Security Administration funding by 30%. Earlier this month, Republicans on the House Budget Committee advanced legislation that would create a fast-track commission designed to cut Social Security.

    Alabama’s 7th Congressional District is home to more than 153,000 Social Security recipients—including 9,175 widows, 15,416 children, 93,831 retirees, and 32,661 disabled workers—who collectively receive over $224 million in monthly benefits.

  • Lawsuit filed to create two potentially winnable Black Congressional Districts in Alabama

    As the Alabama Legislature begins a special session later this week on redistricting Congressional, Legislative and State School Board districts, two State Senators, Bobby Singleton and Rodger Smitherman, and some individual voters have filed a lawsuit challenging the state’s current congressional districts. In the lawsuit, they say the districts are “racially gerrymandered” and limit Black voters’ influence in all but one congressional district.
    The Alabama Legislature is required to redistrict the state in response to the 2020 U. S. Census official numbers and create the boundaries for the seven Congressional districts, as well as Legislative and School Board Districts, with close to the same population numbers as possible.
    Alabama currently has one majority-minority congressional district represented by U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, the lone Democrat and only Black member of Alabama’s congressional district. The lawsuit argues Alabama should have a congressional map that would “afford African Americans an opportunity to elect candidates of their choice in at least two districts.”
    “Alabama’s current Congressional redistricting plan, enacted in 2011 is malapportioned and racially gerrymandered, packing black voters in a single majority-black Congressional district,” the lawsuit states. The lawsuit argues that legislators packed as “many minorities as possible” into the congressional district that stretches from Birmingham through west Alabama and into Montgomery — “thereby weakening minorities’ voting influence throughout the state.”
    The suit seeks to avoid splitting counties and return to the “redistricting principle of drawing its Congressional districts with whole counties.”
    “By returning to Alabama’s traditional redistricting principle of aggregating whole counties, Alabama can remedy the existing racial gerrymander, restore a measure of rationality and fairness to Alabama’s Congressional redistricting process, and afford African Americans an opportunity to elect candidates of their choice in at least two districts,” the lawsuit states. 
    As the map suggests, District 7 would be redrawn to include all of Jefferson County and Bibb, Perry and Hale counties. District 6 would include all of Tuscaloosa County and wind south and east through the Black Belt, taking in Pickens, Greene, Sumter, Choctaw Washington, Clarke, Marengo, Monroe, Wilcox, Conecuh, Dallas Lowndes, Butler, Crenshaw, Montgomery, Macon and Bullock. This district would include the cities of Tuscaloosa, Montgomery and Selma and most of the rural Black Belt counties.
    A statistical analysis based on the 2020 Census, shows the new District 6 with 42.3% Black population and that Biden received 56.2% of the vote in the 2020 Presidential election in this area. For the new District 7, the Black population is 49.91% and Biden received 54.4% of the vote in the 2020 Presidential election in these counties.
    This analysis suggests that a Black Democratic candidate could win in both of these newly suggested districts by getting the support of Black voters and white Democratic voters, who are inclined to vote for more progressive candidates.
    “We just want to make sure there is fair representation, equal representation,” Singleton said in an interview.  While the population of Alabama is 26% Black— and elected bodies such as the Legislature mirror that representation— the congressional delegation is 14% Black.
    Congresswomen Terri Sewell has not weighed in with a statement of support of this new plan to create two potentially winnable districts for Black Democrats in Alabama.
    The Republican controlled Legislature is not likely to adopt this new plan because it will enable the election of an additional Democratic member of the state’s congressional delegation. The Legislature is most likely to adjust the current district lines to reflect population changes rather than adopt a more progressive and equitable redistricting plan, like the one proposed in the lawsuit.
    This article compiled with portions of an earlier Associated Press story by Kim Chandler

  • Rep. Sewell co-Sponsors bill to create Medicaid-style program for Americans in non-expansion states like Alabama

    U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell

    Washington D.C.  – Today, U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell (AL-07) announced that she will be an original co-sponsor of the Medicaid Saves Lives Act, legislation that would create a federal Medicaid-style program for those living in states like Alabama that have refused to expand Medicaid. The bill, led by Reps. Kathy Manning (D-NC-6), Kathy Castor (D-FL-14), Nikema Williams (D-GA-5), Lucy McBath (D-GA-6), Marc Veasey (D-TX-33), Gwen Moore (D-WI-04) and Deborah Ross (D-NC-2), was introduced today.

     

    “Improving access to quality, affordable health care continues to be one of my top priorities in Congress,” said Rep. Sewell. “Because of the State of Alabama’s refusal to expand Medicaid, at least 300,000 low-income Alabamians who would otherwise qualify for health insurance coverage are being forced to go without care, putting their health and their lives at risk.” 

     

    “This is simply unacceptable,” continued Sewell. “That’s why I’m proud to be co-sponsoring the Medicaid Saves Lives Act which would create a Medicaid-like program to cover hard-working Americans in states like Alabama that are putting politics above the lives of our people. This bill would help thousands of Alabamians see a doctor, obtain medications, and afford life-saving care.”

     

    While the American Rescue Plan Act offered the 12 states—including Alabama—that did not expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act robust financial incentives to do so, it has become increasingly clear that many of these states do not plan to expand. This means 4.4 million low-income Americans will continue to be denied health coverage as communities across the nation are still working hard to recover. Americans who are most harmed by this inaction from state leaders are people of color: 60% of people in the coverage gap are Black, Hispanic, Asian, or Pacific Islander.

     

    The Medicaid Saves Lives Act would address the coverage gap by creating a federal Medicaid look-alike program that is run and administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), providing the same full benefits of Medicaid. It would also add to the incentives in the American Rescue Plan Act by giving states additional and extended funding to expand Medicaid through a significant federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) increase. Since Congress already paid for Medicaid expansion in the Affordable Care Act, the federal Medicaid program in the Medicaid Saves Lives Act has already been funded once and should require no additional offsets.

     

    Congress must pass the Medicaid Saves Lives Act to right away because this legislation would:

     

    • Increase free and affordable health coverage to millions of Americans;
    • Expand access to health care and provide access to preventative health services;
    • Improve health outcomes and prevent premature deaths;
    • Reduce uncompensated care costs which would reduce the number of hospital and provider closures; and
    • Improve economic mobility that would enable low-income individuals to work.

     

    This program created in the Medicaid Saves Lives Act would also include the robust Medicaid benefits provided under the Affordable Care Act such as:

     

    • All essential health benefits;
    • Non-emergency medical transportation;
    • Prescription drug benefits;
    • Coverage for rural health clinics and federally qualified health centers;
    • Preventative services;
    • Maternity and newborn care;
    • Mental health and substance use disorder care; and
    • Hospitalization services.

     

    Companion legislation was introduced in the Senate by Sens. Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Jon Ossoff (D-GA).

     

    The Medicaid Saves Lives Act can be found on Congresswoman Sewell’s official web page.