Posted by The Senate has adjourned on the 3rd legislative day after listening all morning to Republican Senators filibuster our Highway Jobs Bill. Shortly before the Senate adjourned, I asked the Republican Senator who was filibustering if they had an alternate plan. He confirmed that the only other proposal they had was one to borrow the money and pay it back by raising gasoline taxes.
I believe that a gasoline tax is the worst idea imaginable in the economy we are now facing. With gasoline prices higher than $2.60 per gallon for regular, the Republican proposal could cost a family as much as a dollar every time they fill up their cars or trucks or fishing boats–every time they fill up.
Our Highway Jobs Bill (SB 121) calls for a constitutional amendment that will withdraw $1 billion dollars ($100 million per year for 10 years) from the Alabama Trust Fund to build highways, roads and bridges in every county in Alabama. Last year, Senate Republicans killed the amendment. Twenty-one votes are needed to pas a constitutional amendment.
This should not be a partisan issue. We were all elected to represent our respective districts and the State of Alabama as a whole regardless of party. I have friends, supporters and constituents who are Democrat, Republican and Independent. Unfortunately, it appears that this group of Republican Senators are ignoring the needs of the people of this great State for partisan and political reasons. I hope that they will end their games soon so that we can get on with the people’s business.
***Senator Zeb Little is from Cullman, Alabama and serves as the Senate Majority Leader. To learn more about Senator Zeb Little, please visit: www.zeblittle.com
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Zeb, tell the people why you misled constituents about charter schools actually being private schools? video below, to refresh memory:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW5_4l6KS6M
Charter schools are private school because it is privatized education.
Anon has a point… Also, if you lead in to every post with such doom and gloom rhetoric you’re only going to become the boy who cried wolf. Most of the readers on this forum see through the veiled attempts at politics and lose respect quickly with someone who insults their intelligence.
How about putting partisan politics aside and give arguments-real arguments, not something ambiguous like “we’re proposing SB 8008 for the health and safety of Alabama school children”- in favor of your position as opposed to merely chastizing any opposition.
Go Zeb! We needs good roads in Alabama. Also, if Dems were for a gas tax they would call us Liberals! Repub’s are just hypocrits!
Zeb Little is the biggest hypocrite I’ve seen in some time. It’s time to vote him out of office.
Anon #1, Charter schools are private. I guess, if you using your logic, they become public schools when our taxes begin to fund these former PRIVATE schools! Isn’t the conservative logic usually let’s fix the things that are broken, not create new programs! So let’s continue to fund the current PUBLIC education system, and fix it!!
I love that the Repub solution to creating new jobs is creating a new TAX. I thought y’all tea baggers were tea-ed off! You know Taxed Enough Already…
Also, why is it that Alabama Republicans, Obama, Reid, Peolsi, and Artur Davis support these Charter Schools?
Carol,
Charter schools are not private. In fact, private schools are strictly prohibited from becoming charter schools.
Mister, that was my understanding as well. As for slandering grass roots campaigns and attempting to demonize the tea party movement so as to detract from their root message is simply childish politics.
The fringe aside, they represent big tent U.S.A, they are the blue collar and the white. These people are fed up with the gotcha partisanship of Montgomery and Washington.
Taking money from the general fund and calling it mana from heaven isn’t financial conservatism, nor is it smart in times of market constriction. By listing the bill for allowing counties to manage taxation on a local level is skirting the issue.
SB 580 from the 2009 legislative session would have provided essential infrastructure improvements at the cost of nothing more than political clout.
The clear need for maintenance is on the county and municipal levels, not state highways which already recieve scheduled maintenance at regular intervals.
Let the people decide where their hard earned money should be spent. Take the politics out of paving!
Know why they’re filibustering? Because there is (as of September 2009) $496,894,057 in stimulus package funds for road and bridge projects in Alabama that are unspent.
The Bush and Obama stimulus packages have proven that these types of projects create zero permanent job growth.
Old Zeb is just trying to get reelected.
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Conserrrrrrrrrrrrrrrvo Mannnnnnnnnnnn, Chances are they attended public schools in Alabama. Oh wait, so did I!
Senator Little, If you would change the politics of your presentation, I’m sure this group would respond in kind. I wouldn’t want to villify someone for the simple fact that they were unwilling to maintain a civil discourse.
Republicans are fillibustering because they know that robbing the Alabama Trust Fund of $1 billion will reduce future earnings for the state in years to come. The whole point of the ATF is to provide earnings for State Treasury each year. Less capital meansless earnings. Basic finance 101.
First, the trust fund is a rainy day account. And with an unemployment rate that is higher than 10%, these are certainly rainy days.
Second, Charter schools are bad because they take money from already underfunded public schools. Charter schools may take public money, but these schools operate outside of the states regulations. So while they technically might be public schools, and they take public money, they operate exactly like private schools.
If public schools are already underfunded, it makes no sense to take money away from these schools and start another school system. It is also unfair to the children who do not get to go to these charter schools. Kids in regular public schools would be getting even less money for their educations than they currently do. Now I ask, what kind of sense does that make?
Anonymous 2 says: “Charter schools …operate exactly like private schools.”
This is simply not true.
Charter schools remove some of the burden from overcrowded public schools eliminating the health and safety arguments of portables and large class size.
If the ultimate goal is to provide mediocre education continue pushing for the existing system. If the goal is to push for better education, I say its time to cut out the red tape!
This could just drive you to drink and drive, I mean drink.
Don’t touch the Trust Fund and don’t raise gas taxes – start from there.
Republicans hold on to the filibuster. The longer the republicans filibuster, the less time the democrats have to pass legislation. The less legislation passed, the better off the taxpayers are! A “do nothing” legislature is an answered prayer for the Alabama Tax Payers!