A sprawling federal spending package moving through Congress at the end of 2014 carried significant benefits for southwest Alabama, and the region’s congressman said he was ready to support it. U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne, a Republican from Montrose, backed the roughly $1.1 trillion bill that would keep the federal government funded through the following September and avert a partial shutdown.
House Republicans filed the measure after negotiations that produced compromises with Senate Democrats, who still held the chamber for a few more weeks before a new Republican majority took over in January. For coastal Alabama, though, the most important details were closer to home.
A boost for Mobile shipbuilding
The bill included full funding for three new littoral combat ships built at Mobile’s Austal USA shipyard, along with $80 million for materials tied to a vessel scheduled for construction in 2016. It also carried money for another Austal-built ship, the Joint High Speed Vessel. For a shipyard that anchors thousands of jobs in the Mobile area, the funding represented a major vote of confidence.
“It has 100 percent of the money we need to continue to build the littoral combat ship and another Joint High Speed Vessel,” Byrne said in a phone interview from Washington. The steady stream of Navy work has made Austal one of the region’s largest industrial employers, and continued orders help sustain the broader maritime economy along the Gulf Coast.
Help for the Port of Mobile
Another provision of local interest increased funding for the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund by $100 million, money the Army Corps of Engineers can put toward improvements at the Port of Mobile. A deeper, better-maintained shipping channel is a longstanding priority for port officials and the businesses that depend on it, making the additional dollars a welcome development for the area’s trade economy.
Beyond the local provisions, Byrne pointed to broader policy fights ahead. He said Republicans planned to push harder on spending discipline once they controlled both chambers, favoring a return to passing spending in separate bills rather than one massive package. He also signaled that his party would renew efforts to roll back parts of the federal health care law and press other priorities after the new Senate was seated.
Still, for constituents in Mobile and Baldwin counties, the practical takeaway was the money flowing toward local shipbuilding and the port. Those investments, Byrne argued, would help protect existing jobs and support the industries that form the backbone of the southwest Alabama economy.