{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.britt.senate.gov/news/press-releases/op-ed-u-s-senators-katie-britt-tommy-tuberville-president-trump-is-delivering-for-alabama-and-the-gulf-coast/", "OP-ED: U.S. Senators Katie Britt, Tommy Tuberville \u2013 \u2018President Trump Is Delivering for Alabama and the Gulf Coast\u2019", "2026-07-08", "2026", "2026-07", "Republican", "Senate", "AL", "Katie Boyd Britt", "B001319", "www.britt.senate.gov", "britt", "https://www.britt.senate.gov/media/press-releases/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 Today, AL.com published a column penned by U.S. Senators Katie Britt (R-Ala.) and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) celebrating President Trump\u2019s steadfast commitment to complete the critical Mobile River Bridge and Bayway project.\n\nIn the op-ed, the Senators outline how crucial this infrastructure project is for Alabama\u2019s economy, workforce, and transportation routes, along with the project\u2019s impact to the entire Southeast. Thanks to President Trump, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Susie Wiles, and Governor Kay Ivey\u2019s leadership, the Senators announce this major breakthrough for the Mobile River Bridge and how this Administration cleared the final obstacles to complete the project.\n\nExcerpts from the column are below, and you can read the full piece here.\n\n\u201cNow, in his second term, President Trump is delivering again in the same city where that historic movement found its earliest and strongest support. Thanks to his leadership, we can inform the people of Alabama that the Mobile River Bridge and Bayway project is finally moving toward construction after 30 years of discussion, delay and doubt.\u201d\n\n\u2026\n\n\u201cThe Wallace Tunnel and Bayway are part of one of the most important transportation corridors in America, touching a major port, airport, naval shipbuilding facility and hundreds of thousands of workers, families, visitors, businesses, military assets and supply chains across the Gulf Coast and the entire country.\n\n\u201cMajor infrastructure projects are complex, and this one has been the most challenging in Alabama\u2019s history. Over the years, the project was burdened by rising costs, changing plans, bureaucratic red tape and unnecessary extras. All made it harder to deliver the core infrastructure Alabama actually needs.\u201d\n\n\u2026\n\n\u201cHe knows infrastructure is about building roads and bridges that serve the American people, not funding wish lists that just make projects more expensive and harder to complete. So, his administration is stepping in, cutting through red tape and helping Alabama clear the final obstacles standing in the way of this transformational project.\n\n\u201cLet us describe what the White House is committing to do:\n\n\u201cFirst, the Trump administration is selecting the Mobile River Bridge and Bayway as the first project to ever qualify for the Interstate System Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Pilot Program. This is a major breakthrough. It gives Alabama the ability to use toll revenue in the most effective and responsible way possible to help finance the project, ensuring it moves forward as a complete solution.\n\n\u201cSecond, President Trump is clearing mounds of red tape surrounding the previously awarded $550 million Bridge Investment Program grant. That flexibility will allow Alabama to use those funds more quickly as the state prepares to begin construction.\n\n\u201cThird, President Trump\u2019s administration is cutting unnecessary bureaucratic requirements and commitments from the project scope, creating hundreds of millions of dollars in cost savings. That is exactly the kind of common-sense leadership taxpayers deserve.\n\n\u201cNone of this happens by accident. It follows months \u2013 even years \u2013 of serious, high-level discussions among Alabama\u2019s congressional delegation, local leaders from Mobile and Baldwin counties, Gov. Kay Ivey, the Alabama Department of Transportation, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, and senior federal transportation officials \u2013 all with the active participation and support of President Trump.\u201d\n\n\u2026\n\n\u201cThere will be more details to share in the weeks ahead as the final pieces are completed, and we look forward to inviting President Trump to the groundbreaking ceremony and a triumphant return to Mobile.\n\n\u201cAlabama is ready to build this bridge. The finish line is now in sight and President Donald J. Trump, state officials and the local MPOs deserve enormous credit for getting us here.\u201d\n\nThis announcement is the culmination of years of support from Senator Britt. She repeatedly used her role on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development to advocate for the I-10 Mobile River Bridge and Bayway project and received commitments from Secretary Duffy to prioritize this important infrastructure project. Earlier this year, she sent a letter to Secretary Duffy requesting the Department\u2019s continued partnership in seeing this project completed. Outside of committee hearings, Senator Britt also met with Secretary Duffy several times to discuss Alabama infrastructure priorities, including the Mobile Bay Bridge and Bayway.\n\nLast year, Senator Britt applauded Secretary Duffy\u2019s announcement finalizing the $550 million in federal funding. \u201cThis strategic investment is exactly how federal transportation and infrastructure funds should be spent, and I am proud we worked together to bring these Alabama taxpayer dollars home,\u201d she stated in part.\n\nIn the 118th Congress, Senator Britt twice led the entire Alabama Congressional delegation in advocating on behalf of investing federal funds in this project.\n\n###", 1, "2026-07-09T08:24:13Z", "2026-07-09T08:26:05Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.britt.senate.gov/news/press-releases/op-ed-u-s-senators-katie-britt-tommy-tuberville-president-trump-is-delivering-for-alabama-and-the-gulf-coast/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0818231385201216, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}