{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.tuberville.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sen-tuberville-delivers-wins-for-alabama-in-118th-congress-will-be-sledgehammer-for-president-trump-in-next-congress/", "Sen. Tuberville Delivers Wins for Alabama in 118th\u00a0Congress, Will be Sledgehammer for President Trump in Next Congress", "2024-12-20", "2024", "2024-12", "Republican", "Senate", "AL", "Tommy Tuberville", "T000278", "www.tuberville.senate.gov", "tuberville", "https://www.tuberville.senate.gov/press-releases/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 As the 118th Congress comes to an end, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) issued a statement highlighting some of the wins he delivered for Alabama this Congress:\n\n\u201cI am proud of the wins we delivered for Alabama this Congress,\u201d said Senator Tuberville. \u201cWe gave our troops a raise, cut funding for woke DEI and gender transition surgeries at the DOD, successfully passed legislation to protect defrauded veterans, funded poison centers and protected kids, fought to put our farmers first, and led the charge to protect women\u2019s sports. Perhaps the best news for Alabamians this year was the reelection of President Donald J. Trump. With control of the White House, Senate, and House, we can get started on day one delivering wins for Alabama and the American people. My priorities next Congress will be getting Space Command moved back to Huntsville, restoring lethality in our military, getting woke politics out of the VA and DoD, preserving Title IX protections for women and girls everywhere, and getting a common-sense Farm Bill passed.\u201d\n\nFOCUSING ON ALABAMIANS:\n\nRemaining Responsive: More than 6,000 federal cases closed on behalf of Alabama constituents.\n\nKeeping Alabamians Informed: Sen. Tuberville participated in nearly 400 interviews with local Alabama print, radio and TV outlets to keep Alabamians informed of his work in Washington, D.C.\n\nPreserving Alabama\u2019s Heritage: Sen. Tuberville introduced legislation to reauthorize the Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area in Northwest Alabama for another 15 years and establish a new Alabama Black Belt National Heritage Area. Both pieces of legislation were signed into law as part of the National Heritage Area Act. Sen. Tuberville also introduced the Alabama Underwater Forest National Marine Sanctuary Act to preserve a submerged ancient forest near Gulf Shores.\n\nProtecting Alabama\u2019s Children: Sen. Tuberville introduced the Poison Control Centers Reauthorization Act of 2024 to reauthorize America\u2019s 55 poison control centers\u2014including Alabama\u2019s Poison Center at Children\u2019s of Alabama\u2014through 2029.\n\nBringing NCAA Tournament back to Birmingham: Following a letter that Sen. Tuberville and Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) sent to National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) President Charlie Baker, theNCAA announced the first and second rounds of March Madness men\u2019s and women\u2019s basketball games will return to Birmingham on March 17-19, 2028.\n\nBoosting Gulf Energy Production: Sen. Tuberville successfully challenged the Biden administration over the disastrous Rice\u2019s whale rule, which would have established a 28,000-square-mile protected habitat for the Rice\u2019s whale within the Gulf of Mexico, despite a lack of evidence presenting the need for such a large area. Additionally, he joined several Republican senators in introducing the Warding Off Hostile Administrative Lease Efforts (WHALE) Act to prevent the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Interior from issuing maritime rules related to the Rice\u2019s whale that would impede offshore energy development and military activities.\n\nHELPING AG PRODUCERS AND RURAL COMMUNITIES:\n\nListening to Needs of Alabama\u2019s Agriculture Community: Sen. Tuberville and members of his team hosted listening sessions with members of Alabama\u2019s agriculture communities and led a tour of Alabama\u2019s forest industry and forest products supply chains to hear firsthand how he can support them in Washington, D.C. Sen. Tuberville introduced several pieces of legislation based on this feedback, including the Mid-South Oilseed Double Cropping Study Act of 2023 andFarmers\u2019 Market Expansion Act of 2023, which were included in the Senate Republican Farm Bill framework.\n\nSecuring America\u2019s Farmland and AG Supply Chains: Sen. Tuberville led efforts to prevent foreign adversaries from having undue influence in our agriculture supply chains after reports surfaced of increased purchases of American farmland from the Chinese Communist Party. He introduced legislation to permanently add the Secretary of Agriculture to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and provide the Secretary authority to flag all U.S. farmland acquisitions by foreign adversaries including China, North Korea, Russia, and Iran. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the companion legislation. Sen. Tuberville also introduced several other pieces of legislation to build on his work, including the Foreign Adversary Risk Management Act, Securing America\u2019s Land from Foreign Interference Act, and AFIDA Improvements Act of 2024.\n\nSTANDING UP FOR VETERANS:\n\nProtecting Defrauded Veterans: Sen. Tuberville reintroduced the Restoring Benefits to Defrauded Veterans Act to reissue misused benefits to a beneficiary or the veteran\u2019s estate in cases where the beneficiary predeceased reissuance. The bill was signed into law, marking a series of bills from Sen. Tuberville which implement small, but meaningful changes in how the VA delivers care and benefits to veterans.\n\nRemembering Alabama\u2019s Heroes: Sen. Tuberville led efforts in the U.S. Senate to name the VA facility in Guntersville after Marshall County native and Medal of Honor recipient Colonel Ola Lee Mize.\n\nDemandingAccountability at the VA: Sen. Tuberville pressed Senate VA Committee Chairman Tester to hold a hearing on the budget mismanagement and greater accountability measures at the VA that led to a multi-billion dollar emergency appropriation.\n\nFIGHTING TO PROTECT TITLE IX AND COLLEGE SPORTS:\n\nProtectingTitle IX and Women\u2019s Sports: In March 2024, Sen. Tuberville forced a vote on an amendment that would protect female athletes by keeping men out of women\u2019s sports\u2014all 51 Democrats voted against it. Sen. Tuberville originally introduced the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act in 2022, but Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) had refused to bring it to the floor for a vote. Sen. Tuberville put 51 Democrats on record voting against protecting women\u2019s sports.\n\nFightingto Protect Female Olympic Sports: Sen. Tuberville introduced the Protection of Women in Olympic and Amateur Sports Act to prohibit any governing body recognized by the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) from allowing men to participate in any athletic event intended for females.\n\nPreserving Integrity ofCollege Sports: Sen. Tuberville introduced the Protecting Athletes, Schools, and Sports (PASS) Act of 2023 to protect student-athletes, maintain fair competition and compensation, strengthen transparency, and preserve the time-honored tradition of college sports. In drafting the bill, Sen. Tuberville solicited feedback from athletic leaders, including university athletic directors, administrators, associations, collectives and student-athlete groups from across the country to build consensus and garner support.\n\nPROTECTING SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS AND TAXPAYERS:\n\nRepealing the Corporate Transparency Act: Sen. Tuberville introduced legislation to repeal the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) and protect small businesses. Signed into law as part of the Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the CTA requires individuals with an ownership interest in a limited liability company (LLC) to disclose personal data with the U.S. Treasury Department\u2019s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). The CTA specifically targets American small business owners\u2014and failure to comply could result in up to two years of jail time and fines of up to $10,000 per violation. Sen. Tuberville\u2019s legislation, the Repealing Big Brother Overreach Act, would overturn the CTA in its entirety. Due in part to Sen. Tuberville\u2019s advocacy, a federal judge has paused implementation of the CTA. Sen. Tuberville will continue fighting for a full repeal of the law on behalf of small business owners and taxpayers everywhere.\n\nBOLSTERING OUR NATIONAL SECURITY AND DEFENSE:\n\nGiving our Troops a Raise: As Alabama\u2019s voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), Sen. Tuberville is laser-focused on making sure Alabama\u2019s troops have a seat at the table in Washington, D.C. That\u2019s why he helped secure a 14.5% pay raise for junior enlisted servicemembers and a 4.5% pay raise for all other service members as a part of this year\u2019s NDAA.\n\nEnding DEI and Protecting Taxpayers from Paying for Gender-Transition Surgeries: Sen. Tuberville secured two major conservative wins in this year\u2019s NDAA. The first is redirecting all DEI funds to be used for counterdrug initiatives and countering transnational organized crime to obstruct the flow of illegal aliens and illicit drugs, such as fentanyl, from coming across President Biden\u2019s wide-open border. The second permanently bans the DoD from providing minors with gender dysphoria medical treatments, like hormones and puberty blockers, that could result in sterilization.\n\nSenator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans\u2019 Affairs, and HELP Committees.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:07:19Z"]], "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.tuberville.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sen-tuberville-delivers-wins-for-alabama-in-118th-congress-will-be-sledgehammer-for-president-trump-in-next-congress/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4957250095903873, "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"}