Sessions touts port project, rails on presidential overstepping during Demopolis visit

Senator Jeff Sessions made a brief stop in Demopolis Monday, greeting a small group of local dignitaries while enjoying lunch at Farmhouse Restaurant.

During the visit, Sessions spent some 18 minutes addressing the small gathering, a time he utilized primarily to discuss economic development within the state and the successes Alabama has seen in recent years.

Sessions noted the he believes Demopolis and the surrounding area possess plenty of potential for growth should the economy stabilize, citing the port project as key to the area’s success.

Sessions reiterated that stance in an exclusive interview with The Watchman following his address.

“I do think that the port is a critical asset that very few places have. For example, we went to a steel mill north of Mobile in Calvert this morning. They say it is dramatically cheaper to ship by water than by rail,” Sessions said. “And so there are going to be other companies for which transportation, particularly shipping, is a big part of their cost. This location would be perfect for somebody. This has a lot of potential.”

Sessions also noted that he believes Demopolis rests near enough major highways and transportation options to make it viable on the industry recruitment front.

“I think the area is positioned and the state is proving when businesses come that they can deliver on their commitment to produce enough good quality workers to do the work,” Sessions said. “At the steel mill I asked them, ‘Are you able to get the workers you need?’ They said, ‘Yes. They are enthusiastic, good workers.’ Once you establish that reputation, that helps recruit additional business in the future. Some people think those workers can’t do what we need in Alabama. They can’t build automobiles and jet planes and rockets, but we do everyday. (West Alabama is) connected transportation wise far better than a lot of areas in the state are with a lot of natural assets other areas don’t have.”

During the interview, Sessions also answered questions regarding his take on the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Hobby Lobby and similar cases that have occurred recently.

“I don’t know that it reflects an ideological shift from the court at all. I think it’s a fair analysis of the president’s actions,” Sessions said of the Supreme Court’s ruling, noting that it is validation of the idea that the Obama Administration has overstepped his presidential powers. “They’ve gone too far. They’ve violated the constitution and the Supreme Court has so held.”

“You saw the appointments case,” Sessions said, noting the ruling handed down by the Supreme Court last week that held that President Obama violated the Constitution by going around the Senate to name key labor relations watchdogs. “He claimed the Senate was in a recess. It was not in recess. He lost that 9-0. Then you had the Hobby Lobby case in which the people pushed back on that. That kind of language was a big part of the debate on the healthcare bill when it passed. People said it was wrong and the Supreme Court validated that.”

“We’ve seen there are other instances,” Sessions said. “For example, in the Obamacare legislation, in the risk corridors, they think they can spend this money and I’m convinced and the Congressional Research Service says that this is not the administration’s money.”

Sessions also cited the recent ruling by the Supreme Court on the Environmental Protection Agency as a demerit of sorts against the Obama Administration.

“The EPA regulations on global warming and clean air, they clipped it back rather significantly,” Sessions said. “They already ruled, wrongly in my opinion, 5-4, to give certain powers to the EPA that I don’t think Congress ever intended them to have, that Congress never intended for them to have. That’s not a close question. We weren’t even talking about global warming when that law passed. So they clipped them back on an overreach significantly.”

Sessions characterized the pattern of behavior by the Obama Administration as evidence of an unfavorable view of the American governmental system.

“I think this president sees the constitution and congress as an impediment to whatever he wants to do,” Sessions said. “Instead of saying, ‘I’ve got limited powers as the president. If the congress will not approve my dream act immigration law – they’ve turned it down three times – I don’t have the right to impose it myself.’ It has been rejected by the people’s representatives. This president is way overboard by any objective measurement.”

The comments from Sessions came the same day Obama vowed to bypass Congress in his efforts to alter immigration policy.

“America cannot wait forever for them to act,” Obama said, noting he would attempt to “fix as much of our immigration system as I can, on my own, without Congress.”

“I think that people are concerned about it, but they’re not lawyers and constitutional scholars,” Sessions said. “But when they see the Supreme Court in three separate cases right here almost in a row slap them down and say, ‘You have gone too far. You have violated the constitution.’ Then the tide may begin to turn on that issue.”