It's.

From APT Studios in Montgomery.

I'm Todd Stacey.

Welcome to Capital Journal.

We've got a good show for you this week.

With just a few days unti the big primary runoff election.

I'll be interviewing the two remaining candidate in the Republican race for U.S.

Senate.

Congressman Barrymore and former Navy Seal Jared Hudson.

And then coming up later in the show, I'll sit down with Doctor David Thrasher, a Montgomery physician who is involved in the state's efforts to improve health outcomes.

So you'll want to stick around for those interviews, but we'll start our coverage this week in the nation's capital, where, after months long impasse, Congress has finally passe immigration enforcement funding.

This week.

Alex Angl reports on that and other issues the Alabama delegation engaged in this week in Washington.

President Donal Trump signed a bill to provide about $70 billion for Ic and Border Patrol on Wednesday.

Republicans circumvented Democrats to pass the legislation that funds the two agencies through the rest of Trump's term.

Congressman Gary Palmer says after multiple shutdowns, Homeland Security employees need some relief.

Mark Line is talking about how hard it is to recruit people to com and work for Homeland Security because they don't know if they, if they work 5 or 6 months and then go months without a paycheck.

That's what what's been happening.

And this is something we need to do now.

Democrats refuse to fund immigration enforcement without reforms.

The measure cleared Congress later than Trump's self-imposed deadline of June 1st, after some Republicans objected to the Anti Weaponization Fund and White House ballroom project.

Meanwhile, the House Appropriations Committee has approved 11 of its 12 annual funding bills.

Congressman Robert Aderholt oversees the health, education, and Labor Bill, which include cuts to all three departments.

We'd love to fund everything, but, we have a great dad in this country, and we've got to make sure that we, try to live within our means.

But the NIH is still set to get a boost in next year's bill.

And on Thursday, the House and Senate failed to reauthorize a key surveillance program.

The tool is expected to expire Friday night.

Aderholt says the program is key to national security.

We want to make sure that people are treated fairly, but at the same time, we want to make sure we can get rid of that.

Find out who the bad guys are and make sure that innocent people are not put in harm's way.

And so that's the importance of having this far.

But Democrats and some Republicans oppose the extension over privacy concerns.

Democrats have also demanded that Trump withdrawal bill Pulte, as the acting director of National intelligence before they support it.

Bill Pulte has no national security experience, no law enforcement experience, and no military experience.

Just after lawmakers failed to extend the program, Trump nominated US attorney Jay Clayton to fill the role, though it likely won't be enough to stop it from lapsing Friday night.

Reporting in Washington Alex Engle, Capital Journal.

Thank you Alex.

Also in Washington this week, a group of Alabama students traveled to the Capitol to meet with their representatives about way to improve education in Alabama.

The eight plus Student Voices team discussed their yearlong advocacy project with Congressman Barrymore, Congressman Shamar figures and Senator Katie Britt.

After polling their fellow hig schoolers throughout the state, the group found that mental health, school culture, and student support are the biggest issues facing students.

The group included two recent graduates who said they loved the opportunity to see the inne workings of Congress up close.

DC is is a pretty powerful place.

It was great to see the monuments, memorials and all of these powerful places and also understand the history of our country and how we weren't having the adequate mental health support in the schools is something that we really talk to policymakers about.

Getting, adequate fundin for counselors and mental health coordinators are just really important things.

Thank you, Alex, for those stories.

Alabama official are asking for more time before major changes to the Snap program take effect.

State leaders say the changes could eventually cost Alabama hundreds of millions of dollars if the state can't reduce its Snap payment error rate.

Capital Journal's Jeff Sanders reports.

Members of the Make Alabam Healthy Study group are urging Alabama's congressional delegation to seek a two year dela before a new federal Snap call sharing requirements take effect.

Committee chairman Doctor David Thrasher say those conversations are already underway.

Senator Tuberville at Britt's office.

The governor is on board 100%.

We have to get that done.

The concern centers around a federal requirement that states maintain a snap payment error rate below 6%.

Alabama's most recently published Snap error rate stands at 8.32%, and while that's above the 6% benchmark it's below the national average.

And several neighboring southern states.

Officials say Tennessee and Florid have already received a two year delay before the new requirements take effect.

Alabama is seekin a similar extension without one.

Officials estimate the state could eventuall be responsible for roughly $174 million per year in Snap benefit cost.

Brandon Hardin, who manages the Snap program for the Department of Human Resources, says the agenc is working to lower that rate.

So if we go and we get a waiver or we get a policy option, they the quality control actually reviews based on the federal breaks, not on any waivers or polic options that we actually chose.

So what we have done over the last six months has revamped all of our policies to match exactly with the federal regs so that when the case is pulled up, it would actually match up.

Da Commissione Nancy Buckner says those payment errors should not be confused with fraud.

Going bac and look at the last two years and this doesn' have anything to do with fraud.

Not in Alabama anyway, and I don't think it does in most states.

Study group member and Opelika grocery owner Jimmy Wright says the issue is personal fo many independent store owners.

40% of my sale come through the Snap program.

We do not treat these people any different than anybody else out there.

I say all that to share with you that one of these 172 17 stores on this list is mine.

It's going to be tough to make it if we lose this program.

Officials say snap currentl serves about 670,000 Alabamians, including nearly 300,000 children, were a poor state.

If we didn't have, Snap benefits, children would be starving.

A lot of thes these food programs don't give us goes seniors, disability, people and disability.

Well, would not have food.

Reporting from Montgomery.

I'm Jeff Sanders for Capitol Journal.

We're talking about Thank you Jeff.

Some major development this week on the death penalty and how executions are carried out in this state.

Jeffrey Lee was scheduled to be executed Thursday.

The nitrogen gas hypoxia.

But that sentence was held up by a federal court.

U.S.

District Judge Emily Marques ruled that the execution method is unconstitutional.

She ruled specifically that nitrogen hypoxia, which essentially means having the inmate breathe in pure nitrogen gas until the suffocate violates the Eighth Amendment's protection against cruel and unusual punishment.

The Attorney General's office quickly appealed that ruling, arguing that it went far beyond the meaning of the Constitution.

But the Supreme Court refused to set aside that ruling immediately, meaning the execution execution is still on hold.

Lee was convicted of two counts of capital murder for killing Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson while robbing a pawn shop in 1998.

Well, with America' 250th right around the corner, there's never been a better time to connect with history, and the Alabama Department of Archives and History is offering programs this summer to help tell Alabama's and America's story to visitors of all ages.

Capital journal's Randy Scott has that story.

The Alabama Department o Archives stays busy year round.

We've reached the summer season, and this agency is doing what it can to help people find things to do.

So we encourage adults and the young folks out there with, to kind of connect ove some of these really interesting questions about, like, how do we do what we do?

Why do we do what we do?

Because that kind of imaginative play helps children develop those social skills and those growth and small motor skills, really quickly.

That's how children learn the best, especially at the young age that we try to support them in.

We have amazing spaces that you and your family can come and explore, your own convenience or your own time.

You can say all day and come for an hour, come back day after day, and you can always learn something new and see something that you didn't see before, especially the little people.

This secon floor of our building is called the Museum of Alabama and includes a military gallery, the Children's Gallery.

This gallery about the land of Alabama, as well as the Voices Gallery, which is our 300 year of Alabama histor from about 1700 to about 2010.

Right.

And there are children's journeys in some of those spaces as well, so that there can again, be these conversations that are, leveled for younger people to understand, but for the adults in their lives to, to feel like we're actuall connecting on a real question.

We also wan parents to get involved, right?

So we have these wonderful playful prompts that help the, you know, caregivers come in and learn how to interact in space with the kids.

So that way, if you're feeling like I don't know what to do in this space, don't worry, we're going to help you out with them.

The department has things for big people to do as well.

Many things for both adults and kids can be tied together with their Alabama stories.

There can agai be these conversations that are, leveled for younger people to understand, but for the adults in their lives to, to feel like we're actuall connecting on a real question.

Right.

Question about the material about the the content, about the the artifacts in front of them.

We have other permanent galleries that you can visit, explore the land of Alabama, Alabama, military stories, and of course, Alabama Voices, our largest exhibit.

And throughout all of these spaces, we have added in children's journeys.

These are ways that you can interpret this kind of larger history of Alabama at a children's level.

We're coming up on our Semi Quinn Centennial, 250 years of ORS.

So we're kind of looking bac at how things were done in 1976 as well in Montgomery.

Randy Scott, Capital Journal.

Before we go to break, I wanted to share a heartwarming story with you.

With Auburn hosting a Worl Cup exhibition match this week, the state got to welcom lots of international visitors.

One of those visitors, know simply as Freddy from Germany, has gone viral for his enthusiastic and admiring social media posts about his travels in Alabama.

Freddy was amazed at the size and atmosphere of Jordan-Hare Stadium, saying, quote, this is the most European mind can't comprehend this moment of my life.

That's an online meme.

He took a campus tour but unfortunately didn't make it to Tumor's Lemonade before it closed.

He did make it to Bucky's gas station there on the interstate, which truly blew his mind.

He found a Walmart in Montgomery, a Bass Pro shop in Daphne, and finally made it down to mobile Bay right there at the wharf in Fairhope.

All throughout his travels in Alabama, Freddy was exceedingly impressed by the people and the places in our state, and also the food.

It has been really fun watching.

Following Freddie's travels on Twitter.

He even got a shout out from Governor Kay Ivey.

So sometimes it takes seeing through a foreigner's eyes to be reminded how great this stat and how great this country are.

We'll be right back.

Alabama Public Television is your place for quality educational services.

Free professional development for educators and childcare providers with access to free, curriculum aligned videos, lesson plans and instructional resources with PBS Learning Media and all the PBS kids programs, parents know and trust.

Learn something new every da with Alabama Public Television.

Visit us at AP tv.org/education to learn more.

Originally designated as a postal route in 1806, the old Federal Road stretched through the creek Indian Territory of Lower Alabama.

Alabama's Federal road functioned as a major thoroughfare for western migration into the Old Southwest, ushering in a new era of national expansion and exploitation of Native American territory.

Although much of the Federal Road has disappeared, portions of it remain today.

Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Joining me next is Congressman Barrymore, candidate for the United States Senate.

Congressman thanks for coming on the show.

Great to be on with you, as always.

Well, we'v we've caught you at a busy time.

Obviously you're on the road, a busy week in Washington, D.C., actually, because there have been some consequential votes.

Yeah.

I mean, you're talking about a 2 to 3 vote majority and you just can't miss work.

I mean, the people of first Congressional District elected me to do that job.

And that's more importan than being out here campaigning.

Honestly.

And so.

Yeah.

Busy week with reconciliation.

We get DHS and the border funded.

And that was one of the things we actually were able to fund through the end of the president's term.

And so that's been a weapon that the Democrats have used to try to limit what our law enforcement, border agents, those sort of, sort of folks have to do every day of the week.

And so we were so pleased to get that done.

That's the last piece of the puzzle.

And, the other 11 of the 12 bills were passed.

And so for the first time in 30 years, we've actually done the approach process in regular order with a two vote majority.

But you can't miss those votes.

Well we're here in the homestretch.

Only a few more days to campaign.

So I guess you'r making your closing arguments.

And so what is that argument?

What are your what is what case are you making to voters or why they should choose you on Tuesday was a couple things.

I think a record is vitall important if you actually have legislative experience and you have a record that you can run on for Alabama voters.

I like conservatives.

They like folks who stand pro-life, Second Amendment.

And so I've been endorsed by the NRA, Susan B Anthony, that the people that have seen us in the fight for conservative ideas and values in D.C.

and so in addition to that, I mean, the president knows I'm an ally.

And, you know, many people in a Republican primary will run and say, I'm a conservative, I'm a Trump conservative.

But in reality, if you look at Barrymore's record and what I've done and the relationships I have with the white House and with the president and even with people on the Hill, it allows us to be effective as members of, of of the delegation.

And so that we've been talking about our record and we're going to run on our record.

That's the way we always ran these races.

People appreciate that.

I appreciate runnin on the signal and not the noise.

And that's what we do.

Well you have what mos all Republican candidates won.

That is the endorsement of President Donald Trump.

You had that.

Let me tell a rally last night in fact, where the president joined that phone call.

Talk about how that came about.

Because at the beginning of this campaign, I would have sai it's kind of iffy whether or not the president would actually get involved.

Right?

Sometimes he chooses not to, but he did come out and forcefully endorse you.

Do you do you see that as decisive?

You know it was a couple of things, Todd, for for our family, it was a full circle moment.

I was the first elected official in the nation, endorsed him in 2015.

And for him to come on early for us, that was so very rewarding.

And we as a family, as a team in the campaign, we appreciated that.

And it also shows that he knows who I am and he's seen me stand with him time and time again, because you and I just talked about the the tight majority.

I don't hold him up in the middle of the night making Call Me there's an American First agenda.

The American people sent him to DC to accomplish.

And some people play politic when there's a tight majority.

The president knows that I'm going to be with him, to help him accomplis what the people sent him to DC to accomplish in in November.

We've got 24 months with the greatest president in my lifetime to finish what we started with him some well in 2015.

What is that some 11 years ago.

And so it was a full circle moment for my family, for our team and we greatly appreciated it.

And certainly it changed the dynamics in Alabama.

He polls at 83%.

And so for us to have his endorsement that moved the needle for us, it encouraged us.

And I think it encouraged a lot of people that, that may have not known exactly where they wanted to go.

That love Trump is like, hey, buries his guy.

He's going to be our guy.

Yeah.

And I think you're right in terms of he's probably more popular in Alabama than a lot of other states, but there's still plenty of voters out there that don't like the president, don't have a high, approval of his, jo performance, things like that.

So could it be a double edged sword?

You know there are some voters out there who see him as very divisive and don't want to support candidates that he's behind.

Yeah, but but to me, leadership is divisive sometimes, especially when you take a strong stance and when you do what you tel the people you want to do, even sometimes, if it's no politically expedient for them, but for the future of th country.

It's vitally important.

And so the fact that he can be somewhat divisive, he's from New York, we're from Alabama.

Sometimes we respond to things differently.

But his leadership and the pressure that the attacks that have been put on him over the last 11 years has been nothing short of astonishing.

But yeah, in some kind of way, he seems to accomplish the mission.

And so we're grateful for who he is and what he is as a leader.

He's not perfect.

None of us are.

But at the end of the day, I think he's God's man for this time in the nation.

And we're honored to have him to stay in the fight with us.

And sure that can be divisive some time, but that that's require strong leadership often brings a little division, but it's best long term for the country.

Well, let's talk about this military service issue that's been really prominent here in the last week or so.

There are there's a there's a group out there running an attack ad against you, essentially claiming that you have exaggerated, your military service over the years.

Our own Alex Angl did a really good story on this, you know, spilling ou all the details of your service in the National Guard, in the, reserves.

But it's a pretty searing attack ad saying that you overstated your your military service.

How are you responding?

I've seen a couple of comments where you seem to take it pretty personally.

Yeah, it is extremely personal and probably for campaigns.

It's been a one of the most a personal attack, my faith about 4 or 5 weeks ago.

And then they attacked my service.

And, you know, the interesting thing was this has been out there for years.

People know my record.

And for this to be launched a couple of weeks out, it seemed like an astroturf attack.

It was pushed out by a lot of social media people and that sort of thing.

But the beauty of it for us was we were actually able to get our records and put them out there.

And so, you know, to that's vitally important.

We could just document what I always said.

And it's unfortunate that the other team decided to attack National Guar and reservist is not veterans.

But, there's two parameters for being a veteran in this country.

First, you've been on active duty.

Secondly, you've been discharged honorably, both of which I was able to document.

My basic training was active duty and, and made my honorable discharge, think eight years later, I think eight years, one month and 12 days or something like that.

We actually have a record.

And I think what the other team did, they did a FOIA reques for the for the National Guard, but they couldn't get my federal records.

And so we were able to put that out there and document our service.

And so, you know, it's one of those things that a, a lot of times campaigns would not have been able to get those records and get them out there in time.

But we were able to do that.

So, ultimately it backfired.

And it looks like, the reservist National Guard get it?

And look even our active duty soldiers, I've seen the work we've done for veterans at the state level and at the federal level.

So, it was kind of personal, but we were able to respond in a way that I think that the people of Alabama see it for what it is.

And I think in many ways, it's back viral.

Was it a mistake, though, going back to that 2020 campaign where the ad states, you know, putting on combat boots, you knowing how that experience feels.

Was it a mistak to, to go that far rhetorically.

Because I can see how people would think hearing that putting on combat boots and not understanding that veterans experience, people would think, oh, he' talking about service overseas, but that wasn' part of your service.

So it did.

Was it a mistake to go that far?

Rhetorically?

No, I don't think so.

I mean, if the boots you lace up when you go to drill, when you go to the two week training, annual training, when you go through basi training to call combat boots, you get a jungle version of those boots.

You can get a Japanese version of those boots, but those shoes are been referred to as combat boots for years.

So when I said I laced up the combat boots, I did that on active duty.

Obviously, the basic training on Drill weekend.

And so it wasn't any kind of I mean, people may have taken that or they try to sound, but to me, that was it that fell, you know, it's a pretty loud attack if you know anything about the military and having Fort Rucker in my district going up all those years, a lot of those guys, I'd wear them combat boots after they got you know, out of the military.

And so we just call them combat boots.

I think even you can buy them online.

And so no, I didn't you know, to me it was like that was really, an attack but it didn't, didn't resonate, I don't think I think people who are in the military know exactly what we're talking about and what I'm in.

Well, you mentioned experience earlier, and I found it interestin because, if you go back 20, 25 years, voters a lot of times would prefer someone who had the most experience.

Right?

That was always touted in political campaigns.

But these days sometimes it can be a negative.

You're having too much experience.

Right?

And your opponent's kind of using that.

He's trying to run as kind of an outsider.

Not a lot of political experience.

So how do you, tou your experience and communicate to voters about whether it' your service in the state House, going back to the legislature?

There in Congress, how do you turn experience into a positive for your campaign?

Let's two fold.

I think, number one, I try to remind people I've been in DC five and a half years.

If you served one term in the US Senate, you will be in DC longer than I've been in DC.

So does that make you a career politician?

And secondly, if you look at the fiv and a half years in the House, when you go over the Senate, that helps on committee assignments, you get you get seniority.

And for Alabama, we've got a young senator, we've got a senato that is leaving after six years.

And so that matters how we backfill those committees and seniority committee assignments are vitally important in the US Senate.

And so the five and a half years credit that I'll take over towards those, the Senate confirmations are at leas those the committee assignments that matters for our state.

That allows me to backfill work coaches to stay on the committees that he's on.

Katie's got her Lions coaches in his lanes.

And they thought through that process of what's the best way to suit the needs of Alabama.

And so that seniority allows me to hold the line.

My committee's very closely to what coach is doing and continue to serve the state and get the wins we've been getting out of this administration.

And one of thing, too is those relationships.

Right?

I mean, I've been in DC five and a half years, but I've got a relationship.

If I call the president, he takes my calls.

You know Governor Tucker will obviously, you know, I think he'll be our next governor.

Got a good relationship with him.

We serve for the same amount of time in DC.

So those things really, they try to attack you as career politicians.

But it's like I said the other night, I mean, Jim Jordan and thanks.

Been in DC for 14 years.

Tim Birch, it's been there eight years.

Those are not the kind of guys we need to go to the house just so we can get rid of wha they call a career politician.

So that's how we're talking about it.

And I think it makes sense if you listen to it as a voter and go, yeah, maybe a little experience is good at here.

We don't want to get maybe is there 40 years?

Peopl probably do get tired of that.

But at the end of the day, a little bit of experience and the relationships go a long way to doing what we need to do.

For Alabama.

Okay, well, if our viewers want to learn more, you've got a website where they can go.

Yeah.

Hey, thank you for mentioning that is very more for alabama.com.

And if they really want to see my military record, they're right there for everybody to see on in the news link.

So you guys check it out.

God bless you Todd.

Y'all have a great day.

And don't forget folks vote Tuesday is vitally important in a runoff to get a good turnout.

There you go.

Well look good luck on the on the campaign trail.

And I guess we'll see you on Tuesday.

Thank you sir.

We'll be right back.

You can watch past episodes of Capital Journal online anytime at Alabama Public Television's website.

App tv.org.

Click on the online video tab on the main page.

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Often referred to as the world's greatest Archer.

Shelby County native Howard Hill was an internationally famous archer, best known for his tric shots and prowess as a hunter.

He served as a stuntman, producer, and director for many short and feature films from the 1930s to the 1950s, and was most famous for performing all the bow and arrow stunts for The Adventures of Robin Hood.

He was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1971.

Since 1997, Alabam Public Television has provided programs, services, and resources to childcare professionals, teachers and parents.

Visit AP tv.org/education to learn more.

You're watching Alabama Public Television.

And you.

Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Joining me next is Jared Hudson, candidate for the United States Senate.

Mr.

Hudson thanks for coming on the show.

Brother.

Thanks for having me, man.

Well, we've obviously caught you on the campaign trail.

So let's start there.

How's the campaign trail?

Brother, it is full tilt.

We're driving up 2059 now and decided to pull off side of the road so we can knock this out, and it's just going all over.

Continue to meet with the people of Alabama.

To let them know that one.

I'm the best man for the job but to let them know who I am.

You know, I'm a biography on born again believer in Christ, sevent generation Alabama family man, Seal sniper, law enforcement officer and CEO of a nonprofit to combat human trafficking.

So once I define myself to people, then getting into the real the real crux, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results.

We have got to get the Washington, DC insiders out of office, and we need outsiders, real Alabamians who are ready to go in an represent the people of Alabama and go to Washington with their issues and not bring the issue of Washington back here to them.

So we're going all over telling that story, and it's the same old thing.

It's been Groundhog Day for the last year.

Well, you kind of took the words out of my mouth.

I was going to ask you about your kind of closing arguments, but let me ask it in a different way.

What we you know, we see a lot of rhetoric out there about different issue and everything, but I'm curious what you're telling voters, the case you're making about what you actually want to do, the things that you want to accomplish in the United States Senate if if you should win.

So I would say the first thing.

And if I was there right now and this needs to happen now, we can't go into the general election without the Save America Act being passed.

We need to pass the Save America Act because Alabama already does it.

We have got to make sur that we have citizens of this, in our case, our state.

But citizens of this nation vote in our elections, and we can't have other states just allowing anybody to show up and vote or show up and vote multiple times.

And the biggest issue is making sure that we understand that the Save America Act, it's been held up by Democrats, along with everything else that we're trying to pass and deal with.

But it was for Republicans.

When they got it to the floor, they tacked it o to a reconciliation bill.

Right.

They tacked it on as an amendment to that reconciliation bill, and they couldn' get the 51 vote to make a pass.

It was for Republican senators that kept that from passing.

So that brings me to the next thing making sure that we get this, get term limits, federal term limits passed.

Right.

You have these senators that have been in there for like, a million years, and they're the ones that are holding it up.

You've got a lot of career politicians, and they're holding up passing an agenda that would support the American people, in our case, the people of Alabama.

So making sure that we push for federal term limits.

Moving to the next thing, why do they want to stay there that long?

Congressional stock trade.

I mean, it's even my opponent right now.

His trades are all in crypto.

And he's backed by crypto in a, one of the highest, if not the highest backed candidate in the nation with crypto and apacs.

That is insane that crypto and AI is out trying to buy elections.

By the way, the other two top ones are Democrats.

So you have these outside groups that are trying to purchase elections, making sur that our congressional members can't trade stocks while they're in office, so they're not trading stocks with those who are, their benefactors or those who are they are benefactors from.

And then finally, transparency.

That's the biggest thing we're seeing recently.

There was a drain, the slush fund that it was put up for a vote, and they voted against releasing the information or releasing the names of congressional members who had used the slush fund to hide their impropriety with staffers, with whoever.

And I'm not talking about not protecting the victims.

I'm talking about making sure if you have a representative that's using tax dollars to cover up the issues that they're having with staffers or members in their office.

The American people don't know about it.

And it came to a head.

We saw it with Representative Gonzales in Texas, with what happened with his staffer that was pregnant with his child, that killed herself on his front lawn.

So making sure that we push those things, because that's going to start to bring the respect back to the position of, in this case, a US senator but in our members of Congress.

Well, and speaking of third party groups, there is a superPAC that is supporting your candidacy.

I know you don't control them, but they're supporting you, and they're out with a searing attack ad against your opponent, Barrymore, accusing them of stolen valor, of exaggerating his military service for political gain That's pretty high accusation.

And I've seen the pushback from other groups, supporting hi and from the congressman himself saying that's a lie and that you are associating yourself with that lie.

How do you respond to that?

Yeah.

So we did a press conference on on it the other day with a bunch of guardsmen and veterans that came out, to express their disdain with the public documents and statements that Congressman has made.

And he released.

So at the front end, we don't have to define what a veteran is.

There's a statutory definition of it in the US code, and that the National Guard, that the guard actually says this is what a veteran is.

And with what Barry Moore was released and what he said he doesn't meet that standards.

So that's the first definition.

The second definition.

And I just saw it recently.

He did an interview and an article that came out where he said, hey, I believe I meet this definition because of X, Y, and z. The fact of the matter is, is dependent on the definition of veteran that you're using.

If you use Barry Standard, yeah, he meets it.

If you use the standar that is issued under federal law and the standard that's issued by the Guard Bureau, you can look it up at Guard bureau.mil, I think is the website name.

He doesn't meet it.

But the biggest deal is the the voters, the citizens of Alabama should know this is a guy who's run on this for the last 15 years.

And this is a guy who is made his campaign ads about this, about being the only veteran in the race.

And then when people start asking questions, they start getting hit with lawsuits.

They start getting hit with FEC violations on, hey, you shouldn't be posting this stuff on social media.

Or you get hit with a legal letter from a DC law firm.

This is the most inside thing I've ever seen.

There is nobody in this rac to include Barry that wants to wants to discredit the service of our guardsmen, of our veterans, of our reservist, whoever they are, because tha should be honored in in Alabama.

I think we all agree with that.

The biggest issue is if you're running for political office and you're using something for political gain and you are embellishing wha you've used for political gain, that should be a problem.

And even Congressman Moore agrees with that because he had a whole statement in 1819, ran a news article on it against Tim Walls for the exact same thing.

It's an embellishment of what he's done, not necessarily a complete fabrication.

Yeah.

And Alex Angle did some pretty thorough reporting on this.

The facts are all out there.

But, you know, part of the pushback I've seen i and from the congressman himself saying you're diminishing or minimizing using, his military service and therefore, diminishing and minimizin this, the service of Guardsmen, as in general, or reservists in general.

So do you risk offending those folks by diminishing his service?

No.

So it' the typical straw man argument.

It's like, hey, you know, you're saying this about me.

And even if it might be true, that's going to offend somebody over here.

I actually work my sheriff, wh I'm sworn with is a guardsman.

He is currently a guardsman, and he's absolutely disgusted with how Barry's represented himself because Barry was a cadet in ROTC.

And then I have a guardsman that works for me at Covenant Rescue Group.

He is absolutely disgusted with it because of ho Barry has represented himself.

He has no proble with coming out and saying what he actually thinks, because of what he had to do to earn the title of Guardsman, of soldier, of Veteran.

And he's come out and and very publicly, especially in our presser the other day, very publicly said what he thinks about it.

So I think it's actually the inverse.

The Guardsmen, the veterans, thos who have served their country, they're out there those who have given their lives for this country and their families that are out there, those who have given limbs for this country or suffered injury for this country, whether deployed oversea or whether working in disaster relief here in the state of Alabama across the southeast, even if they didn't get to deploy, they are actually pretty disgusted because you've used who they are for political gain.

So I actually think it's the inverse effect.

And the answer to that question is, I think this is wh we're seeing people getting hit with a cease and desist, or we're going to sue you.

Letters from Washington, D.C., law firms.

What happened to the First Amendment?

And then on the other side of it, why is nobody said anythin about Jared Hudson being called a Democrat, erano and receiving all this funding from Democrats because it's not true.

It's a complete law.

And yet they continue to pus that to the tune of $5 million.

And it's the people that back him trying to tear down the people of Alabama so they can get somebody in office who's going to do their bidding as opposed to the bidding of the voter.

Let's talk about experience.

I found it interesting because you're obviously running as an outsider.

Right.

Maybe you've run for local political office before, but not nothing on this, this scale.

So, you know, new to the political game.

I mean, these days that seems to be an asset, right?

It used to be that you you wanted years in terms of experience.

But these day voters are a little different.

And same time, if you win, you're going to probably have to play some catch up in terms of, getting the kind of political experience it takes to be effective.

So how would you do that?

If you're elected, how would you catch up understanding that you're new to this political game?

Yeah.

No, that's a great question.

So one of the biggest things is we have, our senio senator will be Senator Barrett.

And being able to work hand in hand with her to continue to deliver for the state of Alabama.

I mean, as a young senator, she's already delivered.

I think it's $75 billion investment to our state.

Was the award that she got.

Now that is a that is a pile of of of investment that's coming back to Alabama for me, being a combat veteran and going and sitting on the Armed Services Committee because coaches leaving the Armed Services Committee and the nexus that's the state of Alabama with Redstone Arsenal, the air wing in Birmingham, Maxwell Air Force Base, then go down to Fort Rucker, where we're training all our pilots and then the fastest growing port in North America, then going east to west, you got University of Alabama developing skiffs and supporting the UAS program out of Huntsville.

And then all the way over to Fort McClellan, Fort Benning on the other side in Georgia and Auburn with some of the skiffs that they have that suppor a Homeland Security initiative.

The fact of the matter is we are a national security state and sitting on the Armed Services Committee as a war fighter, as a combat veteran I can easily articulate day one, what Alabama is doing to protect our warfighters and to prepare us not just for the fights we're in now, like what we're dealing with with the IRGC, but also for the fights in the future that are sure to come.

If you want peace, prepare for war.

And Alabama is a stat that meets the national security nexus that upholds the rest of the nation and maintaining that arsenal in the United States of of or maintaining that arsenal in Alabama for the United States of America is an easy way to start building coalitions and teams to deliver for our state while still supporting the rest of the nation.

The last thing I'll leave you with as a seal.

The slang term for this is team gap.

One of the biggest things you do.

You have 100 people sitting in a in a, in in a room arguing about stuff.

A lot of times it's committees.

And on those committees you build coalitions and you build coalitions with other committees to get things done for the people that you're elected to represent.

The peopl of the United States of America as a Seal, I'm called a team guy.

It's working on teams, regardless of what your issues, to deliver on the overall mission.

What is the overall mission?

In my case, it's the people, the state of Alabama, and as a whole, it's the people of the United States of America.

And that's what I'll go and fight for and deliver.

The United States of America is the arsenal of democracy and freedom for the rest of the world, and Alabama is the arsenal.

The United States of America.

And as your next U.S.

senator, I'm the best man for the job to fight for us to maintain that arsenal.

Okay, well, we're almost out of time.

And if our viewers have questions and want to find out more information about your campaig to get a website they can go to.

Yeah.

Hudson for alabama.com.

Get on social media like share and follow.

Check out everything that that we're into and what we got going on.

But the most important thing June 16th get out and vote.

I hope to earn your trust.

I hope I can earn your vote.

I would be honore to earn your vote on June 16th.

Vote Jared Hudson for the U.S.

Senate.

And listen to Worry to Washington.

There you go.

Well, look, good luck on the on the campaign trail.

And I guess we'll see you on Tuesday.

Hey, thanks for having me, brother.

We'll be right back.

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The Butler County native became enthralled with music from a young age, playing harmonica and orga and acquiring his first guitar around the time he was eight years old.

By the end of 1951, Williams had amassed 24 top ten singles, with six reaching number one.

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His legacy remains aliv today, with the heartfelt nature of his performances remaining the benchmark by which country music performers are measured.

In April 2010, the Pulitzer Prize board awarded Williams with a posthumous Special Citation Award.

Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Joining me next is Doctor David Thrasher.

Doc, thanks for coming o the show.

Glad to be here, Todd.

I was gonna, you know, you're you're frequently asked to chair these task forces.

The latest one I have to do with longevity.

And you'll have this meeting the other day.

We just ran Jeff's story on it.

Kind of concerning, details coming out about snap.

A big hole that we could possibly be filled.

But let's back up and maybe explain some of this for our audience.

Talk about how snap works, who's eligible, and how the program is administered.

Sure.

First let me tell you how we got here.

Okay.

I worked with a lo of legislatures through Covid.

And during Covid.

I realized that, the first two years of Covid, Alabama's life expectancy droppe almost three years nationwide.

It was 2.7.

And some Native American tribes, particularly at worst, dropped almost 11 years.

So, I got a call from the speaker of the House and Reed Ingram.

They said, look, we found out that Alabama, people die much too early.

The life expectancy is third worst in the nation, only secondary to West Virginia and Mississippi.

And asked me to chair this task force to, figure out ways that they can, improve that.

So that's how we got started.

And I picked three areas big crime.

Because, Alabama is like fifth in the nation in homicides per capita.

Montgomery was blowing up.

I've been involved with that.

Maternal and infant health care.

We're number 3 or 4 in the nation.

But as far as bad numbers for for that.

And obesity, basically.

And over 75% of Alabamians are obese or overweight.

We're number two in the nation in diabetes.

And so these are areas I thought we could concentrate on.

We started doing tha and then said, whoa, time out.

We've got a problem.

We just discovered with snap and that's where we are.

Right.

Because they passed the one big beautiful bill, right?

And as part of that, want to, I guess, reduce fraud, reduc the error rates and everything.

But Congress seems to be using more of a stick and a carrot here because it's saying, okay if you don't get your error rate down below 50%, then you're going to be cut.

Right.

But can you explain what that error rate.

Sure.

That's a great quote.

When I first heard error rate a oh that's great.

That's fraud.

No, it's not fraud.

Okay.

We talked about fraud and what the Da and Nancy Barton in particular are doing about that, which is great.

And let me just say Alabama is the best in th entire South Zone here, right?

Ours is a little over 8% right now.

Or last year okay.

Probably going to be, over nine now.

What an error is.

Obviously frau could be that somebody stealing and we had problems with people, skimming.

They call it the cause.

Like, you can get your, credit card, skimmed at the airport or other places, or that was a problem that they pretty much, fix now, but error.

And these are poor people.

These are not the most educated people in Alabama.

And 15% of Alabama's over 700,000 people in Alabama get these Snap benefits.

Half of those are children.

Now, an error can be when these people, they may be on minimum wage.

They may make $20 more this month than they did last month.

And they don't report that change.

And then they say, oh, goodness, I forgot to do that.

They fill that report three weeks later.

Well, that's an error.

That's an error.

Most of that, is there a very small percentage?

This is fraud.

They've had fraud.

And how do you get fraud?

Well, the skimming thing was a big deal.

We also noted, our Da noted that, we were having, a disproportionate amount of our benefits being spent in Pennsylvania and New York.

So what's the deal there?

So we found out that that was fraud there.

Now, now, besides getting the chips, in these cards, if you if you're on Snapcha and you want to go to New York, you have to kind of register, say you let my Snap benefits work there and then they'll follow that a lot.

Make sure there's no fraud.

So they're doing the things they need to do.

And like I said they're we have the best record in the South.

Now we're not below 6%.

Now what does that mean?

That means basically we'll be penalized, that everybody is going to have to shar more of the administrative costs because the big, beautiful bill, Alabama's is going to be roughly 39, $40 million no matter what we do.

That's just part of the deal.

Okay.

But now if if we don't get error rate between, below 6%, we're looking at probably over $200 million and more money that we have to pay for the administrative cost.

Alabama doesn't have it.

We don't have an appetite for more taxes.

And he said, well, what are our options?

Three options.

One.

Cut the, snap out.

That would be devastating.

First in the program.

And the program is volunteer.

Alabama doesn't have to do it.

B a b a b. Horrible.

I talk about economic benefit.

Snap in a minute, but that's one option.

The second option is come up with $200 million.

I don't see that happening.

And the third is get a waiver from the federal government.

Give us put us on equal ground as, Florida and Georgia, Florida and Georgia have a significan higher, error rate than we do.

So never they got two years to fix it.

All we want to do is give us tw years like they are to fix it.

Well, we're going to fix it.

They're already doing things.

They're they're increasing the, worker volunteer, requirements.

The chips for the fraud.

So they're doing a good job, and I think our Da is probably doing a better jo than anybody in the South.

Tied.

Well, that seems a little unfair that we would get punished if our neighbors have a worse rate than we do.

And yet they got waivers.

And I know we've applied and everything.

How, how confident are you?

I mean, it's hard to judge the Health and Human Services, but how confident are you tha we can actually get that waiver?

We have to do it through the farm bill, and they're meeting as we speak right now as I say, the farm bill.

And we've reached out to, we got two great senators, Tuberville and Brett.

They understand the problem.

And like I told the, coach, assume he's going to be the guy.

And I said, as I see you walk into if you're a governor, it's a $200 million hole.

And that's what we're doing, and that's what we're trying to avoid.

Yeah.

Well, that's that's really good information.

I appreciate you presenting it I hope you'll keep us updated.

Not just on that, but on these other issues.

Like you said, health issues facing Alabama while I have you, though, I really wanted to ask you about this Jackson Hospital situation.

I get your emails.

I know all the all the, ways that you're involved in the community.

It's a very concerning situation has been for a while, but it seems more acute now.

After they came out saying the hospital came out, said they could close, as soon as July 1st.

Is this a serious situation?

As we.

It's it seems to be tied, if you ask me.

Three months I go I said, well, it's going to work out.

Rick Jackson is an amazing man.

I don't know if you could ever have him on this sho with some time to be with you.

While this is a man who has, I think he had four step dads.

His mother was, Well, let me just say she was not an upstanding citizen.

He was raised on the streets, basically, of Atlanta.

He's raised him.

I don't know how many foster homes bounced around.

When?

One Christmas.

Somebody left him a $100 bill with his name on it and hate it.

To this day, he doesn't know who that, that person is.

He said it changed his whole life, though.

And he said, when I grow up, I want to be able to do that for people.

And he's become a billionaire multi-billionaire and, running for governor now for governor.

If I was in Georgia, I vote for him.

And he went to his, preacher, about ten years ago.

So I want to go in the mission field as preacher said.

Rick, I can put a thousand people i the mission field, but I can't get people like that.

You can print money, and so stay here and do that.

And so he just basically gives all his money now to, as I call it, do good deals.

This is his first hospital for right here.

And he's doing it for the people in Montgomery.

And I really respect that.

Now, having said that, he's put a place to put in about 75 million and, it's just I don't think it's going to work.

I know there's a first for Blue Cross.

There are a lot of issues.

Jackson is, probably lost money.

50% of the time.

Last 12 years.

But 22, hospitals in the state of Alabama today are in the same boat.

I think it was Maxwell Hospital in, our Up declared bankruptcy a few weeks ago.

A lot of these hospitals are going to emergency, medical, designation.

That means in Greenville, almost in this.

I mean, you can only go to the hospital for 24 hours, then you got to go somewhere else.

A tremendous burde is going to put on Montgomery, Huntsville, Tuscaloosa, Auburn and Dover.

So we're we're in a world of hurt.

Well, yeah, I mean, this is the capital city is the closest yet.

The hospita we have to the capital complex and everything after since Saint Martin shut down.

And so it's not just a Montgomery issue.

This is a statewide a major hospital issue, no doubt.

And as much as the dust up with Blue Cross, it seems like that's can't be the whole story.

It's not.

It's not.

Yeah.

I wish it was.

They'd probably be easier to fix, but that's not.

Yeah.

But again, everybody's aware of mismanagement.

Mismanagement they probably had probably did not have the up, best of management Let's just say that in the past.

But again, at 22 other hospitals today that can close.

This is a reimbursement, problem from a national, perspective.

And, we're poor state.

My practice.

Would you put me in critical care?

Over, over 40 years.

We're probably 40% of our revenue.

We don't collect because.

Okay, you know, that's just part of life that we accep as a Hippocratic oath and go on.

But hospital can only do so much free, right?

Well, they have somebody said that if, you know, if you just ran any other business and 20 to 25% of your customers didn't pay, you wouldn't be in business very long.

And that's kind of what that's kind of what they're, I mean, go back one.

Go.

You mentioned margins.

These grocers by about 170, these, grocery stores in rural Alabama.

You have 1% margin, 1% who start a business with a 1% margin, half of those, 760.

We got there saying snap.

Half of those are will go out of business, will be severely impacted.

So it's an economic problem in Alabama, too.

For every dollar, snap, we get the state gets about $1.80 and revenue.

So it's going to be a, a a chain effect.

Congress giveth and Congress taketh away I guess.

Yeah.

Doc, I really appreciate your time coming to do these things.

I hope you'll come back.

Love to time.

We'll be right back.

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There is a shortage in the electrical trade and we didn't see the talent coming in.

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I was an eighth grade, electrical trade, had my attention, went to school every day, learn as much as I can.

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Stephen's a great kid.

Comes in your office first thing.

Smiling, shaking your hand.

We started the apprenticeship program so that we would, be able to train, our own employees rather than hire from outside their earning wage because their actual employee.

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You can watch past episodes of Capital Journal online anytime at Alabama Public Television's website.

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Click on the online video tab on the main page.

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That's our show for this week.

Thanks for watching.

We'll be back next week at the same time right here on Alabama Public Television.

And for our Capital Journal team I'm Todd Stacey.

We'll see you next time.

And.

You.