It was an honor to welcome United States Congressman Robert Aderholt (AL) onto Priority Talk Radio with ALCAP President Greg Davis. They began their conversation by covering the re-election of Mike Johnson as Speaker of the House and the issue of certain House figures being unsure of Johnson’s leadership capabilities. Robert Aderholt defended Mike Johnson by explaining the difficult position in which he was originally placed and why he supports Johnson as they head into the 119th Congress:
“I have confidence that Mike Johnson will do the right thing, especially going into the new Congress, he has much more leverage now working with Trump in the White House. We can get a lot more things done,” Aderholt said.
Greg Davis then asked Robert Aderholt to help explain our government spending bills that always seem too large, too complicated, and too hastily put together at the last second to avert a government shutdown. Is there a better way? Can these bills be split into smaller, more manageable portions and dealt with individually?
Basically, Aderholt explained that part of the budget issue is government gridlock. Ideally, there are supposed to be 12 individual spending bills instead of one large bill, and the House had been working on them since the Spring of 2024. The House (majority Republican) would pass their spending bills but those bills would die when they arrived in the Senate (majority Democrat). The Senate Democrats did not like the bills because there were a lot of cuts. Eventually, the House and the Senate eventually did agree on a temporary stopgap spending plan in December and it passed. The issue will be taken back up in March.
Congressman Aderholt said that, while not desirable, gridlock is better than passing bad bills. What that means practically, however, is that sometimes spending bills are not passed until the last second (or even after a government shutdown).
Davis then asked Aderholt about his thoughts on the upcoming year and the incoming Trump Administration. To hear Robert Aderholt’s response, along with the entire conversation, listen here.