PAT DUGGINS-- I talked with Alabama's newest member of Congress about the possible future impact on the state from Donald Trump's so called Big, beautiful Bill. Democratic U.S. House member Shomari Figures is the first person elected to Alabama's newly redrawn district two the US Supreme Court ordered the new voting map to better represent African Americans. As for Donald Trump's spending package, the Congressional Budget Office says twelve million people nationally could lose health care coverage through cuts to Medicaid. About a quarter of Alabama's population reportedly gets medical treatment through this program. I spoke with Congressman Figures in late June with Trump's budget package almost certain to pass. Here's part of what he had to say about what may be coming.
CONGRESSMAN SHOMARI FIGURES-- Look, I think the underlying concern that I have with this bill is that it is premised on removing benefits away from people who need those benefits, and from very worthy programs, anti hunger programs, making sure people who don't have the financial means have access to health care. It's removing those benefits all to provide benefits for the wealthiest of people in this country in the form of tax breaks. And it's not being done in a manner that's actually going to reduce the federal deficit, not it's actually going to add about $5 trillion to the national debt over the next decade. And to me, there's just a significant disconnect and how that impacts real people, because there are worthwhile things in this country that are worth going into $5 trillion of debt over tax breaks for the wealthiest of Americans is not that right? Rural hospitals, that's worth it, education, that's worth it, making sure our men and women in the military are protected and trained and taken care of, and our veterans are served. That's worth it. Tax breaks to ultra wealthy millionaires and billionaires is not worth the position that we're putting the future of this country in and certainly not worth sacrificing the health, safety, and, many cases, the ability for some people to put food on the table.
PAT-- I noticed one of the first bills that you sponsored was the rural hospital Stabilization Act of 2025 and also noticed that during the US Senate debate on the so called Big, beautiful bill, there was a lot of discussion about protecting rural hospitals from Medicaid cuts, my question is, What comfort does that give you that people are talking about rural hospitals nationally, and not just Alabama on the south.
CONGRESSMAN FIGURES-- It certainly gives me a lot of comfort in knowing that the issue is one that's been raised to the forefront of conversation. But what gives me less comfort is the actual action that's being taken to address it. We know that our rural hospitals are struggling, and we know what rural hospitals mean in those communities, in those counties. I mean most counties, most rural counties in the state of Alabama, the vast majority of them only have one hospital remaining. So if they lose that hospital, it is a significant blow, not just from the healthcare access standpoint, but from a an economic standpoint. No business wants to be in a community that doesn't have a hospital. No residents want to live there. No developers want to develop there. It's hard to recruit new industry there. And so, you know, although it's a great, you know, great thing that people are talking about, and we have to get more serious about action. And that's what that bill does, providing direct federal resources to rural hospitals to help stabilize their situation so they can remain the vital part of unity infrastructure that they are.
PAT-- Sir, every time there's a problem, there's a number of different answers that could possibly address it. I've heard some people say, okay, for rural health, why not beef up public transportation in order to get people to where the hospitals are? And then here you are with your bill stabilizing the hospitals. What drove that strategy, when you put the bill together?
CONGRESSMAN FIGURES-- I think it's it's driven from the standpoint of just talking to real people who live real lives, and being a real person who lives in life. If I have a medical emergency at my home in mobile I don't want to have to wait for public transportation to get me to a hospital that's 45 minutes hour, hour and a half away, in some cases, in this district. And similarly speaking, when a family is looking to relocate, they don't want to come to a community where you tell them, hey, you know 45 minutes to the nearest hospital, right? Or if you have elderly people who grew up in a community who want to retire back to the same community that they grew up in, you don't want, and no, nor would you as a child, want your parents retiring back to a community where they have to rely on you know, you know, whether it's public transportation or whatever means of transportation to get to a hospital that's 45 minutes to an hour away. It's just not. Acceptable, and so that's what drove it, and that's what's going to continue to drive it. Like finding alternative hospitals for our rural communities is not the solution. It's keeping the hospitals that we have in our rural communities that may force us to look at, you know, scaling some of the services and operations that are at the hospitals, but we cannot afford to just throw up our hands and let hospitals go.
PAT-- So all that being said, Sir, how's the first term going?
CONGRESSMAN FIGURES—First term is going well. It's going well, like I say, every day is a is a privilege and a blessing to be here to represent the people of Alabama and the people of District Two, even in this environment, we're working very diligently on ways to try to still be productive and still be effective. That rural hospital bill that we've been discussing that's a bipartisan piece of legislation introduces another Republican member of Congress, Mike Rogers, here in the Alabama delegation, is also on that bill because issues like rural hospitals, issues like lowering the cost of living for the average everyday American, those are not political issues. Those are issues that are affecting Democrats and Republicans and black people and white people, and men and women and old and rich and poor, all the same, and young people, and so we we have to do everything that we can to work, to be productive, and that's what we're committed to doing.
PAT—Before your election, the APR newsroom spent about eight months looking into the issues surrounding District two, and one of the things that came out with that was something that your colleague, Terri Sewell, is dealing with. Now, in addition to being on radio, we're also a podcast. So for the listener living outside of Alabama, she's the other democrat and the other African American serving along with you in the US House for Alabama representative, Sewell and her staff talked at length about the phone calls they get from African American voters from outside her district. Now the reason that we were presented with was that, for good or for ill, these black voters simply preferred to talk to miss Sewell instead of the white Republicans that that represent the districts that they happen to be living in. I was curious, are you and your staff getting any of these out of district calls like representative Sewell?
CONGRESSMAN FIGURES-- Look, we get calls from outside the district, from outside the state, on on a lot of different issues, and at the end of the day, we're committed to helping. Our primary focus will always be, is and will always be, make sure that we're assisting the citizens of District Two in the state. But at the end of the day, anyone that calls into this office, we're going to help them. We're going to point them in the right direction, to do everything that we can to make sure that they have a solution, but we understand that we that we represent District Two, but as with every member of Congress, we have an obligation to the state of Alabama as a whole.
PAT -- Be sure to join me tonight for my full discussion with Democratic U.S. House member Shomari Figures, he was the first person ever elected to Alabama's newly redrawn District two in the U.S. house. See you Tonight on APR Notebook.
