From the Office of House Minority Leader Rep. Craig Ford
Montgomery, AL – House Minority Leader Rep. Craig Ford (D-Gadsden) said state Sen. Bryan Taylor’s announcement earlier this week that he has pre-filed a debt repayment bill is about getting publicity rather than offering a real solution to repay any money borrowed from the Alabama Trust Fund.
“Sen. Taylor is more interested in politics than policy,” said Ford. “Anybody can send out a press release and say we need to pay back what gets borrowed out of the Trust Fund, but Sen. Taylor hasn’t said how he is plans to pay it back. Is he going to raise taxes? Is he going to cut even more money from Medicaid, public schools, and public safety? Being a leader means making the tough decisions and offering real solutions, not sending out press releases full of big talk just so you can get your name in the paper.”
Rep. Ford added that it was the Republicans’ failure to lead to begin with that created the need for the constitutional amendment that will only provide a temporary fix, and that Taylor’s bill was another example of Republicans failing to lead.
“Instead of doing the job they were elected to do, the Republicans in the Alabama legislature passed the buck to the voters with this constitutional amendment,” said Ford. “If Sen. Taylor and the Republicans are really so concerned about paying back what gets borrowed, then they should have found a way to fund Medicaid and these other crucial programs without having to borrow it to begin with.”
Representative Craig Ford is a Democrat from Gadsden. He has served in the Alabama House of Representatives since 2000. In 2010, Representative Ford was elected House Minority Leader by the House Democratic Caucus. He was re-elected Minority Leader in 2012.
