|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Several Alabama Republicans spent last week defending the Department of Government Efficiency amid demonstrations across the state that took aim at the agency.
In a Wednesday press release, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall defended DOGE and the organization’s attempt to access Social Security data.
Marshall was among 19 Republican state attorneys general to sign an amicus curia brief supporting DOGE against what Marshall’s office termed “politically-motivated lawsuits attempting to stop [Elon Musk’s] team from protecting taxpayer dollars.”
These suits include one levied against Trump’s administration by a coalition of 14 attorneys general on Feb 13. These states, led by New Mexico allege the Trump administration violated the law by granting DOGE head Elon Musk access to the Treasury Department’s central payment system without congressional approval.
“Mr. Musk’s seemingly limitless and unchecked power to strip the government of its workforce and eliminate entire departments with the stroke of a pen or click of a mouse would have been shocking to those who won this country’s independence,” the attorneys general wrote.
On the other hand, the brief Marshall signed makes the case that Article II of the U.S. Constitution grants Trump the authority to direct executive branch agencies as he pleases.
“The American people have been loud and clear: they want President Trump to cut waste, eliminate fraud, and protect their tax dollars,” Marshall wrote.
“Yet, the radical left is using the courts to shield corruption and obstruct the President’s efforts. These baseless lawsuits are nothing more than a last-ditch effort to preserve a broken system,” Marshall continued.
U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., similarly came out in support of cuts in federal spending.
“I wouldn’t be against them taking it from a Pentagon to a trigon,” Tuberville said.
U.S. Rep. Dale Strong, R-Ala. also came out in support of DOGE at a Feb. 20 speech at Drake State Community and Technical College in Huntsville.
Strong argued that while job cuts will have an effect in the Huntsville area, he felt the U.S. Space Command’s potential move to the area and the calls from Trump to develop a U.S. equivalent of Israel’s Iron Dome would help Huntsville bounce back.
“I still believe Space Command is coming to our area. And then, you hear talk about Iron Dome. That right there is Alabama. These jobs, while we may lose a couple, we will gain many of them in the end,” Strong said.
Strong, Tuberville and Marshall’s statements all came after demonstrations were held on Presidents’ Day against the early actions of the Trump administration nationwide, including in Huntsville, Birmingham and Mobile.
The “No Kings on Presidents’ Day” protests were led by local organizers responding to a call to action by the 50501 Movement. 50501 is a protest organization focused on building grassroots efforts to demonstrate against Trump’s second-term policies.
Protesters in the state focused on Musk’s involvement in the federal government, as well as various threats to federal jobs and funding in Alabama.
Perceived threats include the Trump administration’s proposed 15 percent cap on the National Institutes of Health’s indirect costs payments made to help cover hospitals and research institutes’ administrative costs.
While these cuts have been temporarily halted by a federal judge, they have raised concerns regarding their impact on the University of Alabama Birmingham’s research and medical capabilities.
UAB received $413 million in NIH funding in 2023 and $407 million in 2024. United for Health reported that overall, in 2023, NIH grants supported 4,769 jobs and sent $909 million in funding to institutions across Alabama.
“It’s disappointing to see them move with such urgency to stand alongside what’s going on at a federal level when it looks like what is being done is basically unconstitutional,” Stand Up Mobile co-founder Shalela Dowdy told APR in response to Alabama Republican’s endorsements of DOGE.
“It’s as if they’re just aiming to be relevant with what’s going on on a national level instead of what’s going on in our state when we have healthcare disparities, education disparities,” Dowdy said of Marshall and Tuberville. “You know, I feel like the attention could be focused on issues in our own state.”
Regarding NIH cuts’ potential impacts on UAB, Dowdy said, “That is one of the premiere research institutions in our country, not just the state of Alabama, and so that’s going to affect future progress.”
Dowdy said she believes a combination of fear amongst federal employees and their families and Alabamians concerned about impacts on important services have inspired more people to speak out against the Trump administration and DOGE.
“We care about it because either we’re being impacted by it, or we have friends and family that are being impacted by it,” Dowdy said.
Purple People Resistance founder Melanie Kowalski, whose organization coordinated the demonstration in Huntsville, similarly said she took issue with the expansive decisions being made by Musk, who she called an “un-elected un-vetted and a private citizen from South Africa.”
Kowalski said she created Purple People Resistance with the purpose of responding to attempts to restrict public library content led by Moms for Liberty. Kowalski said, however, when she was made aware of other 50501 marches in the state, she wanted to give Huntsville residents a chance to speak out against the Trump administration
In Huntsville, the potential of federal employment cuts has raised concerns regarding layoffs amongst aerospace and defense workers. The Congressional Research Service found that more than half of Alabama’s roughly 40,000 civilian federal employees live in Huntsville’s congressional district in 2024.
Boeing announced it will be laying off 71 employees at their Huntsville in a notice to the Alabama Department of Commerce last week following funding cuts to NASA.
“As Boeing and NASA continue to finalize contract revisions for Boeing’s work on the Space Launch System program, we have successfully mitigated a majority of the previously announced workforce reductions,” a statement from the company read.
“We will redeploy teammates where possible but expect to proceed with fewer than 200 involuntary layoffs in accordance with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act,” the notice stated.
Kowalski said the demonstration’s turnout made her more optimistic regarding the ability of Huntsville citizens to come together and voice their frustrations with the Trump administration’s policies.
“We’re trying to reach those people that are you know in the middle and so the mission’s more about like building bridges and building stronger community,” Kowalski said. “We’re trying to reclaim the flag in that, you know, you can be a patriot and be against this administration.”
