HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Sen. Tommy Tuberville was a coach before he began his career in politics and he has been known to be painfully honest. "It's good to be away from the clown show for a few days," Tuberville shared Wednesday before the Huntsville-Madison County Chamber of Commerce. "That's exactly what it is and I'm going to tell the truth."
While he wasn’t shy when describing how he feels about Washington, he also knows there's work to do. "We are divided probably about as bad as the Auburn and Alabama football team," Tuberville said. "It is a situation where, at the end of the day, most of us can sit down and talk civil with each other, understanding that there are different views, sometimes commingle and we make this country better."
In his Washington update, he took time to praise the National Children Advocacy center, which recently announced a $1.3 million grant for area services. "I'm proud to say that it started in the state of Alabama," said Tuberville. "We need institutions like that to help our kids. Our kids are most important. They are the future. They are our number one commodity."
He also discussed his stance on education, suggesting that schools should focus more on the fundamentals. "If we don't get our education straight, this country in the very near future, we will not have a country like we grew up in," Tuberville said. "We've got to make sure that we're teaching, reading, writing, math and history. Get away from things that don't mean anything and teach our kids, you know, the fundamentals of life."
“Coach” also touched on what the farming community needs and how he plans on helping them. We have almost double the price of fertilizer in this country," Tuberville said. "We can't grow enough to feed everybody. We don't have enough people work. We're putting we're putting farmers out of business.
A solution to this is the Farm Bill, which he says will help farmer maintain a livable wage. "We've been working on it for two years it's called the Farm Bill. This year and for the first time it will be over a trillion dollars, that's $1.2 trillion and we're going to help our farms. We're going to try to get them back on their feet. We are going to try and talk some sense into this White House where we start making it feasible for our farmers to make a living."
Sen. Tuberville is also a big advocate for the veteran community and was displeased with the outcome of bill that he says won't put money where it needs to be. "I want to do things right now to make sure that the veterans are taken care of, not glossed over, say, ‘oh, we gave you this big deal’ and it doesn't do it. well, that's what happened," Tuberville said. "But I am going to fight for the PAC act, which is what it's called and make sure that it goes in the right place. We have to take care of our veterans. We're losing 20 a day to suicide."