HUNTSVILLE/MADISON COUNT Y CHAMBER, ALABAMA TO THE MEMBERS OF THE ALABAMA CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION AND THEIR STAFF: Thank you to the members of the Alabama Congressional delegation for your advocacy on the issues that are critical to securing the United States’ role as a global leader in space exploration, national defense, homeland security, and bioscience. With your leadership on those issues impacting Huntsville and Madison County, our region continues to prosper as a science and technology powerhouse. Our federally focused business community functions best with predictable and dependable funding for federal programs. We understand the complex budgetary challenges facing the delegation, including the debt ceiling, deficit reduction, and fiscal responsibility within constrained tax revenue. A prolonged continuing resolution or government shutdown would have severe repercussions for the north Alabama economy. We urge congress to vigorously support timely passage of appropriation bills and your continued efforts to increase overall funding for S&T and advanced R&D for defense, justice, and aerospace programs. We also urge you to implement a fiscally responsible and transparent method of Congressionally Directed Spending to restore Congress’s constitutional authority, foster collaboration, and align federal spending with taxpayer priorities. The health of the north Alabama economy and future growth of this region are dependent on the continued health of the federal organizations resident on Redstone Arsenal and the advancement of the programs under their purview. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) is leading the effort to return the U.S. to the surface of the moon, a program of tremendous interest to our National security and our nation’s worldwide leadership in Space. Similarly, Redstone has been tasked with leading President Trump’s American Golden Dome initiative. Army procurement organizations (PEO Aviation and PEO Missiles & Space) have oversight of critical Army transformation programs that will ensure U.S. leadership in rotary wing and unmanned aviation, and air and missile defense, respectively. Some of the Nation’s leading RDT&E organizations are also resident on Redstone Arsenal and are working to advance the state of the art in unmanned systems (UAS) and Counter UAS, rotary wing aviation, directed energy, hypersonics, AI, and many other disciplines. While cuts in programmatic funding can lead to reductions in workforce, arbitrarily mandated cuts to employment levels to AFC, DEVCOM elements like AvMC, which operates largely on reimbursable work, would make little sense. Their customers leverage their government and industry investments in science and technology to save money. Huntsville’s HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology leads the world in bioscience research and development and has secured north Alabama as an incubator of innovation in this evolving field. We offer comprehensive insight into the key programs requiring congressional attention and recommendations on how congress might weigh in to ensure advancement of these programs. The continued growth of Huntsville and Madison County necessitates significant investments in our road infrastructure. While the area’s issues with traffic remain far below the levels experienced by other growing cities in the southeastern region, major upgrades to federal routes in the area will be necessary to keep the flow of traffic manageable for local commuters, including the many thousands of workers who drive to Redstone Arsenal each day. Local leaders are entering into an agreement with the Alabama Department of Transportation to expedite the construction of several major projects, all of which involve or connect to federal highways and interstates. Every effort made by our congressional delegation to help procure funds for these projects will improve the lives of citizens across north Alabama. We greatly appreciate the ongoing efforts of the Alabama Congressional Delegation to defend the Air Force criteria-based selection of Redstone as the preferred site for SPACECOM, and we encourage the Delegation to move swiftly to fund the MILCON infrastructure requirements, should a decision to locate the SPACECOM Headquarters at Redstone be reinstated. This Agenda summarizes the most critical federal issues facing our region. Additional information regarding these items and a number of other important federal programs and issues that have significant local and national impact are included in an accompanying Issues Book.
THANK YOU FOR ALL THAT YOU DO ON OUR BEHALF, THE HUNTSVILLE/MADISON COUNTY CHAMBER