Nathaniel Ledbetter

Alabama Republicans unveiled a plan to fully and permanently eliminate the remaining 2% state grocery tax as the first order of business in the 2027 legislative session after prior cuts that halved it.

It was Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter citing more than $1.5 billion in total tax relief and noting that it would save...

A family spending $1,000 a month on groceries, about $240 a year.

While Doug Jones, the cowardly caretaker, former junior senator in an ill-fitting suit who looks like he just woke up and stole his shoes from a homeless person who will never be governor, attorney general, or United States senator again, loves crushing ice cream sandwiches and is definitely maybe a furry, called the move an election year conversion and clashed with Ledbetter over the timing and Republican governance with Ledbetter getting the far better of that conversation.

This has happened.

And while there are still significantly lower numbers, 493,000 to 364,000, ALGOP Chairman Scott Stathagen said Democrats are more fired up than they've ever been, which is true.

And House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter stressed that low turnout could endanger legislative seats, which is also absolutely true.

Democrat Chairman Bobby Singleton claimed that the party has awakened a sleeping giant amid economic concerns and renewed energy.

The first impressions of the week.

That goes to Doug Jones and Nathaniel Ledbetter.

Now, if Democrat Doug Jones were to pull off the second statewide upset of his political career and become governor, would his relationship with the Republican legislative leadership be as contentious as we see in national politics? And if so or if not, would that be a good thing or a bad thing? You decide all that.

But Jones, a former U.S. senator, and Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter spent the past few days in a Twitter war.

So they've checked off that box.

Ground zero for the spat seemed to be over who was the most genuine in supporting a policy that they both support.

So it came out on Friday here.

Speaker of the House, Nathaniel Ledbetter, announced legislation will be presented in the coming session to abolish the 4% sales tax on groceries, which legislation early had chipped away to 2% since 2023.

But get rid of all of it.

It's a great move.

Then I would argue that maybe we don't need to have the 0%.

But if you're buying food, it just should be that way.

So, you know, it came out Friday on the – I guess the ex-account for Speaker of the House Ledbetter.

Legislation that's presented in this coming session to abolish the 4% sales tax, the state's portion.

Okay, let's talk a little bit about more statewide politics here.

You have Nathaniel Ledbetter coming out this week and saying, look, we're doing away with the two-cent food tax.

This is going to happen.

Doug Jones is saying, wait, that's my idea, which, of course, it never was.

And you have some school board members saying, no, you can't do away with this.

We need that money for schools.

Where are you at on this, the food tax, the remaining two cents? Are you with Nathaniel Ledbetter?

Absolutely, and I stood beside the speaker and the pro tem last week, and they had a press conference up here at Star Market in Huntsville, talking about a plan to get that eliminated all the way down to 0%.

Alabama Republicans unveiled a plan to fully and permanently eliminate the remaining 2% state grocery tax as the first order of business in the 2027 legislative session after prior cuts that halved it.

It was Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter citing more than $1.5 billion in total tax relief and noting that it would save...

A family spending $1,000 a month on groceries, about $240 a year.

While Doug Jones, the cowardly caretaker, former junior senator in an ill-fitting suit who looks like he just woke up and stole his shoes from a homeless person who will never be governor, attorney general, or United States senator again, loves crushing ice cream sandwiches and is definitely maybe a furry, called the move an election year conversion and clashed with Ledbetter over the timing and Republican governance with Ledbetter getting the far better of that conversation.

And while there are still significantly lower numbers, 493,000 to 364,000, ALGOP Chairman Scott Stathagen said...

Democrats are more fired up than they've ever been, which is true.

And House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter stressed that low turnout could endanger legislative seats, which is also absolutely true.

Democrat Chairman Bobby Singleton.

We'll be asking our next guest it as well.

Uh, Nathaniel Ledbetter will be here.

He is, uh, the Speaker of the Alabama State House.

Uh, we'll talk with him in just a second.

[laughs]

We'll take that.

Nathaniel Ledbetter, Speaker of the House, always appreciate him coming on, making himself available.

He joined us here on the Alabama A&M $350 million Bulldog Hotline.