Tuskegee Dialysis — 16 Days
The Fresenius Kidney Care Tuskegee closure deadline is 16 days from today. The center will close on Sunday, May 17. Roughly 50 patients depend on it three times a week. Macon County has no other dialysis center within its borders. The Wilcox County dialysis center, closed by the same company on March 20, remains closed today.
The 30-day delay Rep. Figures negotiated in March was a delay, not a fix. As of this morning, there is still no public communication from the federal office about a permanent solution, no announced town hall in Macon County, and no posted constituent service Saturday in the affected ZIP codes. The closure date will not move on its own. Either a replacement provider is identified, the company reverses the closure, or 50 dialysis patients in Macon County travel to Auburn or Tallassee or Union Springs three times a week starting May 18.
Sixty-three days ago this was a 79-day countdown. Today it is a 16-day countdown. Time is now the most important variable.
The Bipartisan Rollouts
Yesterday, Rep. Figures and Rep. Jefferson Shreve (R-IN-06) introduced the Rural Animal Shelter Investment Act, bipartisan legislation that would amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to make animal shelters eligible for USDA Rural Development direct loans and grants. The bill was referred to the House Committee on Agriculture. It is the second bipartisan introduction by the AL-02 office this week.
A clarification on the Rural Futures package introduced Monday. Earlier coverage by this newsletter described it as co-sponsored only with Rep. Janelle Bynum (OR-05). Rep. Figures' official press release confirms the co-sponsors are Rep. Joyce Beatty (OH-03), Rep. Terri Sewell (AL-07), and Rep. Bennie Thompson (MS-02). The Sewell co-sponsorship is significant: it is intra-Alabama Democratic delegation work, not solo Oregon coalition. The earlier framing was wrong and the public record correction belongs here.
Two bills, two cross-aisle Republican co-leads (Shreve on shelters, Hurd on Made in America Jobs which passed April 22), plus an intra-Alabama Democratic package. That is genuine legislative throughput in a single week and it belongs on Column One.
Why Iran Still Matters In Mobile
Brent crude is holding above $120 per barrel, the highest sustained level since June 2022. WTI is at $108. AAA gasoline national average is $4.21 per gallon. Diesel is forecast to peak above $5.80 per gallon in May. The UAE departure from OPEC takes effect this month, the first major-producer departure since Qatar in 2019.
For most of the country this is national news. For AL-02 it is a district story. The Port of Mobile is the 11th largest port in the United States by tonnage. Austal USA, Bender Shipbuilding, and the broader Mobile shipbuilding workforce sit downstream of global oil prices, global shipping rates, and tanker availability. Diesel above $5.80 per gallon is a tax on every long-haul trucker and every farmer in the Black Belt. Fourteen days have now passed since the federal seat that represents Mobile last issued a public statement on the Iran/Hormuz situation.
The Two Columns
The public file on Rep. Figures' first term continues to fill in two columns:
Column One — The Record: - Rural Animal Shelter Investment Act — introduced with Rep. Jefferson Shreve (R-IN-06), April 30. Referred to House Agriculture. - Rural Futures package — four bills introduced April 27, co-led with Reps. Beatty (D-OH), Sewell (D-AL), Thompson (D-MS). - Made in America Jobs Act — co-led with Rep. Jeff Hurd (R-CO-3), passed the U.S. House April 22. - HBCU Research Capacity Act — introduced with Reps. French Hill (R-AR-2), Alma Adams (D-NC-12), and Richard McCormick (R-GA-6). - Negotiated 30-day delay on the Tuskegee dialysis closure (March 18). - H.Res.1086 Clotilda recognition resolution (February). - Voted FOR War Powers Resolution restricting Iran military action without congressional approval.
Column Two — The Silence: - 16 days remain on the Tuskegee dialysis countdown with no announced permanent fix. - 14 days have passed without any public statement on the Iran/Hormuz situation that affects Mobile shipbuilders. - Wilcox County dialysis center, closed March 20 by the same company, remains closed with no replacement. - Q1 FEC: 92 percent of vendor disbursements went to firms outside Alabama (Washington D.C., New York, Northern Virginia). - Q1 FEC: 69.1 percent of receipts came from PACs; 7.9 percent of those PAC dollars came from Alabama-based PACs. - H.R. 7567 (Farm, Food, and National Security Act) — voted no. - H.R. 7744 (DHS appropriations) — voted no. - H.R. 1958 (Deporting Fraudsters Act of 2026) — voted no.
A district representative is not a single number on a single vote. A district representative is the totality of where the time and the words and the votes go. November 3 is 186 days away. Both columns will keep filling in.
Sources: figures.house.gov press releases, Congress.gov bill records, U.S. House Roll Call records, FEC.gov, Reuters, Goldman Sachs, AAA fuel data, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers port tonnage data, WSFA-12, WAKA-8.
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