Figures hones in on health care, infrastructure in first seven months

While Congressman Shomari Figures is still hanging pictures to decorate his office in the Cannon Building, the freshman lawmaker has already pursued legislation on key issues in his district: health care and infrastructure.

Many times, he’s working across the aisle to address those issues.

“It’s a necessary part of the job,” Figures, D-Mobile, told Alabama Daily News, sitting at his desk in Washington during an interview before the August recess.

“At the end of the day, we came here to try to get results, and we’re going to do what it takes to do that, obviously, without sacrificing our morals or our foundational core beliefs.”

He’s done that by introducing the Rural Hospital Stabilization Act, co-sponsored by Republican Rep. Brian Jack of Georgia and most of Alabama’s House delegation. It would provide grants to rural hospitals.

“We found a Republican because we know that rural hospital challenges are not something that’s just a party issue,” Figures told ADN. “It’s not just something that’s an Alabama issue. And so it was very important to us to find a bipartisan way to work on that, and we’re continuing to push that.”

In Alabama, 23 hospitals are at an immediate risk of closing. That’s about half of all rural hospitals in the state, according to a June report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Reform.

The bipartisan support for assisting struggling rural hospitals was on full display during Saturday’s federal delegation panel at the Business Council of Alabama’s annual Government Affairs Conference.

Figures’ focus on health care legislation started early in his first term, with the first bill he co-sponsored aiming to provide Medicaid coverage in states like Alabama that have not expanded the program.

The Democrat-sponsored bill, dubbed the COVER Now Act, isn’t expected to advance in the Republican-controlled Congress, but Figures said it’s still important to pursue policies that are a priority for Alabama’s Second Congressional District.

Infrastructure

Stretching from Mobile to Russell County, the “district is essentially the infrastructure poster child of America,” Figures said.

Recently, the Alabama Democrat has pushed for bipartisan legislation to bolster infrastructure projects to better combat natural disasters. The Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Act specifically aims to support projects in rural and vulnerable communities to make them more resistant to the effects of disasters.

“This is a project that’s very relevant to us being right there in hurricane alley,” Figures said. “I grew up in Mobile. We’ve been through my fair share of storms.”

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Republican Rep. Chuck Edwards of North Carolina joined Figures as a co-sponsor of the bill to change the funding distribution to prioritize getting money to communities that “don’t often get the first bite at the apple.”

The legislation reforms FEMA’s current Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities grant process to require one-third of the funds be given out equally among states, one-third based on population and one-third to states that are most vulnerable to natural disasters that threaten critical infrastructure.

Figures’ bipartisan bona fides have also extended to his efforts to invest in bridge improvements, working with a Mississippi Republican and Rep. Barry Moore, R-Enterprise, on the Bridge Investment and Modernization Act.

The legislation would streamline federal funding for the construction and repairs of bridges, including the I-10 Mobile River Bridge and Bayway Project.

Protecting Civil Rights history

Figures has also taken on a leading role against the Trump administration’s attacks on diversity initiatives, especially when it comes to Black history in Alabama. He called defending civil rights a “core responsibility.”

“If it wasn’t for the civil rights history of the state of Alabama, I would not be here,” Figures said. “I would not be a member of Congress. This district would not exist, not just me, Congresswoman Terri Sewell, several other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, we would not have the opportunity to serve in this body.”

From fighting the administration for removing curriculum about the Tuskegee Airmen from Air Force training materials to pushing back against the pausing of land grant scholarships for HBCUs, Figures has been highly involved. Both of those efforts were reversed.

“It’s not right,” he said.

He also recruited bipartisan backing from U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., who joined the fight against selling the Montgomery bus station that houses the Freedom Rides Museum during a conversation with the senator when they both happened to be on the same flight. The museum was removed from the list of potential buildings for sale by the Trump administration.

“It just shows you how God works,” Figures revealed during the federal panel at the BCA conference about a flight with Britt. “I was sitting in seat 11B, and she was sitting in seat 11A, I guess, right across the aisle, and I bugged her the entire flight back.”

Figures’ district itself has also been threatened by legal challenges after a court-drawn map created the second majority-Black district in the state. But, a federal panel recently ruled the congressional map that created his new district will stand until the next census in 2030.

And the freshman congressman intends to remain representing the new district, “we’ll be running” in 2026.