Pictured above are Eutaw City Councilman Joe Lee Powell, Community Leader Lorenzo French, U. S. Senator Jeff Sessions and Greene County Board of Education Member Lester Brown at a reception held for Sessions in Eutaw on Tuesday, May 29.

U. S. Senator Jeff Sessions visited Eutaw on Tuesday, May 29. Local Republicans held an evening reception at White Column Mansion on Spencer Street in Eutaw.

One of the questions asked Sessions concerned the 2501 Outreach and Technical Assistance program  for minority  farmers which had been  cut from $20 million a year  to $5 million.  The Senate  Agriculture  Committee also added veterans to the program while cutting  the  funding.

Sessions was asked if  he  was willing to co-sponsor  a floor amendment,  proposed by New  Mexico  Senator Tom  Udall, which would restore the funds for this important program that benefits Alabama‘s small  farmers. Sessions replied that there just was not enough money in  the budget to fund this program.

He was also asked about the U. S. Debt, which he admitted was “about” $100 trillion but that the U. S. only owed China one trillion and Japan less than a trillion.

Sessions said that a proposal was made  by another Republican running for office that local markets, especially the larger ones, buy fruits and vegetables at home rather than out of the country. “Some of the best fruits and vegetables are grown in the Black Belt of Alabama,” he said.