The new side of Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) of District 3 is an upgrade from the other side so he gets some limited props for proposing a bill that would ease the tax burden on mothers including eliminating taxes on baby bottles, diapers, breast pumps, maternity clothing, and baby wipes, as well as menstrual hygiene products. Senator Orr has mastered the act of “pretending to care” about women’s issues and struggles. Senator Orr must not be allowed to play this game of good angel/bad angel politician because he has a long history of trying to control what women, families & doctors want to do. We have to ask ourselves why Orr is now listening to his “better political angel” and not the “devilish political angel” he usually harkens to.
Sen. Orr has a long history of voting against women & family issues that would help them so don’t be fooled by his current play of looking out for women because he’s voted over six times for things that would give women control of their bodies now he offers tax-free tampons, it’s a disgrace. His most recent vote against a woman’s rights was 05/14/19 when he voted for HB 314 which increased penalties for abortions and other bills where he inserted his high and mighty views on women and families. Remember in 2018 Orr fought to cut unemployment from 26 weeks to 14 weeks. Here’s what Orr said (sarcastically in my opinion) at the time of the great Alabama economy and job boom of 2018: “Some people will take the full 26 weeks and not look for a job until that 26 weeks is about to run out. This hopefully will encourage them to look a bit earlier.”
What happened to Arthur Orr’s Baby (Alabama Parenthood Initiative)
Let’s go back to the year 2012 and the Alabama Parenthood Initiative at Calhoun Community College in Decatur, Alabama (2004-2012) to a court-ordered program for noncustodial parents behind on child support. Still, the program was all about money, not the participants. The program was funded in part by the Children’s Trust Fund of Alabama and Temporary Aid to Needy Families from the state Department of Human Resources. What was the other part that funded it has always been a big question many have asked. How can you have an 8-year run raising millions of dollars (mostly with secured grants) and 250 graduates and then in an instant go belly up? It’s been alleged that people over the program including Orr saw the people as bloodsuckers of the system. No accounting or audit of Arthur Orr’s baby (Alabama Parenthood Initiative) that raised tens of millions of dollars has ever been explored. Where did all the grant money go in the end to a program producing hundreds of graduates?
The funding was supposed to help with services and skills training so the parents can get into their children’s lives and back on their feet. The program boasted of having produced 250 graduates up until 2012 when he bragged about the success of the program on one side of his mouth and the other he announced the ending of the funding in the next sentence of the 2012 article. The people who got shafted were in the last class in 2012 because they were ordered to those classes and they completed them, did the photo op and newspaper story only to have Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur), The Alabama Parenthood Initiative, Calhoun Community College and Morgan County Department of Human Resources tell them there was no funding for what they were promised when ordered into the program which was a free class towards jobs such as commercial truck driving, heating, ventilation and air conditioning, and pharmacy technician none of which was fulfilled. Sen. Arthur Orr should not only ensure those in that 2012 court-ordered program at Calhoun Community College in Decatur, Alabama get the free training they were promised but needs to account for what happened to the Alabama Parenthood Initiative and the answer questions about its funding especially grants received over those 8 years. Orr now chairs the powerful Senate Education Budget Committee that’s in charge of ensuring that the Education Trust Fund remains healthy. With ETF shedding about $300 million in revenue and no moves to offset the loss of revenue looks like Senator Arthur Orr (R) is back facing losses of revenue/funding like he did in 2012. Only Senator Orr can answer what really happened to the Alabama Parenthood Initiative.