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April 2005 Sessions’ interest in the law led to a distinguished legal career, first as a practicing attorney in Russellville, Alabama, and then in Mobile, which he now calls home. Following a two-year stint as Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama (1975-1977), Sessions was nominated by President Reagan in 1981 and confirmed by the Senate to serve as the United States Attorney for Alabama’s Southern District, a position he held for 12 years. Sessions was elected Alabama Attorney General in 1995, serving as the state’s chief legal officer until 1997, when he entered the United States Senate. As a United States senator, Sessions has focused his energies on maintaining a strong military, upholding the rule of law, limiting the role of government, and providing tax relief to stimulate economic growth and empower Americans to keep more of their hard-earned money. Dubbed a “budget hawk” by the Alabama press, Sen. Sessions has used his membership on the Senate Budget Committee to restrain the growth of federal spending and make permanent tax cuts that benefit American families. As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sessions is a leading advocate of confirming federal judges who follow the law and do not legislate from the bench. He serves as chairman of the Judiciary Administrative Oversight and the Courts Subcommittee. As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sessions is a strong advocate for America’s military, including the four major defense installations in Alabama – Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville; Fort Rucker, near Ozark; Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, and the Anniston Army Depot. Sessions is chairman of the Armed Services Strategic Subcommittee, a panel that oversees all strategic forces, space programs, Department of Energy nuclear programs and ballistic missile defense. As a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Sessions helped author President Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” education law, legislation designed to empower parents and teachers and to improve math and reading. In addition to his four major committee assignments, Sessions serves on the Joint Economic Committee, the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, and he is chairman of the U.S. - Mexico Interparliamentary Group. He also was chosen by his colleagues as chairman of the Republican Steering Committee, a “think tank” and action group for Senate conservatives, which includes a substantial majority of Republican senators. A strong environmentalist, Sessions was responsible for legislation that created the newest addition to the National Wildlife Refuge system, the Mountain Longleaf National Wildlife Refuge near Anniston. He authored legislation that extended wilderness protection for Dugger Mountain in the Talladega National Forest, and the White House, upon Sessions’ recommendation, formed a high-level working group to assess mercury pollution in the Gulf of Mexico. Sessions played a leading role in insuring that the Medicare Prescription Drug law included a rural health care component that reduced the disparity in Medicare payments that has devastated Alabama hospitals. As a result, Medicare payments to Alabama hospitals will increase by nearly $1 billion over 10 years. Sessions authored a key provision in the 2001 tax cut bill to make interest earned on tuition savings and prepaid tuition plans tax free. That provision will mean a big financial boost for families of the 50,000 Alabama children enrolled in the affordable Alabama Prepaid College Tuition Plan. Continuing his interest in fighting crime, Sessions was the author of the Paul Coverdell National Forensic Sciences Improvement Law of 2000, which authorized badly needed funds to state and local crime labs to reduce the backlog of ballistics, blood and DNA tests. Sessions has served as lay leader and as a Sunday school teacher at his family’s church, Ashland Place United Methodist Church, in Mobile. He served as the Chairman of his church’s Administrative Board and every year since 1987, Sessions has been selected as a delegate to the annual Alabama Methodist Conference. Sessions and his wife, Mary Blackshear Sessions, originally of Gadsden, Alabama, have three children, Mary Abigail Reinhardt, Ruth Sessions Walk, and Sam. |