SteelBriefs | Rep. Terri Sewell (AL-07) Profile

Rep. Terri Sewell (AL-07)

Congresswoman Terri A. Sewell is in her sixth term representing Alabama’s 7th Congressional District.  She is one of the first women elected to Congress from Alabama in her own right and is the first black woman to ever serve in the Alabama Congressional delegation.

Congresswoman Sewell sits on the exclusive House Ways and Means Committee and brings to the committee her more than 15 years of experience as a securities and public finance attorney.  Currently, in the 117th Congress, she sits on three subcommittees: the Subcommittee on Health; the Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures; and the Subcommittee on Social Security.

In her short time in Congress, Sewell has held several leadership positions, including Freshman Class President in the 112th Congress. This current term, she was selected by Democratic leadership to serve as a Chief Deputy Whip, and sits on the prestigious Steering and Policy Committee which sets the policy direction of the Democratic Caucus. Congresswoman Sewell is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus where she is Co-Chair of the Voting Rights Task Force. She is a member of the New Democrat Coalition; Co-Chair of the Congressional Voting Rights Caucus; Vice-Chair of the Congressional HBCU Caucus; and Co-Chair of the Rural Caucus.

A proud product of Alabama’s rural Black Belt, Congresswoman Sewell was the first black valedictorian of Selma High School. She is an honors graduate of Princeton University and Oxford University in England and received her law degree from Harvard Law School.

More information on Representative Terri Sewell can be found on her website, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

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Why is the steel industry important to your state and/or district? And to America? 

I have the privilege of representing Birmingham, Alabama which is also known as the Pittsburgh of the South.  We are proud that the steel industry in Alabama played a critical role in constructing our modern infrastructure in the Southeast and across the country.  We are also proud of the thousands of good paying Alabama jobs created by the industry.  Our Steelworkers are leaders and role models in many of our communities, and they deserve to know that their elected officials value their jobs and want to see continued growth and opportunity in the domestic steel sector.  Moreover, it is in the United States’ national security interest to have strong domestic steel production.  America and its allies cannot be dependent on our competitors abroad for the steel that goes into our Naval ships, our tanks, and our aircraft. 

Our industry’s legislative priorities are: ensuring unfair trade practices are addressed and a level playing field is established, implementing the Section 232 steel tariffs and quotas, and investing in infrastructure. What are your thoughts on these issues?  

We make the best steel in the world right here in America.  If the U.S. Steel industry can compete on a level playing field, we know that we will win in the global marketplace. However, our industry and our workers have been undercut by unfair dumping and subsidies from China and other bad actors around the world for decades. That is why I introduced H.R. 6121 – the Leveling the Playing Field 2.0 Act. This legislation pushes back against many of China’s anti-free market practices and strengthens our trade remedy laws by allowing our enforcement agencies to go after successive dumping and cross-border subsidization.   

With new legislation signed into law to provide funding for infrastructure, will you advocate for the use of American steel, which is the cleanest and most energy efficient?  

I was proud to vote for President Biden’s historic Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which will supercharge America’s global competitiveness, create millions of jobs, and rebuild our crumbling infrastructure. As we begin to build America’s 21st century infrastructure, we must prioritize the use of high quality, environmentally friendly steel that is made by American workers. With this once-in-a-century investment in American Infrastructure, we have an obligation to ensure that this funding is going to support American jobs. 

Steel is a critical component in the continued development of clean energy and technologies to reduce America’s carbon footprint. What are your thoughts on sustainability and how the steel industry is innovating to meet the needs of customers?  

Here in the United States, our steel industry has invested in clean technology and electric arc furnaces, which are more environmentally friendly.  If we truly want to combat the threat of climate change and build a more resilient clean economy, we need to start by prioritizing the use of steel made in the United States.  We cannot continue to export our carbon footprint to China, where their steel sector emits over 1.8 billion tons of carbon each year.