Speaking Friday in Mobile, U.S. Sen Richard Shelby shared a few thoughts on development of the port, the proposed I-10 bridge, current federal government shutdown and the possibility that U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne might seek to join him in the Senate.

Shelby gave prominence to developments at the port, which perhaps was no surprise given the venue: A Chamber of Commerce "Forum Alabama" breakfast sponsored by the Alabama State Port Authority.

Shelby expressed unstinting support for a plan, currently being developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to widen and deepen the ship channel that permits big vessels to travel up Mobile Bay.

"Why is Mobile here?" he asked. "The port of Mobile is Mobile."

Shelby said the channel project "will be a lifetime change" for the area and might be the most important local development in a hundred years.

Shelby also expressed support for the I-10 bridge but didn't exude the same bullish confidence that it was going to happen. The challenge was securing the funding for such a big-ticket item, he said. "I'm pushing for it," he said, but "the bridge is going to have to come out of a massive infrastructure bill. We haven't gotten it."

On the shutdown, Shelby expressed pride that through a series of "minibus" bills, Congress had handled 75 percent of its appropriations before the impasse was struck.

Shelby said the problem as he sees it is that President Trump and congressional Democrats have been taking shots at each other rather than making any significant attempt at striking a compromise. Meanwhile, he said, unpaid federal employees are experiencing increasing hardship.

"These are innocent people," he said. "They deserve better than that. We deserve better than that."

“I do believe the president is right on protecting the border,” he said. “How do you get there, I don’t know.”

Shelby said he thought there was some room to negotiate of whether protecting the border meant "a wall, a fence, a barrier, or just border security." "I tell people it's going to end in some kind of negotiations," he said.

Looking ahead to 2020, Shelby put a friendly spotlight on Byrne, who was in the audience. "Rumor has it," he said, that Byrne would be a contender for the seat long held by Republican Jeff Sessions and captured by Democrat Doug Jones in a 2017 special election.

"I like Doug Jones fine," said Shelby. But he said that as a Republican, he wanted to see another member of his own party in the seat.

Shelby’s remarks fell short of a formal endorsement, and Byrne didn’t take the opportunity to address the crowd about his rumored run. But Shelby’s friendly mention drew an equally friendly round of applause from the audience of area business leaders.