Richard Shelby: “I really want to thank you again, you and Senator Mikulski, for the leadership you have displayed with this…”

A complex and evolving security environment requires a serious commitment to our national defense.

I am deeply concerned, however, that the administration's failure to direct the appropriate resources to the crisis at the southern border has resulted in shifting the burden to the Guard.

As Senator Shelby at our Senate testimony hearing last March pointed out to us, we must maintain what we have before we can build new, and I think he hits the mark head-on.

Because the administration has refused to fund the construction of a comprehensive barrier along the border, it has been compelled to send the National Guard to deal with the consequences.