Richard Shelby: “Thank you, Mr. Chairman.”

I remain concerned that the Air Force budget request is insufficient considering the needed modernization across the inventory with a rapidly evolving threat.

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.

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.

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