Richard Shelby: “Oil exports is an opportunity--this is another particular, Mr. Chairman, to become an energy superpower.”

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.

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

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.

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.