Ted Budd: “you know, we meet this week at a critical time. The threats we face on the world stage are demanding our attention in a…”

“you know, we meet this week at a critical time. The threats we face on the world stage are demanding our attention in a way that we have not seen in decades. From the Middle East, to Europe, to the Indo-Pacific, weakness from President Biden has allowed chaos to spread across this globe. In Israel, they are in a fight for survival against genocidal Hamas terrorists. In the Indo-Pacific, China is saber-rattling and making provocative moves towards Taiwan and the Philippines. In Ukraine, Russia continues its brutal war of aggression by committing war crimes against innocent civilians. But right here at home, we are facing a crisis of our own--most notably, the worst border crisis in American history. The truth is that the consequences of our border crisis affect our citizens the most. For example, in my home State of North Carolina, we have seen a 22-percent increase in drug overdose deaths--the highest level ever recorded. This is primarily due to deadly fentanyl that was transported into our country through an open southern border on President Biden's watch. Police departments from Charlotte to Raleigh have uncovered tens of thousands of pounds of fentanyl--enough to kill every man, woman, and child not just in North Carolina but in the whole country. Right now, we have an administration ignoring that crisis, and the only attempt the Senate made to address it--it fell far short of what is needed.…”