HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Congressman Dale Strong is back home in Huntsville this week with updates on his first six weeks as he prepares to tackle a key issue on his agenda.
"I'm most excited about is committee assignments," Strong shares. " I'm actually the Vice Chairman of the Subcommittee on Homeland Security, but I think that at the end of the day, the first six weeks has been about letting the rest of this Congress understand the role of North Alabama in national security and what we do for this country."
When it comes to national security, the congressman made one issue his priority during his election speech back in November, and that is the crisis going on at the border. "We've got to take care of America. We are providing money for every country out there to have a border and we're not protecting our own. It's going to change and we're going to be a big part of making that change," Strong said.
The issue of border control became a hot topic during the Trump Administration. The Border Control Chief briefed the congressman for his upcoming trip. "I was briefed last week by President Trump administration's Border Patrol Chief, and he flat told us that all we need to do is to implement and carry out the law on the border, on the books, and they can turn this around on me immediately," Strong said.
Congressman Strong believes there are problems with how the influx of people is impacting Americans. "You've had an increase of about 800% of Chinese nationals that are coming across the southern border. You've got people being flown from other countries to Mexico to come into the United States through the southern border. So, we've got an issue down there," Strong shares. "They're not U.S. citizens. Our hospitals are being inundated to provide care. this is costly to the taxpayers of America, and so, I think that that's what's going to benefit me as a U.S. congressman, is to be able to see firsthand what border patrol is dealing with, what they need so that they can better manage this."
The congressman states while he is not opposed to sharing resources, he just wants to make sure the U.S. is taken care of. " Ukraine is winning this war. You look at Russia, they never saw what they were getting into with the Ukrainian people," Strong shares. "I understand we're helping Ukraine knock back the Russian military. My concern is being sure that the U.S. military has the weapons that they need if we have to enter into any war or conflict. and right now, we're using a lot of hardware in other locations.
Congressman Strong is set to make his trip to the border next week.