As Americans struggle to put gas in their cars (the national average is now over $5 a gallon), inflation is near a 40-year high, and our southern border continues to be overrun by illegal immigrants, Democrats in Washington are focused on creating drama in an attempt to distract everyday Americans from the real issues facing this country.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s ridiculous January 6 Select Committee is the most politicized and most illegitimate committee in our nation’s history. By refusing to seat any of Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy’s appointees to the committee, Speaker Pelosi has proven she does not care to identify the security breaches and leadership issues that allowed January 6 to happen. Instead, she is hell-bent on dividing the country and politicizing the events of that day.
Let’s be clear: the folks who rioted and damaged property at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 were in the wrong and should be punished appropriately. Republicans and Democrats had an opportunity to work in a bipartisan manner to ensure the Capitol is safe from this ever happening again and then moving forward as Americans. Unfortunately, Speaker Pelosi and her allies are using the events of January 6 to grab more power, infringe on the rights of private citizens, and try to distract us from the crises they have created. These actions have further divided our country while doing nothing to address the real issues facing Americans.
Every day when I travel south Alabama, I hear from struggling families and business owners who are dealing with the difficult impacts of skyrocketing fuel prices, runaway inflation, increasing crime and wide-open borders. These are the issues the vast majority of Americans care about – not Pelosi’s partisan witch hunt. Not once have I heard someone say they think Pelosi’s Select Committee should be a top priority for this country.
Congress owes it to the American people to cut out the drama and do the hard work to save this country from falling apart. Without some serious effort from both sides of the aisle, America is in trouble. We have been through tough times before, and we’ve always survived them by putting aside our differences and working together toward a common goal.
Our country has such bright days ahead, but we have some serious challenges to deal with right now. My Republican colleagues and I are laser-focused on unleashing American energy (we’ve introduced countless bills to do so) to bring down fuel prices, stopping the reckless spending that is contributing to record-high inflation, securing our southern border, strengthening our election integrity and supporting law enforcement. Despite these tough times, I’ll continue doing all I can to address these issues and work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to make this country a better place to live, work, and raise a family.
Jerry Carl represents Alabama’s First Congressional District. He lives in Mobile with his wife Tina.
