Several times in the past few months, I’ve written about the House of Representatives keeps failing to do its basic duties because Democrats have backwards priorities. One of our most important duties is passing an appropriations bill each fiscal year to keep the federal government funded and running. This is important for so many reasons, including keeping our nation safe and secure from threats across the globe.
Over the course of the past several months, the Democrat-led House has passed multiple temporary funding bills and narrowly avoided multiple government shutdowns. These temporary funding bills, which we call continuing resolutions, are not a proper way to do business because they cut off important programs like Social Security and are dangerous for our national security.
Thankfully, last week the House finally passed a legitimate appropriations bill to keep the government funded and running. Even though it took five months into the fiscal year to get it passed, I’m thankful this task finally got accomplished. Although this legislation is not perfect, I voted for it for multiple reasons – primarily because it includes more than $1 billion in funding that will come directly to south Alabama and because it is good for our national security.
This important funding will go toward important initiatives in our district, including four Navy ships to be built at Austal USA; expansions and improvements at the Port of Mobile; construction and improvements to Brookley Airport; economic development projects to revitalize our rural and downtown areas; infrastructure improvements to our roads, bridges, railways and waterways; plus renovations to the University of South Alabama College of Medicine and expansion of their research facilities.
This legislation is also good news for the entire nation. We were able to stop the Biden admin’s reckless spending efforts by cutting their proposed increase to domestic spending by nearly two-thirds. Our border security will be improved because it gives increased funding for the Department of Homeland Security to address the border crisis while stopping the Biden admin’s plan to cancel existing border wall funding, plus it increases funding for ICE, Customs and Border Protection, and additional border patrol agents.
Our defense spending will get a much-needed boost to ensure we can counter aggression from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. Meanwhile, all our servicemembers will be receiving well-deserved pay raises. This is great news for our national security and our defense interests around the world.
Despite efforts by my colleagues across the aisle, we were able to keep multiple amendments in this legislation – including the Hyde Amendment – which keep your tax dollars from funding abortion services at home and abroad. I’m a firm believer that our tax dollars should never be spent to perform or promote abortions, so this is especially encouraging to me.
These victories would not have been possible without tons of hard work by many of my colleagues in the House and the Senate, especially Senator Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and Appropriations Committee ranking member Kay Granger (R-Texas) who successfully fought to secure so many wins for our district, our state and our nation. I’m proud to work alongside them, and I couldn’t be more excited to see all Americans benefit from this legislation.
Jerry Carl represents Alabama’s First Congressional District. He lives in Mobile with his wife Tina.
