Congressmen to BCA: National security = economic security

Four members of Alabama’s congressional delegation joined business leaders, economic developers and government officials this weekend for the Business Council of Alabama’s (BCA) annual governmental affairs conference in Point Clear.

During a panel discussion that covered ground on topics ranging from federal spending priorities and getting budgets passed to energy policy and countering the economic threat posed by China – the elected officials offered generous insight into the work they’re doing in Washington.

They were consistently on the same page with one another, which was emphasized as an intentional feature among Alabama’s congressional leadership.

“We truly are one team,” Rep. Jerry Carl (R-Mobile) said.

Rep. Mike Rogers pointed out cooperation shared among the delegation, including Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Birmingham), is a difference-maker for getting things done.

“We really are a delegation. We’re looking after Alabama first and that’s very unique. You’d be amazed how many of the delegations don’t talk to each other and they really don’t like each other,” Rogers (R-Saks) said.

“We actually like each other.”

Given the influence wielded by Rogers as Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, alongside Rep. Dale Strong (R-Monrovia) serving his first term on the committee – the intersection between national security and a prosperous economy for American businesses was a major theme of the panel.

The most pressing convergence shared among leaders is the “China threat,” as Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Hoover) put it.

“One of the elements, one of the minerals that you’d have to have for any electronics is cobalt. China controls about 70% of the cobalt mining and 92% of the refinement,” Palmer said.

“In terms of technology like semiconductors and microchips, this is one of the ways the Taiwan situation is such a big problem for us. We get about 80% of our microchip semiconductors from Taiwan. China has never really been able to master that. 90% of our advanced semiconductors and microchips come from Taiwan.”

Palmer says the United States is catching up – but lacks the raw materials to provide what companies need to produce chips.

Rep. Carl, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, took that idea to another level as it relates to domestic opportunities.

“I’m gonna tell you how to fix it real simple. Let’s encourage American companies in American investment to start drilling and start mining our natural resources. It’s as simple as that,” Carl said.

“We’ve got to invest in America,” he continued. “That is our biggest threat right now.”

Carl’s message to the crowd was clear: “We’ve got to encourage the business community to be a voice with us. Don’t sit quietly. Let your voice be heard. On both sides of the aisle.”

The problem goes far beyond technology, Strong warned.

“What opened my eyes is Mexico could not even produce fentanyl if they didn’t have the precursor coming from China. You don’t have a fentanyl problem in China. You know why? Because they don’t allow it to happen. You don’t have a TikTok problem in China because they don’t allow it to happen,” Strong said.

“And then you start looking more locally at how this affects Alabama.”

As all members of Congress return to their districts for August recess, the threat of a government shutdown, triggered by budgets remaining un-passed before the start of the new fiscal year on October 1 looms large.

“We’ve got 12 appropriation packages that we put together so far,” Rep. Carl said. “We were supposed to vote on two of them before we left. “Obviously, we didn’t have enough votes, so I’m told. We’re going to have to vote on each one of those budgets individually and we’ve got a long way to go.”

“So I want to be positive and work towards trying to get everyone on the same page.”

Among those spending priorities sorted through by Congress involves the ever-present opportunity to roll back spending and reduce the federal deficit.

Rep. Strong said he shared with Speaker Kevin McCarthy a long list of options to do exactly that, calling $32 trillion in debt “unsustainable”

In particular, he suggested the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Education.

“The U.S. Department of Education has an $87 billion budget, but they’ve never educated one child,” Strong said. “I’ll tell you right now, I’d defund 100% of it and send half of it back to the states, pay the debt down or put it in national security. That’ll make a bigger difference for our country.”

Rep. Jerry Carl earned a dedicated applause break from the crowd for adding a sidenote to Strong’s comments:

“We also cut 87,000 IRS agents’ funding out of their budget,” Carl said.

Grayson Everett is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @Grayson270