By Maria Rakoczy (maria@themadisonrecord.com)

HUNTSVILLE – The Huntsville-Madison County Chamber of Commerce hosted a Washington Update on Wednesday where Alabama senior Senator Tommy Tuberville informed the North Alabama community of his efforts and plans to prioritize national security and agriculture in the 118^th session of Congress

Tuberville is a member of the Armed Services committee, on which, he is contributing to the National Defense Authorization Act that will supply critical funding to military projects in an effort to bolster the country’s military capabilities against China. According to Tuberville, the nation is seven years behind in military development, but this bill will allow places like Redstone Arsenal to continue the crucial work it performs on an increased scale. The senator’s recent visit with world leaders in Munich, Germany opened his eyes to the severity of the situation in Ukraine and the imperative for the United States to increase its military strength. He is working hard to move Space Command beyond politics and make it a reality for Redstone Arsenal.

He applauded Huntsville for already contributing invaluably to national security and urged Huntsville to maintain its level of excellence, “Thanks for what you do. Keep working hard. Keep inventing things. Keep doing the things that make us stronger, give our war fighters the opportunity to deter what possibly could around the world in the very near future.”

Tuberville has already successfully passed two bills benefitting the military and veterans as a member of the Armed Services committee. Those bills are part of his legislative approach that focuses on “the small things.”

“It’s the small things that count,” Tuberville stated. “In Washington, D.C., everybody looks at the big picture. They don’t look at the small things behind the scenes, and it’s the small things that have made this country better every day.”

Agriculture is another major part of that approach.

“National security is food security,” Tuberville asserted.

Tuberville is the first Alabama representative in decades to sit on the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry committee. With rising food and fertilizer prices driving small, family-owned farms out of business in Alabama, which is sixty percent farmland, the senator felt compelled to join the committee to uplift the backbone of the American food supply. He sees the 2023 Farm Bill as a ripe opportunity to do just that. The bill will take effect for five years and amount to a historic $1.2 trillion. Tuberville plans to leverage provisions in the bill that will lift regulations on fossil fuels, introduce price control measures, and provide crop insurance.

“We’re going to help farmers. We’re going to try to get them back on their feet,” the senator promised. “We’re going to try to talk some sense into this White House where we start making it feasible for our farmers to make a living because if you’ve got a farm and you want to pass it down to your kids, you don’t want them to stay and work on that farm if they can’t make a living.”

In addition to national security and agriculture, Tuberville is working to improve literacy rates and math proficiency in Alabama and across the country as well as advocating for effective means of caring for the nation’s veterans. He looks forward to working with newly-elected Senator Katie Britt and Congressman Dale Strong for the people of Alabama.

Tuberville is beginning his third year in office in the Senate. He sits on the Armed Services; Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry; Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions; and Veterans’ Affairs committees, as well as, the three subcommittees of Seapower; Readiness and Management Support; and Strategic Forces under Armed Services.