Recent events have laid bare the fact that we live in a dangerous world, and they reinforce the importance of a strong national defense and military readiness. There will, unfortunately, always be people bent on aggression who threaten our security and the freedoms we hold dear. The surest way to protect our people and national interests is from a position of strength, one that can deter and, if necessary, defeat threats.

Having a military that is capable of confronting any threat can deter many of those threats from materializing in the first place. Our military has to have the ability to dissuade an adversary from taking a hostile action, as well as the means to deny their success and impose a significant cost. And it requires vigilance to ensure we are investing in modern technologies to outpace those of our adversaries and equip our men and women in uniform with what they need to confront a dangerous world.

But military readiness is not the only component of upholding our national security. A reliable and affordable energy supply is critical. One only has to look at soaring energy costs and supply challenges that countries like Germany faced in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to see that being overly reliant on another country for something as important as energy is a serious vulnerability. High energy costs not only make it harder for families to make ends meet, they drive up the cost of raw materials and manufacturing, and erode purchasing power for defense needs.

To be energy secure, we need to responsibly develop our domestic resources for both conventional and renewable energy, leveraging an “all-of-the-above” strategy to bring down prices and meet growing consumer demand. But President Biden has too often pursued policies hostile to conventional energy, namely oil, coal, and natural gas, even though we are nowhere near a point at which we could rely solely on renewable sources. I’m especially mindful of the risks these negligent energy policies pose as we enter the harsh winter season on the Great Plains.

National security also requires protecting our borders, and the crisis at the southern border has become a serious vulnerability. Eight million illegal immigrants have crossed into the country under the Biden administration, and the president is yet to take meaningful action. The spike in the number of potential terrorists and criminals caught attempting to illegally cross the border suggests that bad actors are taking advantage of the increased flow of illegal immigrants to secretly enter our country. The border crisis is a serious threat to our security that has been caused by the failed policies of this administration, and it demands a serious course correction.

My Senate Republican colleagues and I continue to work toward a more secure America. As Congress considers the annual defense bills, I am working to ensure they adequately fund our military, especially the important missions carried out from Ellsworth Air Force Base. I’m also continuing to push for the Biden administration to seriously alter its energy and border policies that have jeopardized national security.

Protecting our national security is a responsibility I take very seriously. There will always be those who would do us harm, and a strong America is our surest defense.