ABBEVILLE, Ala. — U.S Rep. Barry Moore joined elected officials and community members at the Henry County Courthouse Friday for a town hall meeting to discuss current issues on his Washington agenda.
The highlights of Moore’s speech included his work on the Veterans Affairs committee, his upcoming visits to the U.S.-Mexico border, and political hot topics like Israel, gun law reform, and transgender athlete rights.
Moore said he and North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn became the first two Republican freshman representatives this year to pass bills out of the House last week. Moore’s bill – the Col. John M. McHugh Tuition Fairness for Survivors Act — will expand in-state tuition eligibility for family members of veterans who die from service-connected disabilities.
“Col. John McHugh actually died in Afghanistan in 2010, but his children were not eligible for the G.I. Bill,” Moore said. “This legislation will make sure that dependents are eligible for in-state tuition and are taken care of.”
Moore said he has been aiming to “work across the aisle” and find issues that the GOP and Democratic representatives can work together on, and he believes Veterans Affairs is one of those.
“We’ve just got to find people that have common ground,” Moore said. “Veterans Affairs are one of those things. We are excited that we can move forward on an important issue like this one.”
Moore also addressed immigration issues plaguing the border right now. He spoke about the process where he believes the cartel is charging people $10,000 to $20,000 to be taken across the border, or by smuggling in drugs.
“One thing I want to do legislatively is work on that,” Moore said. “We need to put some type of wire fee for money leaving America to Mexico right now. We can start recovering the revenue streams that are flowing south.”
Moore alleged it’s projected there will be around two million people to cross the border by the end of the year.
“The immigration process should be fair and equitable,” Moore said. “We shouldn’t let these people on our southern border get ahead of those people who have been doing it right the whole time.”
Moore said he also worries about the multi-trillion dollar COVID relief act and how the money is being spent.
Henry County Probate Judge David Money said Henry County will be receiving $3.34 million, but he said the act is hard to understand. Money is concerned that local elected officials may not know how to correctly spend the money and end up facing consequences for it.
Money asked Moore to be an advocate for local government officials to receive clarity on the bill and what the money can be spent on.
Moore said his focus right now is to continue working across the aisle on bipartisan issues and bearing down on the Democratic agenda by working to regain the Republican majority in the House and Senate.
