Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville was in Huntsville on September 30 to provide an update on his most recent year in office.

The senator spoke about immigration, the national debt, a reduction in farms, and foreign wars. The upcoming presidential election was top of mind for the senator, who painted a grim picture of national life.

“We have got to gain control of our country again because we’re losing — we’re in trouble. We’re in trouble in a lot of areas but we have to get moral values back in our country again. If we don’t, we won’t survive,” said Tuberville.

The first challenge that Tuberville addressed was the national debt.

“Folks, we’re spending $80,000 a second — running this country. $80,000 a second and most of that money is being printed. It’s not money that we have, it’s money that we’re printing,” said Tuberville.

The senator said that wasteful spending needs to be reduced so that more money can be returned to the American taxpayer.

Tuberville said that he voted against the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act because of its inclusion of a $60 billion child tax credit. The bill will be voted on again in January.

“We are $35 trillion in debt. Every day that goes by, every 24 hours, you pay $3 billion interest on that debt. You do,” said the senator. “That’s the reason, when you go to the ballot box, you gotta understand that. If you go to the ballot box, you have to understand that you have a $3 billion bill to pay every day before you go to bed.”

Tuberville said he believes that immigration is the “number 1 problem” facing the U.S. right now.

“The problem we’re having right now at the border is an absolute disaster,” said Tuberville. “We’re spending $10 billion a month on illegals. We better take care of our own or we’re not going to have a place to live.”

Schools, hospitals, and local infrastructure are all strained by immigrants, said Tuberville.

Tuberville is on the Senate Agriculture Committee and is deeply concerned about the number of farms that have gone under in recent years.

“We lost, in the last few years, 150,000 farms in this country. 150,000 farms have gone under. They can’t make it because prices and regulations have gone up so much,” said Tuberville. “We will lose, this year, another 100,000 farms in this country. We will not grow our food in five years if we keep up this pace.”

The senator is in favor of tariffs on China and Brazil, which he believes will put “America First.”

Tuberville named foreign wars as a fourth and final crisis facing the country.

“Unfortunately, you’re probably going to be very busy because we’re looking down the barrel of a gun of two world wars,” said Tuberville, referring to conflicts involving Ukraine and the Middle East.

The senator believes that the U.S. has spread itself too thin around the globe and needs to focus on building its own military up.

The message shared by Tuberville was striking in its pessimism.

“Right now, we’re not on the right track whatsoever. There’s no way we can continue to survive down this path. We can’t survive by letting all the people come in here, the crime, the debt and, of course, the foreign wars will take care of themselves,” said Tuberville.

If there was a silver lining to his remarks, it was his belief that Huntsville residents have it better than most and that change can still be made at the local level.

“Things are happening here that are not happening in very many places in our country. You live in a bubble,” said Tuberville. “You live in a bubble. And you need to understand that.”

Tuberville challenged audience members to consider running for local office.

“The most important politicians are your school board, your city commissioners, your county commissioners — those are the people that get things done in your area,” said Tuberville.

The senator took questions from reporters after the meeting.

“I’m pretty confident that if President Trump wins, there is a good opportunity to move Space Force, Space Command, where it should have been to begin with — which is Redstone,” said the senator.

U.S. Space Command is headquartered in Colorado and there are no immediate plans to relocate it.