Kelly’s childhood in Dickinson, North Dakota, inspired in him a passion for the outdoors. In the summers, he could be found on Lake Sakakawea and during the fall he was bow hunting in the badlands.
After graduating from Dickinson High School in 1995, Kelly attended the University of North Dakota but continued to grow his roots in Dickinson, returning home in the summers to coach the Dickinson Roughriders American Legion baseball team. Kelly earned a bachelor’s degree from UND in 2001 and a law degree from UND law school in 2003.
Agriculture is the foundation of North Dakota's economy. It contributes over $10 billion to our economy, as farmers and ranchers across the state work every day to grow the world's food. Farming and ranching is more than a job to North Dakotans. It's a way of life. Farmers and ranchers wake with the sun, work with their hands, and dutifully care for their crops and livestock day in and day out.
Because of farmers' and ranchers' efforts, North Dakota is the number one state for navy beans, pinto beans, canola, flaxseed, honey, dry peas, durum wheat and spring wheat; the number two state for black beans, Great Northern beans, lentils and sunflower; and the number three state for barley, oats and sugarbeets. (All stats via the U.S. Department of Agriculture, applicable for 2018.) To learn more about North Dakota's agriculture industry, please visit the U.S. Department of Agriculture website here.
In Congress, Congressman Armstrong works to make sure North Dakota's agriculture industry is heard.
Congress is empowered as the legislative branch of the federal government by Article I of the U.S. Constitution. Congress is composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Congressman Kelly Armstrong serves in the House.
The legislative branch is co-equal by design of the Constitution with the executive branch and the judicial branch of government.
Section 8 of Article I lays out the powers of Congress as it relates to the federal government, including establishing Post Offices, regulating Commerce, provide for the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy, collect taxes and, one of the more famous clauses, "[to] provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States."
Congressman Armstrong believes that the best way to boost the economy is to ensure that the federal government stays out of the way. A limited government unleashes the true potential of the American economy. We have especially seen this in the last few years, where businesses have thrived, more jobs have been created, unemployment is near record lows and wages have been rising.
North Dakota's economy is based on agriculture and energy. North Dakota is proud to grow the world's food and produce the world's energy.
Congressman Armstrong's priority is to help farmers, ranchers, small businesses and workers reach their greatest potential by making sure the federal government is not stopping them from achieving their goals.
You can never take away a good education, and a good education is the surest sign of future success for individuals.
Primary and Secondary education, known better as grade school and high school, is primarily the responsibility of state and local governments. Congressman Armstrong strongly supports local control over education decisions and opposes a one-size-fits-all approach from Washington, D.C.
Congressman Armstrong believes that parents, community leaders, teachers and other education professionals, actively engaged in the decision-making process at the local level, are the best individuals to administer our education system. He is also a strong supporting of parents' rights to educate their children at home as well as private and parochial schools. He opposes efforts to infringe on the education rights of parents.
Post-secondary education, such as technical colleges and four-year universities, also operates best when local officials, business leaders and educational professionals work together to meet the needs of the state and region. This is especially important for technical colleges, which teach individuals skills, such as welding, that can immediately lead to a job.
Congressman Armstrong is working to empower local technical colleges and universities to meet the needs of their students and communities and removing federal overreach that drives up costs and does not lead to better outcomes.
North Dakota's energy economy, along with agriculture, forms the backbone of our state's economy. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, North Dakota is the number two state for crude oil production and possesses the "single largest deposit of lignite [coal] in the world."
The industry supports tens of thousands of jobs both directly in the extraction and production of raw energy materials – oil and coal – and in the ancillary jobs that supply the needs of the businesses and workers.
Renewable energy is also a large part of North Dakota's energy economy. With our near constant wind, we are the number five producer of wind energy and wind-powered electricity is the second largest electricity source after coal. The Garrison Dam on the Missouri River is our state's only hydro-electric plant, and it produces roughly 5 percent of our electricity needs. The state also produces 490 million gallons of ethanol per year and 85 million gallons of biodiesel, both in the top ten among the states.
Harnessing North Dakota's abundant natural resources has led to widespread prosperity through good-paying jobs, low unemployment and rising wages.
Congressman Armstrong is an advocate for all of North Dakota's energy producers in Congress. He's fighting for pro-growth policies that will help North Dakota's energy economy continue to prosper for years to come. As a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, he serves on the Energy subcommittee where he can advance North Dakota's energy priorities.
Healthcare is one of the most important issues in our country right now. Costs keep going up, putting access to quality care out of reach for too many Americans. The result is fewer people seeing their family doctor until an emergency arises, putting their lives in danger and further increasing costs.
Unfortunately, actions taken by the federal government over the last decade have only contributed to the problems facing healthcare. Laws like the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, implemented a top down, one-size-fits-all approach to healthcare and coupled it with crippling regulations on both healthcare providers and insurers.
The result: Premiums more than doubled between 2013 and 2017, according to a study of healthcare markets.
Congressman Armstrong is working to fix healthcare by sending decision-making back to the states, which are closest to the people, and by putting patients and doctors in charge of care, not bureaucrats and politicians.
The men and women of the U.S. armed forces stand in harm's way throughout the world to protect our country. Our veterans have put everything on the line, including their lives, to serve our country. When they leave the service, they deserve the best from us in return.
Often, veterans face challenges in persuading businesses and colleges to recognize the skills they've learned in the military. They have spent countless hours learning skills in a classroom and in the field that translate to occupations the private sector, such as an auto mechanic or an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). Congressman Armstrong supports efforts to help veterans more easily receive licenses and certifications after their service that matches skills they learn while in service.
Our veterans also deserve timely access to veterans benefits that they have earned, especially healthcare. More work needs to be done to increase access and quality to Veterans Affairs healthcare facilities.