KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — A U.S. Congressman from Knoxville is sounding off about the first Congressional hearing on UFOs in 50 years, calling it “a total joke.”

Congress held a hearing on threats posed by unidentified flying objects and unexplained aerial phenomena Tuesday, marking its first hearing on UFOs in more than 50 years. Two top U.S. defense intelligence officials appeared before a U.S. House of Representatives intelligence subcommittee 11 months after a report documenting more than 140 cases of unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAPs, that U.S. military pilots have reported observing since 2004.

Republican Tim Burchett, a House representative for Tennessee’s 2nd congressional district, has long advocated for increased transparency from the federal government when it comes to information on unidentified flying objects.

Burchett, who is not on the subcommittee which conducted the meeting, called the proceedings, “a total joke.”

“The UFO hearing this morning was a total joke. We should have heard from people who could talk about things they’d personally seen, but instead the witnesses were government officials with limited knowledge who couldn’t give real answers to serious questions,” Burchett said on his office’s Twitter account.

“The American public wants to know and this stuff right here does not do anything for their confidence in what’s going on because we just got hosed, basically,” he said in an interview with a CTV National News reporter following the hearing.

He has repeatedly discussed the topic since taking office in 2019, telling TMZ last year that, “more people believe in UFOs than believe in Congress.”

Burchett served in the Tennessee General Assembly as a house representative and senator from 1995-2010 before being elected Knox County Mayor. He served in that role for eight years before being elected to Congress in 2018, replacing Jimmy Duncan who represented Tennessee’s second congressional district since 1988.