First District U.S. Rp. Diana Harshbarger’s (R-Kingsport) priorities should, she be elected to a third term in the U.S. House of Representatives, are to close the Southern border and get the economy back to roaring again.
Harshbarger was participating in a “Coffee with the Congresswoman” event at the American Legion Post in Rogersville. She participated in a media availability conducted after Thursday’s event.
“We have to secure the borders, first and foremost,” she said. “The only way we’ll get that done is if we get a Republican president back in the White House, we take the U.S. Senate and continue to hold the House of Representatives. I don’t know any other way to do it. Our primary goal is to do that and to stave off, by a very thin one-person margin basically any of this legislation, stand our ground and do what the American people elected us to do for God’s sakes.”
Harshbarger said that there are young people who cannot afford to buy a house and her goal is to help that to happen.
Of concern was the plight of the Romeike family of Morristown, who fled Germany due to that country’s laws prohibiting homeschooling of their children.
“Right now, the Romeike’s have a year to stay before U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Department of Homeland Security tries to pull them out again,” Harshbarger said. “The goal is to get them permanent visas to where since they’ve been contributing citizens. That is still an ongoing process. Getting the stay was critical because they were going to be deported, which is terrible, but it’s still a work in progress.
“I am sure they are working with ICE and DHS and so are we,” Harshbarger said.
Asked about the recent Republican presidential primaries and the fact that former President Donald Trump had double-digit margins of victory over former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, in spite of the January 6. 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
“I don’t use the word ‘insurrection,’” she said. “They were protesting the fact that they didn’t think the 2020 presidential election was free and fair. It’s the same as most Americans if you poll them. When you look at where President Trump is with the nomination, he had over 50% in Iowa, ahead of Haley in New Hampshire by double-digits. He’s going to be the nominee.
“(The left) is going to try everything they can to litigate it in the court of law,” she said. “You’ve already seen a lot of these things being struck down and they’re trying to redefine words. It doesn’t meet the criteria of insurrection.”
Harshbarger is also working on getting the Social Security system stabilized for the future.
“We’re fearful because there are not enough working-age young people paying into the program,” Harshbarger said. “We’re going to have to look at ways to keep that from going insolvent, period. That program was established to help people live in their old age. There are some people taking advantage of some programs that don’t need to be. We don’t want to get rid of Social Security or Medicare, but define what we do going forward to make sure it doesn’t become insolvent. I’m open to a lot of different suggestions. People need to chime in.
“We need transparency, frugality and accountability in government,” Harshbarger said. “I want to take our Congressional authority back.”
Should Harshbarger be elected to a third term in the House of Representatives, she will remain on the Energy and Commerce committees.
“I’ll also stay on the subcommittees on health, commerce and telecom,” she said.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://harshbarger.house.gov/media/in-the-news/harshbarger-updates-hawkins-residents