Tennessee's 1st District U.S. House Rep. Diana Harshbarger held a town hall-style event in Greene County on Tuesday morning.
Greene County is in Tennessee's 1st U.S. House District.
Titled "Coffee With Your Congresswoman," the event gave local constituents an opportunity to hear Harshbarger speak and ask her questions.
A crowd of around 200 people filled the lodge at the Clyde Austin 4-H Center for the event.
Harshbarger touched on numerous topics during the event including the continuing fiscal appropriations process in the House of Representatives, the southern border and her desire to reform federal bureaucratic agencies.
She said that agencies from the FDA to the CDC need to be reformed, in her opinion.
"We need reform in all those agencies. We really need reform in every bureaucratic agency in Washington," Harshbarger said.
She said she would like Congress to have more authority over the agencies.
Two deadlines, March 1 and March 8, are looming for the House of Representatives to pass numerous appropriations bills to fund portions of the government, otherwise the government will shut down. A partial government shutdown would begin on March 1 if spending bills are not passed, and a full shutdown would follow on March 8.
Despite the impending deadlines, Congress has adjourned for a Presidents Day recess and will not be back in session until Feb. 28, two days before the first shutdown deadline. Harshbarger said Tuesday that she felt Congress should still be in session working on the appropriations process, and not in a recess.
"I guess by March 1 we've got to keep the government open. Well I don't know that we have to keep it open, but I guess they want us to. You know the only good thing out of that is you can't spend anything, and that's not such a bad thing, but we don't want people to go without. We want to pay our military and we want to pay our medicare patients and people who need our money," Harshbarger said.
Harshbarger voted against a continuing funding resolution in January that funded the federal government until March, averting a government shutdown.
House Speaker Mike Johnson brought the bill to the floor under a suspension of the rules which meant it required a two-thirds majority to pass, but it also meant that it could be voted on without requiring a vote on bill debate rules. The move avoided the legislation potentially being blocked at a rules vote.
Harshbarger said that she did not vote for the continuing resolution because the government was "spying" on American citizens.
"Why would I vote for a continuing resolution that is weaponized against its citizens because they are spying on our American citizens, and why do I want to vote to keep a government open at the same or current levels if it's weaponized against us," Harshbarger said Tuesday.
Harshbarger said that Johnson was "a good man" and that he "was caught between a rock and a hard place" in trying to keep the government open.
When it comes to the southern border, Harshbarger said it was "a lie" that congressional action was required to address issues at the southern border, and that President Joe Biden could resolve issues dealing with illegal immigration at the border if he wanted to. She said that Biden should put back in place the "remain in Mexico policy."
The statement elicited a response from some members of the crowd, and Harshbarger then said that Biden may be working with Mexican drug cartels.
"You never know. He may be working with those cartels," Harshbarger said.
In January, Harshbarger said she did not support possible bipartisan legislation that was being negotiated in the Senate to address the border. The legislation did not make it to the floor of the Senate. Harshbarger reiterated Tuesday that the Senate should pass the bill that the House approved in 2023. The Senate has taken no action on the bill.
In a brief interview after the event, Harshbarger said she was filing to run for reelection to the federal office she has held since 2020. She was reelected in 2022.
She said that she would bring "common sense" to Congress.
"We have to have people who have common sense and who have done something before they ever got to congress like run a business, raised a family, done things like Sunday school and done it all at the same time. It gives you a totally different perspective on how Washington should run because you've done it at your own home, in your business and in your own community. There's not enough of that," Harshbarger said.
Harshbarger said she would serve as a voice for the people of the congressional district.
"My job is to continue on with some of the work that I've already done and just be the conservative voice," Harshbarger said.
Harshbarger said that she hoped that appropriations bills would be completed on time to prevent a government shutdown upon return to Washington.
"I'm hoping that they'll have the appropriation bills done. For heaven's sakes we've got to vote by March 1 to keep the government open or else," Harshbarger said.
She said that those in Congress would have to listen to "the conservative movement" and that the government needed to save money, stop borrowing money and stop incurring debt, particularly to nations such as China.
When it comes to foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel, Harshbarger said that the House of Representatives still controls how aid is funded. She said the she was unsure about the prospects of a discharge petition leading to a vote in the House of Representatives on a $95 billion bipartisan foreign aid package recently approved by the Senate after House Republican leaders have been hesitant to bring the measure to the floor for a vote.
A discharge petition is a petition that, when signed by a majority of House members, brings a measure to the floor for a vote and bypasses House leadership's ability to shape the legislative agenda.
"They're trying to re-finagle the aid to Ukraine, to the border and to Israel. You know what? You have to pay for it somehow, and we hold the purse strings. There is talk about a discharge petition. I don't know. That was Thursday before I left, so it's yet to be seen," Harshbarger said.
Harshbarger has stated repeatedly that she would continue to oppose sending funding to Ukraine to aid in its fight against Russia's invasion.
When asked about the recent death of Russian anti-corruption opposition leader and political prisoner Alexei Navalny, Harshbarger called Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been accused of having Navalny killed, a "thug."
"Anybody who stands up to Putin, it seems like they end up dead for some reason," Harshbarger said. "You know who he (Putin) is. He's a thug. He worked for the KGB, I mean for god sakes. I wouldn't put it past him. When you imprison your political enemies that's what happens, but he thinks nobody's going to hold him accountable, but the world's watching. They're watching probably to see what the United States does."
Harshbarger called Navalny's wife "tough."
"I hate it, but his wife's standing tough and she's just laying it out there. You can't let these rogue nations get out of control and go do what they want to do," Harshbarger said.