JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) Rep. Diana Harshbarger hosted a Coffee with your Congresswoman event on Wednesday in Johnson City where she recognized nine local Vietnam veterans and spoke to the public about a variety of global issues.
The town hall-style event was hosted at the Summitt Leadership Foundation on Bristol Highway, and Rep. Harshbarger told News Channel 11 that she uses these talks to update the local community on the current state of Washington D.C. and what lawmakers are working on.
"I want to be available to the people I serve, to be able to give them updates on what we're doing in Washington. D.C.," Harshbarger said. "It's like a far-off place to most people. And if I can give them updates, it's going to make them feel a little bit better. I hope."
Harshbarger discussed her thoughts on a new bipartisan bill that combines aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan with the proposed border policy.
"The House passed support for Israel, and we were taking it out of money that's already allocated for 87,000 IRS agents. We wanted to give them what they asked for, [it] is like 14 billion. So what the Senate did is, they wouldn't, they wouldn't take that, they wouldn't agree to that. So they pushed everything into one spending bill. You've got Ukraine, you've got Taiwan, you've got Israel, and the bulk of that is going to Ukraine, but there's not a pay-for for any of it. So from what I understand, the speaker and the leader are not going to take that up in the House. We're not going to vote on it."
Harshbarger called on President Biden to enact an executive order surrounding the border crisis.
"President Biden could fix it overnight if he just did one thing with his executive order, and that's put the "Remain in Mexico Policy" back in," she said. "70% of the influx would be stopped immediately. But he will not do it. He's saying 'Congress needs to do something.' The only money he wants to use that we would allocate to our border would be to process illegals faster and to give these blue cities more money. And we're not going to do it."
On the topic of the upcoming presidential election, Harshbarger said she feels lawmakers are "fearful" that Donald Trump will become the GOP nominee.
"They're fearful. They're fearful that President Trump's going to be the nominee and get elected. And they're putting countermeasures in, in case that happens. So, you know, it's just, I don't think they feel confident with their nominee on the Democratic side, that he's competent, and I've called for a competency test."
Along with speaking on current issues, Harshbarger honored nine Vietnam veterans on Wednesday. Six veterans had already received their pins and three others were pinned by Harshbarger herself during the event.
Harshbarger has two more regional engagement events scheduled, which will take place Feb. 22 and March 18. More information on those events and how to attend one can be found at Harshbarger.house.gov.