Congresswoman Mary Miller was first elected in 2020 to represent the 15th Congressional District of Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives. She is a sitting member of the House Committee on Agriculture and the House Committee on Education and Labor. She talks about the state of politics in America today, the issue of illegal immigration, and farming.
The following has been edited for context and clarity.
Federal Newswire:
When you were running for Congress, what's the greatest difference between your perception of what the job was going to be and what the job actually is?
Mary Miller:
Well, I've been living in the real world so I can't say that I had a perception, but a couple things have surprised me. Number one is how much I actually enjoy the job. It's very relational and I'm so thankful to have the opportunities to serve our constituents and then to stand up for Judeo-Christian values and our constitution, both in light of voting and in light of getting the message out to people. And I'm excited about the opportunity to inspire regular people to get involved at some level. But the surprise that I've had in light of the job, and you may laugh at me for this, is I cannot believe how the left lies without shame.
And sometimes I give a speech on the house floor and the way that goes is you have to take turns with the Democrats. So, I'll have to sit there and listen to their speeches and there's just a spirit, I call it a demonic spirit of deception over our country. And the left is counting on the American people being bamboozled by their lies and disinformation campaign. But personally, I've really enjoyed the position and getting to know the people I represent are salt to the earth.
Federal Newswire:
Talk about your view of progressive policy making.
Mary Miller:
Well, as we know, Marxists have taken over the Democrat party and their goal, in my opinion, is control and total transformation of our country. And I believe Barack Obama said it, that that was one of his goals. But they're demanding that we deny reality. And I want to speak up fearlessly to people and tell them we do not have to deny reality.
Federal Newswire:
What are you hearing from your constituents? I know you are in a heavily favored Republican district, but I'm sure you're talking to folks who have a variety of different backgrounds and interests. What are you hearing from them regarding these issues?
Mary Miller:
People are waking up. The left is woke, but we're becoming awake and people are getting involved. They're running for county offices, school boards. People are upset over the open border. They think it's outrageous that the IRS is going to employ 87,000 more IRS agents to come after, armed mind you now, we're going to be armed to come after... they're going after taxpayers, they're upset over defunding the police and they're upset that the radicals are taking over the education system and hypersexualizing their children. It's way too far for the regular Americans.
Federal Newswire:
Are they going after the family farmers in Illinois' 15th congressional district?
Mary Miller:
Yes. And it's interesting how they're going after the people that make our country great and good parents. They've gone after parents, they're going after the police, they've gone after our border patrol agents. They're going after law abiding taxpayers, they're going after pro-life Americans. They're growing after pro-life centers. So, this is just radicalism, but they're going to lose in this next election. I'm 100% convinced and we may not be able to move our agenda forward, but we're going to be able to stop their agenda from moving forward. I believe Jim Jordan will be the next head of judiciary. Everybody should be excited about that. We're going to have hearings.
Federal Newswire:
It's January 2023, as far as you're concerned, what's the number one priority of this new Republican majority in the house?
Mary Miller:
To have hearings number one and to defund the 87,000 IRS agents, I think that's going to be top on their agenda. But we need to get answers. I can't believe that we haven't had hearings. Not one person has resigned or been fired over the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal. I've been calling for Mayorkas's impeachment for a year and a half, that it is outrageous what is happening on our border, and it's all deliberate. This is all on purpose.
Federal Newswire:
On purpose to destabilize America?
Mary Miller:
I believe these are Marxists that hate our country, that hate our Judeo-Christian heritage and our values and they want to fundamentally transform our country.
Federal Newswire:
What would you feel about someone introducing as part of the NDAA reauthorization, the ability to federally criminalize the blocking of interstates, especially in places like DC but elsewhere in Chicago as well?
Mary Miller:
Well, it's a good idea, but in light of the NDAA, a first of all, we need to be negotiators and I don't think we just need to approve whatever they bring in front of us. And the last two NDAA’s that I voted on that they couldn't have passed that without the Republicans because the squad never votes to fund our military. But we should have had a lot more scrappy, aggressive, on offense working out of the details in the funding of that if... First of all, I'm highly opposed to vaccine mandates and including vaccine mandates in that NDAA.
They're in the process right now of discharging up to 13% of our military. China has to be laughing. And we now know that that vaccine doesn't work, it doesn't prevent transmission. In fact, we now know that they didn't even do any testing to prove that it prevented transmission. But I don't know, President Trump showed us how to fight on the offense, not just on the defense and that's why I love him so much. Now, people are going to make a story out that, I do love my husband, but-I appreciate Donald Trump because he fought for the American people and it's really outrageous that we had gotten to a place in our country that he had to make a whole agenda out about America first. Our leaders should have always been for America first.
Federal Newswire:
Talk about the impacts on the 15th congressional district, in Illinois more generally about unrestrained border policy.
Mary Miller:
Well, first of all, legal immigration's been a blessing to our country. I have a son-in-law that came here from Africa legally, but Americans have every right to know who's coming in and why. And the open border number one is causing problems for people that want to come here legally. They want to assimilate, they want to contribute to our country. But Illinois of course is a sanctuary state. So, they are not under any threat to be here. I do believe that Biden is trafficking the illegals into the red states in our country. I've got friends that live in Tennessee and they're just dropping them by the tens of thousands into Chattanooga.
Even the illegal underage, minor children are coming in by the tens of thousands and this is all their agenda for votes and to turn the blue states red. But here in Illinois I know they can sign up for all kinds of benefits. They recently expanded healthcare benefits. They were getting healthcare, but now we can get dental, optical and psychological services. So crime pays. Coming in illegally pays.
Federal Newswire:
You're part of the Illinois delegation, what do you say about Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s views on illegal immigration?
Mary Miller:
Lori Lightfoot has ruined her credibility with me and she's a total joke. She can't take care of crime in her own city or take care of failing schools in her own city. So, I just hope that people will wake up and vote these people out.
Federal Newswire:
What do you want to see in this farm bill? What do you not want to see in the farm bill?
Mary Miller:
Yeah. And this is a one bipartisan issue that I think we're all in agreement on, is we want to see risk management tools available for the farmers, that's key. Also, the thing I don't want to see is a lot of the global agenda, they call it the Green New Deal. I call it the green bad deal, I don't want to see the farm bill full of that. And in light of the food program, I think that there should be reform. Americans are generous people. We generally love our neighbors and people that need a hand up and out of their situation, we are for that. There should be time limits on it and work requirements around that. I think there should be more accountability in the program.
Federal Newswire:
So you and your husband are cattle farmers and there are twin attacks on beef cattle, on cattle farming generally, whether it's dairy or beef cattle, whether it's the anti-meat agenda or it's the anti-cow emissions agenda. What are you and your husband talking about with regards to this?
Mary Miller:
It's a joke. This is a sham issue. This is all about totalitarian control. It's part of a global agenda. Methane gas is not a threat to us. They literally do want us to eat bugs. I know I saw where they're trying to develop a palatable mealworm burger, have at it if that's what you want to eat. I'm not going to be eating mealworm burgers. And I guarantee you the elitist in charge are not going to eat mealworm burgers. But this is another thing. I'm not trying to take advantage of my platform here, but beef makes you strong, beef is full of nutrients and the left wants us to be weak. Weak physically, weak relationally. They're trying to cut us off of each other, turn us into enemies. They want us to be weak spiritually and weak intellectually.
Federal Newswire:
Talk about balancing the relationship between your husband being in the state legislature and you being in Congress, were you involved beforehand or did you jump in to run?
Mary Miller:
This is a really good question. Thank you for asking because I think it would seem strange to people that we're both in politics. If you would've asked me 10 years ago, five years ago or told me I was going to run for Congress, I probably would've laughed, but this is what happened. Our children mostly live by us, most of the seven of them and the grandchildren and we still go to church together on Sundays and they come to my house for old fashioned Sunday dinner. And about seven, eight years ago, one of our adult children, couples told us that they had realtors looking for them in Florida. They were going to join the Exodus out of Illinois. And we're such a close family, it really shocked my husband and me and it made us really examine what a bad state Illinois was in. And that's when my husband decided to run for state representative.
And I was kind of alongside him in the whole thing. I'm an extrovert, he's an introvert. People were always teasing him that they got the wrong candidate, but I was happy to be there to help him. I helped him with some of the writing he did and the post so I was up to date on the issues. And then when John Schuss decided to retire, my husband and I were calling around to people that would've been a logical fit to step in the position, but nobody was interested in doing it. And I think because everybody knew that a seat was going to be eliminated in Illinois, people were more looking at a career than just the opportunity. And so that's when local people encouraged me to run. They put up a lot of money in the first week and sent me on my way.
I won by 70%. I think I've run a positive campaign both times because I want to stick on the issues. No human being is my enemy. So, I always made a point when I spoke so and so is my opponent, not my enemy. And I'm running on the record. I'm running against the record. We're running out of time now before the November election, but the next election we need to call it Fire the Frauds. And we need to, in the primaries, really look at people's voting records and the direction they're taking us. I can tell you this, there's a lot of talk and not action to back it up. And I'm so thankful for groups like CPAC, Heritage, Liberty Score, these places that score our votes, because it gives everyday citizens a black and white picture of how they've been represented.
