U.S. Representative Andy Harris was elected in 2010 to represent the 1st Congressional District of Maryland. Before entering politics he was a practicing anesthesiologist and medical officer in the Naval Reserve.
The following has been edited for context and clarity.
Federal Newswire:
Can you give us your thoughts on how and why the vote for Speaker of the House of Representatives played out the way it did? What was gained, what might have been lost?
Andy Harris:
I'll tell you what firmed everything up really in December was when Nancy Pelosi dropped those two 4,000 page bills on our desk, one of them called the National Defense Authorization Act, had about 12 other bills combined into it, with one day to look it over, with an up or down vote, a very brief debate, and no chance for amendments.
Then a week later she drops a 4,400 page, $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill. Omnibus meaning it had all the spending bills in it. One day to look it over. No amendments. One hour debate. That firmed up that we can't do business like this. The serious negotiation started at that point to make sure that never happened again, which culminated in the early hours of the morning on Saturday. With the election of Speaker McCarthy, having come to an agreement.
Federal Newswire:
One concession Speaker McCarthy made was to restore “regular order” to the process for passing spending bills. That means the House will consider spending for each Department of the federal government individually rather than in a single rolled-up bill. Why is this important?
Andy Harris:
We have 435 Representatives. If you don't have regular order and you don't sit on [a particular] committee…, you can't affect the legislation [from that committee]. You're not allowed to bring an amendment to the floor. You're not allowed to improve that legislation [or] the way it might affect your district. And of course, by regular order, we mean that bills come to the floor [individually], and you can actually put amendments on them.
I’ve been told and it's probably true, it’s been 6-7 years since we've actually had floor amendments. We've had votes on amendments on the floor, but those amendments had to have been approved by the Rules Committee and the Rules Committee is the Speaker's committee. So it's just like a frog in water. Over time, the Speaker has become more and more powerful and been willing to use that power.
Federal Newswire:
Why is it that only now we’re addressing the issue of giving Representatives enough time to read the legislation?
Andy Harris:
Great question. We took over and then it became pretty obvious that the easiest way to run the House is [as an] authoritarian. The founders of this country were brilliant because they realized that if you're given power, you will take more power. Obviously, our rules gave the Speaker[s] too much power, and over time they were willing to take that power. And we were guilty of the same thing.
In 2016, we were in charge and we weren't allowing floor amendments because it is easier for the Speaker to run the House, but it's not better for the American people, [or] the individual members. I should be able to [weigh in on a bill] because it has an effect on my district, I can lend expertise. That's called the amendment process. We have to have an amendment process.
Federal Newswire:
Can you explain your understanding of the regulatory state?
Andy Harris:
It is pretty clear that healthcare in the United States is subject to bureaucratic oversight. In the case of Medicare, heavy bureaucratic oversight.
They decide whether you can get a medical device or not. They decide whether you can have access to a new drug or not. With regards to my district, it is largely agricultural. It borders on the Chesapeake Bay, so there are environmental issues. So we have this constant strain between those people who think that the environment should be supreme overall versus the people who say, "Well actually, people have to make a living." You have to have farming. You have to put fertilizer on your land. So the regulatory condition under which you operate is incredibly important.
Federal Newswire:
What concerns do you have about things like the idea of making people transition to all electric vehicles, things that will affect rural areas like your district?
Andy Harris:
That's a great example. People have to drive. It's a rural area. So for instance, when we were discussing a carbon tax, you have to say, "Okay, well who's going to be affected by a carbon tax?" Well, if it predominantly affects vehicles, then people who drive a lot are going to be affected by it. Then it's not equal taxation. If you put equal taxation on a gallon of gas, a carbon tax, it's going to affect rural people more. How are you going to make up for that? In rural areas, houses are free standing, heating bills are higher, you have more people that depend on heating oil. The price of diesel and heating oil … heavily influences the economy in a rural area.
Federal Newswire:
What is your view about the idea coming out of the Consumer Product Safety Commission to ban gas stoves?
Andy Harris:
This really just popped up. I didn't realize that they were even looking into this. But I'll tell you from the medical point of view, they make an argument that there are particulate matters that make sense. If you burn any product in your house, you're going to have foreign particles. And they've somehow linked this to the increased incidence of asthma.
It could be in some high risk communities, maybe we can make them a little cleaner burning. We can do some warnings. But to say, "We're just going to eliminate this." Well, what's the substitute? I mean, are we going to burn wood? No. Are we going to have electricity? We already have grid problems. You can't just substitute electricity for everything. And it's a temptation. We better not go down that road.
Federal Newswire:
What are your priorities in terms of the next Congress?
Andy Harris:
The first thing we have to do is to get spending under control. No question about it. This runaway spending, the $4 trillion in literal printed money over the past few years resulted in the inflation problem. It’s still here, it's not transitory, [and it’s] not going to go away as long as we have trillion dollar deficits that we have to fund by essentially printing money. Although I joke with people, I say, "We don't print it anymore." We just push a button and electronically generate it. We need to get rid of inflation
We have to get away from the idea that we can afford trillion dollar deficits, and we can do it by income redistribution, [and] by not encouraging work. The only way we get out of this whole situation is economic growth and spending restraint by the federal government, that's the key. We have to bring down the cost of energy, hugely important in a rural district. We have to make sure we have the manpower. And finally, we have to make sure that our education system actually functions the way it should. We're spending more per capita than almost every other country in the world, and we aren't getting the best result. And it's because, honestly, teachers unions are in charge of our education. Not educators, teachers unions.
Federal Newswire:
What’s your opinion on the changes to House rules that seem to be controversial?
Andy Harris:
Well, I think one of the stories being told was that for some reason we didn't want Kevin McCarthy as Speaker. And the answer is no, we didn't want Kevin McCarthy or any Speaker with the powers that the current rules afford to that person. People would ask me, "Well, are you afraid you will make Kevin McCarthy a weaker Speaker?" We would've made Nancy Pelosi a weaker Speaker if we had these rules and I think the country would've been better for it. So, yes, obviously once we get past that, it was only a question of when can we come to this agreement? What can we include in this agreement to advance the interest of the American people and to protect them from what we've seen over the last few years of a Speakership gone awry.
Federal Newswire:
With your military background, where do you see things going with the war between Ukraine and Russia, and between America and China?
Andy Harris:
I firmly believe that a free economic system is going to prevail over a system of a controlled economy. So I think, in the end, if we play our cards right, we will prevail over Russia and we'll prevail over China, because controlled economies just don't work and it's been proven over the last 100 years.
But we have to play our cards right. That means we have to look at the military and say, "Okay, Russia's military budget is one-tenth of ours, and we're worried about Russia?" Well, they're either very good at efficiently spending on their military, or we are very bad at it.
It may be a combination of both, but we have to look at our defense budget and say, "This is serious. We have to have a position of strength."
The Navy has a requirement to buy a certain amount of fuel that is not fossil fuel. I guarantee you, China is not buying renewable fuel to fuel their aircraft carriers or airplanes and Russia is not buying renewable fuel to run their tanks in Ukraine.
When we do this, we're surrendering. We have to get the woke stuff out. The bottom line is we can't afford that luxury with two superpowers in the world who threaten democracy and us directly.
Federal Newswire:
What are you hearing from your fellow veterans and people who are still serving about these non-core ideas within the military?
Andy Harris:
One of the privileges we have as members of Congress is nominating people to academies. The fall off in people interested in going to academies is not spoken about in this town but it's dramatic.
A growing number of parents who see what's going on in the military are looking at it and saying, "I'm not sure that's where I want my child to go," because it appears the military's first objective is not to create a strong military that will never be challenged. I think they're afraid that when you create a woke military, it's a military that will be challenged.
Federal Newswire:
Can you talk about the Russian outpost in your district that President Trump shut down?
Andy Harris:
The Russians wanted to have a presence in the First Congressional district. I think it was believable that its purpose was not just for recreation for Russian diplomats on the beautiful Eastern Shore of Maryland. We just have to be serious on all these fronts. When the Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretary of Defense are saying, "Well, we need to worry about extremists in the military," No, no, no. What we have to worry about are the other extreme militaries like the Russian military and the Chinese military.
Federal Newswire:
What are your plans going forward?
Andy Harris:
Well, I got re-elected, so I'm going to be here this term. We'll see what happens. The bottom line is I love serving the First Congressional District in Maryland. They're wonderful people. It's the most conservative part of Maryland, which I consider the most common sense part.
