In the News

Congressman Kevin Hern: 'This whole argument is really about 2020'

Tulsa World, Randy Krehbiel

Tulsa, OK , January 19, 2019
First District Congressman Kevin Hern hasn’t been in Washington long, but he has been there long enough to conclude the current impasse hasn’t all that much to do with policy.

“This whole argument is really about 2020,” Hern, who took office in November, told the Tulsa Republican Club on Friday. “It’s unfortunate. Sad. But that’s the politics of what’s going on.”

The $5.7 billion President Donald Trump is demanding and House Democrats are refusing to give him is not all that significant “in the big scheme of things,” Hern noted.

“While it’s a lot of money, when your budget is $4.5 trillion, you’re talking about (less than 1 percent).”

Hern said the oft-discussed sea-to-sea “border wall” that Trump and House Democrats are ostensibly fighting about is not what Customs and Border Patrol wants and should not be a goal but that the ability to “vet” everyone entering the U.S. should be.

Vague descriptions of what the $5.7 billion would actually go for and conflicting statistics about illegal immigration seem to have confused the issue. Hern became frustrated with his party’s leadership when he was told “don’t worry about the numbers, focus on the policy.”

“I’m still a political novice, so much so I still believe in facts,” he said.

Hern said his office hasn’t received many calls complaining about the shutdown, but his sympathies are nevertheless with federal employees who have been furloughed or are working without pay.

“There are 800,000 Americans in the middle of this,” Hern said, referring to those workers. “Whether you think the federal government is too big, it doesn’t really matter. These 800,000 people are counting on ... us to do what we said we were going to do.”

In answer to a question, Hern said he does not favor Trump declaring a national emergency to address the issue.

“The Republicans who want to do this want to give the authority to Donald Trump. They don’t want to give it to the Office of the President,” Hern said. “When the Democrats get in — I can assure you we are not going to want a Democrat president using emergency spending.

“I think one of the reasons we’re in the bad way we are today is that the different parts of government have abdicated their responsibility,” Hern said. “When it gets hard, they give it to somebody else or they just don’t do it.

“The Speaker of the House (Nancy Pelosi), the Minority (Leader) of the Senate, Chuck Shumer, and the president need to go in a room, probably turn the cameras off, put their helmets on ... and figure out what the answer is going forward,” Hern said.

He said he still plans to donate his congressional pay to charity during the shutdown and another round of recipients is being identified. He previously gave $5,000 to 10 veterans organizations.

Asked about the current trade war with China and other nations, Hern said tariffs have slowed China’s economic growth — which he said was the real reason for them — but he didn’t know how long the U.S. economy can hold up under the strain of higher import costs and fewer export markets.

Although there have been no official announcements, Hern said he believes he’ll be assigned to the Budget, Natural Resources and Small Business committees.

“The headline is we need to get the government back open, and we need to secure the country,” he said.