Harris: I’m fighting for my district

In Monday’s first installment of “Political Insider”, 47 ABC’s Ryan Eldredge sat down with Congressman Andy Harris (R-MD) to discuss his goals and plans.  

What drives you as a congressman to serve the constituents here in the first district?” said Ryan Eldredge.  

“The first district it's interesting, people will come up to me and say you have the best district, you have a beautiful district and we have a lot of people from the DC area who do vacation here,” said Congressman Harris. “They spend time on the shore. It's a beautiful district, it's got great people in it and it's part of me giving back to this country. My parents came to this country and I think it's our civic duty to give back and this is part of it.”  

“When you go into DC you have an agenda, you have things that you want to get done,” said Eldredge. “For you how does that agenda play out? What is the most important thing for Congressman Harris and specifically maybe in your mind for this area?”  

“The most important thing is to keep the economy going and accelerating,” said Harris. “We know we've had a stagnant economy for years. The economy on the Eastern Shore relies on agriculture, poultry, tourism, these are things that especially the agriculture and poultry, the federal regulation could damage pretty easily. So it's me keeping an eye on Washington making sure that our local economy is allowed to not only prosper but grow.”  

“Do you feel it’s hard to have that balancing act between what is happening in Washington DC and where the party is going as compared to what republicans in your district or what your constituents want to see happen?” said Eldredge.  

“Look we just had an election in November, I was elected by a large majority of people in the district. I have a voting record and people reelected me on my voting record because I do protect the economy of the people of the first district and I do it against all odds some times,” said Harris. “Whether it's fighting the EPA on rules that would hinder our farmers or whether it's fighting rules from the Department of Agriculture that would hinder our poultry industry. I fight hard for the district and every two years they come out in November and they've re-elected me three times.”