When asked about the most aggravating day of our lives, most of us would probably have to think a minute before answering. But not Congressman Steve Southerland.
“My most aggravating day was the day of the most recent debt ceiling vote,” he says without a moment’s a pause during a recent interview. “We could’ve gotten the Keystone pipeline. We could’ve given something to the American worker, but we chose politics. That’s not leadership.”-Rep. Steve Southerland
According to Southerland, even though President Obama had promised to veto any debt ceiling bill where there were other legislative items attached, it was incumbent on Congressional Republicans to call the Commander-in-Chief’s bluff.
But, instead of seizing the opportunity to put several pro-growth business initiatives on the bill, the Keystone Pipeline among them, then waiting to see whether or not the president was serious about his veto threat, a small group of Congressmen refused to vote anything but “no.”
Do you think the 2nd Amendment will be destroyed by the Biden Administration?(2)
“If you continually vote ‘no’,” Southerland says, “at some point I have to ask: how can you even say that you’re representing your district?”
The recent debt ceiling vote is a subject close to Congressman Southerland’s heart, because it’s related to the very reason he got into politics to begin with: to provide leadership.
And, based on his own political history alone, the Congressman knows how to lead. He was the first Republican elected to Florida’s 2nd Congressional District in 130 years, and when he first decided to run, people didn’t give him much of a chance.
“People were factoring out, but we were factoring in,” he says.
Even so, the Congressman took about six months to decide, paying close attention to the state of politics in the country.
“I had completed all of my commitments to community activities,” he says, referencing various positions he held, including serving on the board of trustees at his church, as well as his appointment as Chairman of the Early Learning Coalition of Northwest Florida by Jeb Bush. “And I was able for the first time to take a good long look at the state of our country’s political affairs. I didn’t like what I saw.”
There was so much going on in the 111th Congress that he disagreed with: Obamacare, the beginning of the dismantling of America’s Armed Forces, the politics being played with veteran’s benefits, and above all, a Federal debt that was spiraling out of control.
Even then, he wasn’t completely convinced he should run. But his concern for the future of his country as well as his children began to stir convictions deep within his own consciousness.
It seems that the voice was right on the money. Southerland was elected, along with a new wave of conservative leaders who all believed it was their primary mission to rein in government spending.
Despite the Congressman’s frustrations over the gridlock in Congress, he believes that on the whole, he and his colleagues have done what they were sent to do.
“If you look at our docket, the number of bills we’ve passed in the House, compared to the Senate, on the whole, we are doing our job,” he says.
He mentions the role of oversight the House has played, as well as the way he and his colleagues have stopped the President’s determination to “fundamentally transform the United States of America.”
“No one can argue that we haven’t stopped the President’s legislative agenda,” he says.In response to those who still claim Congress hasn’t gotten enough done, Southerland counters with a characteristically keen understanding of the process.
“Sometimes the expectation of what we can do is too much,” he says, in reference to the fact that Democrats hold the Senate and White House. “You can’t give me a pair of twos and expect me to beat an inside straight.”
Nothing could be more indicative of this fact than the current state of affairs regarding immigration reform. In fact, the Congressman says it is unlikely that any reform will be achieved in the near future.
Southerland says there is a chance for reform, however, after the November elections.
“Beginning with the 115th Congress, especially if the Senate leadership is in the hands of the Republican Party, I think we can produce an incremental path,” he says, referencing the “piecemeal” approach he favors. It involves a strong focus on border security, and stands in contrast to some of the other more liberal solutions currently being debated.
“I don’t like the word ‘comprehensive,’” he says, “because it can lead a person to think they are getting things they don’t like.”
The Congressman is on record as having opposed the Democrat-controlled Senate’s “comprehensive” immigration bill, which conservatives accuse of being nothing more than amnesty.
“First and foremost, I believe there must be no amnesty,” the Congressman says on his House website.
He does say, however, that, like the debt ceiling, immigration is a subject that his colleagues need to approach with a spirit of leadership.“There are some in Washington who profit off division,” he says. “But as long as we’re divided, the country loses.”
Congressman Southerland says that before meaningful discussions can be had regarding this difficult topic, President Obama has to make a true effort to enforce the border.
“If the President wants to negotiate, he needs to focus on upholding the law, so far, he’s been unwilling to do that.”-Rep. Steve Southerland
When asked if, in consideration of the current reelection campaign, that still, small voice that spoke to him all those years ago, has gone away, Congressman Southerland’s reply is that it most assuredly has not.
We tend to agree. What you seem to get with Steve Southerland is a deeply religious and principled man who is serving for the right reasons, and has an aim toward achieving goals that will put America on a stronger footing.
In the effortless yet complex way he has of discussing an agenda driven by his call to service, one can almost hear the echoes of Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, and Madison, as well as see just a hint of the strong and vibrant country which the Congressman himself envisions.
Would that we had more of his stripe in D.C.
Interview conducted by Allen Keller for the Shark Tank
