U.S. Rep. Karen Handel

Handel, Isakson react to Trump Russia comments at summit

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U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, Trump Russia comments
U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson

President Donald Trump sparked bipartisan criticism from members of Congress on Monday for his comments at a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

At a joint press conference in Helsinki, Trump defended Putin against claims of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections, and said the U.S. was equally to blame as Russia for poor relations between the two countries.

A number of prominent Republican lawmakers in Washington denounced Trump’s comments. U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona said the summit was “one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory.”

U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, an East Cobb resident who is Georgia’s senior senator, sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee and issued the following statement late Monday afternoon:

U.S. Rep. Karen Handel, a Roswell Republican who represents East Cobb in Georgia’s Sixth Congressional District, is a member of the House Intelligence Committee. She released this statement on late Monday afternoon:

https://twitter.com/karenhandel/status/1018955241218330627

Georgia’s other senator, Republican David Perdue, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has not commented publicly on the matter.

Trump finished a week-long trip to Europe that included a visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels as well as Britain.

Even some long-standing supporters of Trump were concerned about the president’s comments. Former House Speaker and 6th District Congressman Newt Gingrich said Trump “must clarify his statements in Helsinki on our intelligence system and Putin. It is the most serious mistake of his presidency and must be corrected—immediately.”

 

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U.S. Rep. Karen Handel spars with Congressman on House floor over detention camp tape

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U.S. Rep. Karen Handel on Friday shut down a colleague on the House floor as he played an audio recording of immigrant children being held at a detention camp near the Mexican border.

U.S. Rep. Karen Handel

(You can view the full video from the House floor at the bottom of this post).

At the end of a long week of national debate over President Donald Trump’s detention policies, California Democratic Congressman Ted Lieu began to play the recording, made by the news organization Pro Publica.

Lieu was denouncing a “zero tolerance” policy that separated children from their parents after illegal border crossings. Trump later signed an executive order allowing families to remain together in detention camps.

“If the Statue of Liberty could cry, she’d be crying today,” Lieu said in beginning his remarks, which frequently referenced the more than 2,300 children who’ve “been ripped away” from their parents in recent weeks.

Handel, the Roswell Republican whose Georgia 6th District includes East Cobb, was serving as Speaker Pro Tem. Shortly after the recording began, she ruled that Lieu had committed a “breach of quorum” for using an electronic device in the House chambers.

She said that violated Rule 17 of the House, but he continued.

“There is not a rule that says I cannot play sounds from the detention facility,” Lieu said, as the recording continued, and crying children could be heard.

Handel ordered him to stop several times, demanding that “the gentleman will suspend!” and pounding a gavel.

The recording continued for a few more moments, then Handel said that “the sergeant at arms will enforce the rules of decorum.”

Before that happened, Lieu yielded back his time, using a little more than five minutes of the 60 minutes allotted to him.

The House was to have voted on immigration legislation Friday but that has been delayed to next week. Trump has urged Congress to wait until after the November elections.

 

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U.S. Rep Karen Handel opposes new Trump tariffs on steel and aluminum

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U.S. Rep. Karen Handel is urging President Donald Trump to reconsider tariffs he imposed today against steel and aluminum imports from Canada, Mexico and European Union nations.

U.S. Rep. Karen Handel

The tariffs, which will go into effect Friday, will add a 25 percent duty to steel imports and a 10 percent duty to aluminum imports from some of the top trading partners of the U.S.

Handel, a Roswell Republican whose 6th Congressional District includes East Cobb, said while she supports Trump’s efforts to renegotiate trade deals, the decision announced Thursday “threatens to dampen” what she said was “recent progress” on the economy.

Handel was referring to Trump’s tax reform legislation that she vocally supported. In a series of messages on her official Twitter account, Handel said the tariffs “do not further the goal of fostering more equitable trade.”

Earlier this month she cautioned against the tariffs that came down today, urging a more “surgical” approach that would avoid retaliation.

https://twitter.com/RepKHandel/status/1002309297429196800

https://twitter.com/RepKHandel/status/1002309300256112641

https://twitter.com/RepKHandel/status/1002309302252601344

https://twitter.com/RepKHandel/status/1002309304056270849

https://twitter.com/RepKHandel/status/1002309305855627266

https://twitter.com/RepKHandel/status/1002309308669988864

Georgia’s two Republican U.S. Senators, Johnny Isakson of East Cobb and David Perdue of Macon, also do not support the latest tariffs. In March Trump issued similar tariffs on other nations, but exempted Canada, Mexico and the EU.

Isakson said the tariffs would hurt the auto industry, and Handel’s district includes the USA headquarters for Mercedes-Benz and other companies that could be adversely affected by Thursday’s decision.

Also coming out against the new tariffs is U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican who is retiring from Congress after this year.

Handel, elected last year in a special election to succeed former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, is running for re-election in November for what would be her first full term. Her opponent will be Lucy McBath or Kevin Abel, who face off in a July 24 Democratic runoff.

Trump won the strongly Republican 6th District with only 51 percent of the vote in 2016. According to an analysis by the political website FiveThirtyEight, Handel has voted with Trump’s positions on major issues and legislation more than 87 percent of the time.

That does not include recent tariff impositions.

 

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U.S. Rep. Karen Handel holding town hall teleconference tonight

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Newly elected Congresswoman Karen Handel (R-Roswell) is holding her first town hall meeting tonight, but it’s in teleconference format and is restricted only to 6th Congressional District constituents. U.S. Rep. Karen Handel

The teleconference, which lasts an hour, starts at 7 p.m. and there’s an online sign-up form that’s required to be filled out to participate.

Earlier this month, Handel spoke on federal and Congressional issues at Cobb commissioner Bob Ott’s town hall meeting at the East Cobb Library (East Cobb News coverage here).

Handel talks Charlottesville, health care and more at East Cobb town hall

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U.S. Rep. Karen Handel
U.S. Rep. Karen Handel called the Charlottesville violence an “evil, evil attack” but didn’t mention President Trump at an East Cobb town hall meeting last week. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)

Newly elected Georgia Congresswoman Karen Handel got the biggest applause—a standing ovation from some in the audience—at Cobb commissioner Bob Ott’s town hall meeting last Thursday at the East Cobb Library.

Handel, a Roswell Republican who defeated Democrat Jon Ossoff in a June 20 runoff, said she’s made several trips to East Cobb, which gave her strong margins in the most expensive House race in history.

Before Ott spoke to a couple hundred constituents on the county budget and other local items, including the proposed closing of the East Cobb Library (East Cobb News coverage here), he turned the microphone over to Handel, whom he campaigned for extensively.

She immediately condemned the racially-inspired violence in Charlottesville, Va., earlier this month that left one person dead and injured dozens of others, calling it an “evil, evil attack.” Of racism, anti-Semitism and bigotry, Handel said, “It is wrong. It is evil. It has no place in society and this country.”

The few hundred whites who showed up to protest the proposed removal of a Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville “are not representative of this country,” she added.

Without mentioning President Donald Trump—who came under fire for his post-Charlottesville remarks—Handel issued a call for fairness, respect and civility, “some basic kindness,” as Americans confront racial and other cultural issues that have flared up in recent weeks and months.

Less than two months since taking office, Handel also defended Congress—or at least her chamber, the House—against criticisms that it’s not getting much done.

She said more than 250 pieces of legislation have been passed in the House, including a repeal of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law passed in the wake of the recession. Some in the audience voiced displeasure, but Handel said the rollback was necessary.

She also said she was bewildered that the Republican-led U.S. Senate failed to pass a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, after it passed the House.

“I would have supported it,” Handel said of the ACA repeal, which was approved in the House before her election. Of the continuation of Obamacare, she said that “the status quo is unsustainable,” a reference to the rising costs of premiums on the ACA exchanges.

Many insurers are seeking significant hikes or withdrawing altogether (here’s a projected 2018 summary from the Kaiser Family Foundation which includes an anticipated seven-percent increase in Georgia for one of the lowest-cost plans, and a 34-percent boost in subsidies).

“The rubber will hit the road when the open enrollment period begins in fall,” Handel said.

Handel has been assigned to the House committees on Judiciary and Education and the Workforce.

Her district office is in the same location at her predecessor, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price: 85-C Mill Street, Suite 300, Roswell.

The district phone number is 770-998-0049.