CLAY COUNTY – Kat Cammack has represented District 3, which includes Clay County, in the U.S. House of Representatives for the past 15 months. She used a rare break from hearings and votes to talk about her experiences and what she expects during the rest of her first term.
Here is what she had to say:

How would you describe what’s happened so far in your term?
Cammack: “Chaotic, frustrating, humbling. And I don’t I’m not quite sure how to say this, but the experience for the last, I guess, 15 months at this point, has given me more confidence that we will come back America will come back bigger, better, stronger from where we are now than at any other time in our nation’s history. It made me resolute in my beliefs in positions of how fundamentally broken Washington is. But like I said, it’s been pretty humbling. Definitely frustrating. A little bit maddening at times. And overall, I would still say it’s an incredible privilege to serve. Truly.”

What do you believe are the challenges our nation will face in the next year?
Cammack: “Full-time we have, you know, the big challenges and there’s no shortage of them. It really is going to be big-ticket items and fighting back. Title 42 going away in May, I believe May 23, is when the administration said they want to get rid of it would mean that our country will be under a full-blown invasion at that point. And folks don’t realize how that will fundamentally change our daily life. You can’t sustain 18,000 people a day, coming across our border, who you don’t know who they are. They’re not vetted. They’re not tested. Nothing. And they’re dropped into communities all across the country, at the expense of the American taxpayer. And then they become reliant on American taxpayers locally for social services. So, you think hospitals are overrun now just wait until you have 18,000 people a day coming into our country. You think crime is bad now wait till you have people who have criminal records coming into your community. Do you think opioid abuse and overdose are bad ways until you have a completely open border with narcotics flowing at historic levels? I mean, that is going to be in my opinion.”

You mentioned big-ticket items. What else will you be focused on?
Cammack: “The biggest if not the biggest challenge that we face and then of course bringing down gas prices, dealing with inflation. That’s going to be for the next year. My fight is taking care of business at home here and making sure that people have a way to survive these ridiculous historic inflation levels, but also protecting our borders.”

What has surprised you most?
Cammack: “The hypocrisy of Washington really knows no bounds. You know, I gave a speech two days ago, talking about how Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi has extended proxy voting, which I find wholly unconstitutional because of the ongoing public health crisis, which allows people to members of Congress not to show up they can give their job responsibilities to another member who votes in person for them while they go relax on the beach somewhere. And I’ll give you a very local example. Al Lawson (D-District 5) who represents Jacksonville and the northern part of the state. He hasn’t been to Washington in 15 months and yet he has collected a paycheck every single month without fail. And again, they extended this proxy voting due to the ongoing public health crisis. We still have to wear masks on airplanes because of an ongoing health crisis. But somehow, this situation at the border truly is a health concern, because you not only have an influx of people who don’t test for COVID status. They also don’t test for the other medical issues that we know we’re coming across and being encountered at the border and somehow that doesn’t qualify.”

How has Clay County benefited during your first term?
Cammack: “You know, the big thing that I would say that for Clay County would be you know, obviously last year. I’m really proud of the fact that our team got about $2.5 million for Clay County Fire Rescue, specifically to help with the department. And then some of the things that we’ve done. For constituents in our veterans in our seniors. We broke records in terms of money returned to them over $3.4 million at this point. Our team has recovered for folks here in the district. And obviously, Clay County is a huge part of that. So, we’re really proud of that. And I just I think that even in the face of adversity and what we’re seeing in our country, it can be disheartening, but then you’ve got stories and winds here at home that give me hope so. Yeah.”