After only four years in Washington, Rep. James Comer has risen to become the ranking member of the powerful House Committee on Oversight and Reform. That means the 1st district Congressman is in line to become the panel’s chair should the GOP gain control of the House in the next year’s midterm elections. That rapid ascent is a point of pride for the Tompkinsville native who says no other Republican from the state has climbed the Congressional ranks so quickly.
“We’ve had about three other chairmen, Carl Perkins, Hal Rogers, and William Natcher, and they were in Congress over 30 years before they became a chairman of a committee in the House,” says Comer.
Even while in the minority, Comer is using his status to advance an investigation into the origins of COVID-19. He says public health officials initially thought the virus came from an animal before being transmitted to humans. Now he claims many scientists believe it was engineered and leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.
Comer says it’s critical to learn the history of SARS-CoV-2 to determine if any American tax dollars were involved, and if any parties should be held accountable for the pandemic that’s killed more than 4.4 million people worldwide. But Comer says the investigation has been stymied by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Republicans have requested unredacted communications from Fauci that Comer says may contradict testimony the doctor gave the Senate about the origins of COVID.
“We deserve answers to the questions we have, and the fact that Dr. Fauci won’t answer any of these questions, it’s very disappointing,” says Comer. “It’s time for him to go and I think he should resign.”
The Congressman wants to know about federal grant money the Chinese lab may have received, why the lab was doing gain-of-function research on potentially lethal pathogens, and whether the activities of the Wuhan lab may have been an act of war or simply an effort to profit from the development of vaccines to counter the spread of a deadly virus. He says all lawmakers should want answers to those questions.
“It’s very frustrating that the Democrats on the committee aren’t working with us at all,” says the Congressman. “This should be an investigation that Republicans and Democrats are working together on, and so far, it’s only been Republicans.”
Pandemic Politics
But partisanship has impeded the national response to the pandemic, from low vaccination rates to the backlash against mask mandates and other mitigation efforts. Comer says Americans have reached a “point of no return” on politicization of COVID with both sides sharing the blame.
“You have, this is my opinion, a lot of Democrats that have been overdramatic and overreacted on a lot of regulations that were unnecessary and burdensome,” Comer says. “You have a lot of Republicans that have completely blown it off, that have shared misinformation about the positives of the vaccine and wearing masks.”
The Congressman says most people in his district, which comprises all or part of 35 counties in western and southern Kentucky, no longer trust the guidance of Dr. Fauci or Gov. Andy Beshear on the pandemic.
“We don’t want the government to say you have to be vaccinated [or] the government to say you have to wear a mask,” says Comer. “We don’t think that’s necessary, and there’s nothing that the science proves to us that you need to do that.”
For his part, Comer says he tries to counter COVID misinformation when he hears it from constituents. He tells them that former President Donald Trump facilitated the vaccine development with his Operation Warp Speed, and that Trump himself was vaccinated even after having had COVID. Comer says he believes the best strategy is to continue to educate people about the risks posed by the virus and to talk about the benefits of being vaccinated, wearing masks, and socially distancing.
The Congressman contends Republicans get a bad rap for not being as concerned about the pandemic as Democrats. He says the GOP is simply concerned about other issues like the origins of the pandemic, the economic impacts of lockdowns, and how President Joe Biden’s immigration policies may be contributing to the current surge in cases.
“The lack of border security has no doubt increased the Delta variant throughout the South,” says the Congressman. “We have all these people coming across the border that haven’t been vaccinated for anything much less COVID-19.”
Instead of deporting migrants, Comer says the Biden Administration is sending them to shelters in sanctuary cities across the country, which he contends is furthering the spread of COVID and the more contagious Delta variant. Comer says the president should launch a military operation to secure the U.S.-Mexico border and then work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Red Cross to create secure shelters for immigrants.
“Most of these people that are coming over here… because they want a better life,” says Comer. “I respect that, and we should provide humanitarian relief for them… but we can do that on the Mexican side of the border, because when they come over here we’re stuck with them.”
Afghanistan and National Security
After cutting its August recess short, the House returns to Washington this week to take up the infrastructure bill passed by the Senate and the Biden Administrations $3.5 trillion economic package. But lawmakers will also be faced with the crisis in Afghanistan that’s unfolded after the withdrawal of U.S. forces there.
“Joe Biden was right to remove the troops from Afghanistan,” says Comer. “I don’t think there’s any question the majority of America wanted our troops out of Afghanistan after 20 years and trillions of dollars.”
But Comer describes Biden’s execution of the pullout as “a joke” and “the biggest national security failure” of his lifetime. He says the president should have had a plan B involving airstrikes against Taliban forces. Instead, Comer says the president has created a situation where the Taliban does not fear Biden, damaged the international credibility of the United States, and demoralized the military.
Comer concedes Afghanistan would have eventually fallen to Taliban control no matter what President Biden or any other president might have done during a troop withdrawal. Still the Congressman says it’s embarrassing that the American military couldn’t contain the Taliban.
“These are a bunch of guys with flip flops and bare-footed on the back of little old Toyota pickup trucks going down the road about 30 miles an hour with rifles and sling shots, and we couldn’t take them out?” he says. “It’s just a terrible day in the history of America.”
Given the turmoil in Afghanistan and other problem spots around the world, Comer says he’s concerned about an attack on the U.S., especially from cyberterrorists.
“We have a superior military, we have an inferior cyber defense system in the United States,” he says. “We’re not even in the top 10 countries from a cybersecurity standpoint.”
Comer contends the U.S. has been “outflanked” by third world countries that couldn’t afford a traditional military, but can support a cadre of hackers who can infiltrate and damage American computer networks and systems. He says the nation still lacks a plan to strengthen its cyber defense systems.
Future Plans
Earlier this month Comer squelched rumors he might run for governor in 2023, saying that, for now, he is happy to be in Congress, especially since is in line to become chairman of the House Oversight Committee if Republicans regain the majority in the House next year. Comer says that panel has more jurisdiction than any committee in Congress, which he contends is crucial to addressing, waste, fraud, and mismanagement in Washington.
“From a good government standpoint, there’s nothing that I could do anywhere that would be more beneficial to the 1st district of Kentucky, all of Kentucky, [and] America than be chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee,” says Comer. “We’ve got to take a stand and get spending under control, and that’s what I want to do.”
