Harshbarger: ‘There is going to be a worldwide food shortage’

Published 4:25 pm Friday, April 8, 2022

U.S. Rep. Diana Harshbarger, R-Tenn., wants voters to understand how elections connect to the bigger world issues and, more importantly, to their pocketbooks.

Talking at the Chamber of Commerce Legislative Breakfast on Friday, Harshbarger said inflation is at its highest rate in 40 years, and the federal Democratic leadership is not addressing global issues that will increase issues for her Tennessee constituents.

“There is going to be a worldwide food shortage — stock up now. That’s my tip for the day because you see these prices rising and they are not going to come down any time soon,” she said. “And these gas prices? They keep borrowing I don’t know how many barrels of oil a day now out of the strategic reserve. The amount that it is going to cost to replace that is astronomical. That is meant for catastrophes and pandemics when you can’t get it.

“This is an election year and elections have consequences. Inflation matters because it hits you in the pocketbook. Food insecurities matter because that is food on the shelves and on the table.”

She pointed to the challenges faced by farmers across the nation. “Fertilizer is up 500% if you can get it,” she said. “We meet with farmers and farm groups, and I was talking with Congressman Allen from Georgia who is meeting with his peanut farmers and they are going to decide if they are even going to plant a crop this year. And the same with the beet farmers in Minnesota I met with,” she said. “Buy your peanut butter. You are going to hear a lot about food insecurity — that is going to be the buzzword. And there is a reason for that.”

Harshbarger several times reminded listeners that “elections carry consequences” which she illustrated from problems with the southern border, the situation with food insecurities, the Ukraine, and China.

She said that the number one security concern right now is the dependence on China. “We need to cut the funding off to China. That is the number one threat to this country. Quit letting Wall Street send them multi-billions of dollars to invest in things that we should be investing in this country. It’s called being self-sufficient — American made,” Harshbarger said.

Harshbarger also warned  that the United States soon will have a wide-open border. “I serve on the Department of Homeland Security in the House and I can tell you that 18,000 people per day is what is projected to come across the border,” said Harshbarger. “We saw 8,000 people each day on March 28 and March 29. We have COVID-19 under control in this country but when you allow 18,000 people per day into this country and they are not screened for any type of COVID-19 or any other health hazards and we don’t even know their criminal activity, that’s going to be a burden on you.

“When you ask them why we can’t just build a wall, you get no response. That will affect you as small businesses owners and as corporate executives in many ways … Tennessee is doing a great job protecting us and it is going to be the state that protects us and I am trying to stop the bleeding. What we do at a federal level is what I am trying to do to protect this district.”

Lastly, Harshbarger spoke on the war in the Ukraine sharing a story about a video she had received from a man in Tennessee who spent his own money to take several ex-military men with him to teach Ukrainians how to fight.

“And I saw the photos of those dead children,” Harshbarger said. “They are killing children — one every six minutes because of the indiscriminate bombings — elections have consequences.

“We have always been a country that has helped. I will vote for anything that will help them (Ukraine) to maintain their democracy. If they had sent lethal aide and cut the Russian oil off we would never had these war crimes and genocide and they are documented every day.”