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.
