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Republican U.S. Rep. Ben Cline is seeking reelection to a fourth two-year term in Congress. He served 16 years in the Virginia House of Delegates prior to being elected to Congress in 2018, and got his start in politics as an aide to his predecessor in Congress, former U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte. Cline grew up in Rockbridge County and graduated from Lexington High School in 1990. An attorney, he and his wife Elizabeth, also an attorney, live in Botetourt County with their two daughters.
As for what his objectives would be over the next two years, if he’s reelected, Cline said, “Our part of Virginia has very specific and important concerns that need to be advocated for in Congress. We are among the nation’s largest agricultural producers, we have one of the most critical commercial highways running the length of our district, and we are home to more colleges and universities than nearly any other district in the country.”
He noted that there “are varied and diverse interests that have a critical impact on the lives of the people living here. I am running to make sure they, and all of my constituents, have a voice in Congress. Tackling high inflation and our country’s out of control debt crisis are top priorities. These two issues go handin- hand. Record spending and money printing by Democrats in Washington have devalued our currency and sapped the buying power of our wages. With Republican majorities in Congress, we will get our fiscal house back in order and secure a stronger economy for the future.”
Asked what steps can be taken at the federal level to improve public education, he responded, “Local parents, teachers, and school boards are far more effective at determining what is best for local school children than the federal government. The most impactful step the federal government could take to improve public education would be to relinquish the power and money that has been accumulated by, and serves, bureaucrats in Washington back to states and localities.”
He declared that “the results of a top-down education system have been a disaster. While spending on bureaucrats and administrators has skyrocketed, test scores have remained stagnant or fallen for decades. No one cares more or has a larger stake in a child’s education than his or her parents. Put the power back in their hands and give them the freedom to make the best choices for their children’s future.”
On the prospect of human-caused climate change, Cline remarked, “Having a healthy environment is important to so many aspects of our lives, namely to our food supply which is dependent on clean air and water. Humans can have a negative impact on the environment, but we have also taken major strides to curtail pollution and preserve our natural habitats. Conservation and stewardship are important components of our regulatory policy. It is important, however, to consider the impact that regulations have on our agricultural producers and respond to their feedback. Environmental policy must also be targeted to achieve actual results, not to simply appease alarmists. Be wary of those who espouse the only path to achieving a clean environment is to give up your freedoms and money to the government.”
In Congress and on the campaign trail, Cline has spent a lot of time talking about immigration and border security. “Legal immigration, which allows individuals who wish to come to America in order to contribute to our society, makes our nation stronger,” he commented. “Immigrants benefit so many sectors of our economy from medicine to manufacturing to agriculture. We cannot, however, excuse those whose first act when entering our country is to break our immigration laws. It is important on economic and national security levels to track and vet the people coming to America. It is unacceptable for migrants to avoid legal ports of entry and evade border security.”
He contends that “Four years ago, our southern border was secure. Policies enacted by Republicans kept out bad actors while fairly processing legitimate asylum seekers. These safeguards have been intentionally dismantled by the Biden-Harris administration and over 8 million people – a population the size of Virginia – have poured across the border. At its peak, as many as 10,000 migrants a day were entering the country illegally.”
He continued: “The resulting spike in devastating crimes like drug smuggling and human trafficking is entirely the consequence of the actions of Democrats to make our border less secure. Republicans passed HB2 nearly two years ago which would reinstate important safeguards like ‘Remain in Mexico,’ which kept individuals seeking to migrate to America on the other side of the border until properly vetted. Signing this bill into law would instantly solve the border crisis.”
On the issue of the integrity of U.S. elections, Cline said, “Americans deserve to feel confident in the security of their elections. Actions like those taken by Democrats in Virginia to remove the requirement for a photo ID in order to vote undermine that confidence. Just this year, an initiative by the Youngkin administration uncovered and removed thousands of non-citizens from the voter rolls here in Virginia. Yet Democrats on the federal level opposed the SAVE Act which would ensure that only citizens vote in our national elections.”
