By PHIL GOBLE JR. Managing Editor
The Mt. Airy News
U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx sat in front of a tough audience Monday morning, fielding tough questions with deft answers.
Then she and Principal Dennis Lawson applauded the sixth graders for being so prepared for her visit.
“Life is complicated and what happens in Congress is complicated and I hope I’ve helped you understand how complicated it is,” Foxx said in front of the entire sixth grade of Pilot Mountain Middle School.
Foxx, in her first term as a U.S. congresswoman, opened the 50-minute session with a short history about herself and her job in Washington.
“You all are fortunate to be in a small school in a rural community,” she said, noting that teachers in smaller community schools get a better chance to know the students and their families which, in turn, she said, makes them better teachers.
Foxx was born in New York City and raised in Avery County. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was a teacher and administrator at Appalachian State in Boone.
She was elected to state office for the first time in 1994 with Don East, who hails from Pilot Mountain. In 2003, when Richard Burr announced he was running for the U.S. Senate, Foxx was asked to run for his vacant seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“I was at a disadvantage because I was at the edge of the district and had no money,” she said, noting that several well-financed candidates from Winston-Salem were also in the race. Despite the obstacles, she won, becoming one of the 435 members of the House.
And she hasn’t stopped running.
“I’ve been so busy I haven’t even been in the Senate chamber,” Foxx said. “I’ve been to some events on that side, but never went into the Senate chamber.”
Foxx told the group that she learned a few things when she went to orientation for freshman representatives, such as there have been only about 12,000 people ever who served in the House, only 224 women have ever served (including 85 now) and the House is the only public office in America a citizen cannot be appointed to hold.
Foxx, the third woman to be elected to the House from North Carolina, is currently on three committees: Agriculture, Education Workforce and Government Reform.
She told the students she had two goals for her first term — “Not to do anything stupid in my first term to get in the news and, No. 2, get a substantive bill passed in the House and Senate.” She accomplished both goals, she said, noting her bill called “The Hero Act” was passed.
At that point, Foxx opened the floor for questions. She took 15 in the final 35 minutes of the session, and not all were simple queries. Students asked everything from the number of votes it takes to pass a bill to the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, immigration, what has Congress done to help education, what is Congress doing about gas prices and what part would Congress play in restarting a military draft.
At 11:25 a.m., the students left, many stopping to ask additional questions as they left.
Foxx followed the exit by visiting the cafeteria and having lunch before heading off to Winston-Salem.
