Third District Congressman Chuck Fleischmann believes he has finally turned the corner with his constituents in his expansive, 11-county district, which ranges from the Kentucky border to the Georgia border.
After three bruising primary battles, and a near defeat to Weston Wamp in 2014, the Chattanooga Republican says he has “grown into [the] job,” earned the traction that previously eluded him and that his poll numbers have never been higher.
“My numbers wouldn’t be as good if I hadn’t performed,” Fleischmann said.
By “performed,” he is referring to helping secure more money ($36-$37 million in fiscal 2017) to continue work on the new Chickamauga Dam lock, gaining additional funds for nuclear cleanup in Oak Ridge and elsewhere, attempting to tie Chattanooga in with the work going on at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and helping return 76 acres of Tennessee land to its original Cherokee Indian owners.
Fleischmann also says he is proud of an anti-Islamic State measure he sponsored that recently was folded into a broader domestic terrorism bill. He also defends his “aye” vote on an omnibus bill approved last December that wrapped together a number of smaller appropriations bills into one vote.