(WGHP) — The 119th  Congress began in January with a lot on its plate.

Issues range from Chinese and Iranian influence trying to bring down America to restoring the economy to dealing with natural disasters on each coast.

While much of America’s attention was diverted from the damage Hurricane Helene caused to the wildfires that were burning much of southern California, newly-elected North Carolina Congressman Patrick Harrigan insists the mountains of our state aren’t forgotten.

“The elected representatives from the North Carolina delegation have been very adamant in pushing forcefully on the federal government, even with President Trump, to say, ‘Do not allow the resources that are in western North Carolina to prematurely get transitioned to some other disaster area,’” Harrigan said. “I think we are dealing with a larger problem in the construct of where is all this money going to come from? We have potentially $150 billion disaster now in California. The disaster that we had in western North Carolina was exacerbated by the terrain. In California, it was exacerbated by state mismanagement, arguably on several different verticals of areas that they were responsible for. Regardless, who’s footing the bill for this? Because it’s hundreds upon hundreds of billions of dollars. This stuff is only getting more expensive, and we’re $36.2 trillion in debt … Everybody’s looking like this right now in terms of who’s going to be responsible, and the answer is there are no good answers because of the fiscal position that this country’s in.”

Harrigan replaced Congressman Patrick McHenry who retired. The new 10th district includes most of Forsyth County and runs west and south to include all of Yadkin, Iredell, Catawba and Lincoln counties.

Many people he represents use TikTok for either entertainment or even to boost their livelihoods. Harrigan’s predecessor McHenry voted against banning TikTok, and President Trump has shown signs he may not want to see it banned either, but Harrigan does not equivocate on the idea that it has to go as a national security problem.

“I think what President Trump is trying to do right now is to preserve American shareholder value and carve out some time for a deal to happen,” Harrigan said. “I don’t think that we can mess with our national security. I think that we need to provide for this country’s security against truly the greatest, most technologically advanced adversary that this nation has ever had in its existence. And I want people to understand that. And so we have got to be very intentional about what we do here. I would absolutely vote to ban TikTok if I had the opportunity to do it.”

The “hot” conflicts on America’s agenda include the war in Ukraine. Harrigan understands the need to support Ukraine but believes we’re going about it in the wrong way as we provide $2 million missiles to take out $50,000 Russian drones.

He says that’s an economic conflict we will lose and wants the US to emulate the way we helped the Mujahideen defeat the Russians in the 1980s by providing $8,500, shoulder-fired stinger missiles to take down $8 million planes and helicopters.

“History is never kind to countries that lose the economics of their conflicts,” Harrigan said. “They end up losing their conflicts … For a long time, we have just been putting good money after bad. Until we flip that paradigm and are producing and providing the low-cost solutions to our enemy’s high-cost problems, it’s not even worth investing in. And that’s not even just talking about Ukraine. That’s talking about our own industrial base … and how we need to start winning the economics of deterrence let alone the economics of conflict.”

But Harrigan believes the US military is in the right hands with newly-confirmed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

“I’m thrilled that he’s our defense secretary,” Harrigan said. “What I want the American people to understand is that we’ve historically picked from an elite political-military class for our secretary of defense. And that has not worked in our conflicts in the last 30 years. We do not have a general officer in the inventory of the Department of Defense that has won a conflict on behalf of the United States of America. So if we actually want to start winning … We have to do something different. And I think Pete Hegseth is a great representation of something different.”

See more from Harrigan in this edition of The Buckley Report.