On Thursday, Oct. 5, Newport’s district representative in the United States House of Representatives, John Joyce M.D., spoke at the high school.
Joyce was elected to Congress in 2018 and is currently in his third consecutive term. Nancy Bull, district director to Joyce in his Chambersburg office, reached out to social studies teacher Mr. Barlup for Joyce to speak at the school as an educational opportunity for interested students.
Joyce spoke to a small group of students who chose to listen to him 8th period that day in the auditorium. He used his time to introduce himself to the students, explain his role in Congress, and define some of his beliefs and viewpoints. In his talk, he described himself as a moderately conservative Republican who uses his experience as a doctor to make decisions on some issues. At the end, Joyce opened the discussion up to questions from the students.
While discussing the energy debate, Joyce highlighted some of the benefits of electric cars while explaining the limitations. When asked by a student his thoughts on it, Joyce also explained that he believed in term limits for congressional members and participated in legislation supporting it in the past.
He also discussed recent issues in the House of Representatives, including the dress code policy regarding Pennsylvania senator John Fetterman and the vacant seat of Speaker of the House. Joyce elaborated on the scope and significance of these issues and his stance on them.
Many students participated in the Q and A, and Joyce answered questions about energy, politics, and his times meeting Joe Biden. Joyce gave the last question to Mr. Barlup, who asked about Joyce’s vote against the recent budget legislation. Joyce defended his position, saying that then Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy did not provide enough time for him and his comembers to review the legislation. Furthermore, upon reviewing the legislation in the time provided, Joyce explained that he found a passage about a pay increase for members of Congress, to which he is adamantly opposed.
Mr. Barlup commented, “I thought the presentation and his question-and-answer period were very informative for the students. It was great to see our elected representative, one of only 17 in our state, and hear his views.”
As another part of their trip, Joyce and his staff donated books from the Library of Congress to the middle and high school library. These were excess copies of nonfiction and historical books including Philadelphia Architecture: A Guide to the City, The Gates of Athens by Colin Iggulden, and Baker’s Student Encyclopedia of Music, among others. Being donated copies, they will be permanent residents of the middle and high school library.
“I was pleasantly surprised to learn Representative Joyce donated several books,” said business teacher and media specialist Mrs. Wagner, who had been out that day on the Renaissance Faire field trip. “The variety of books fits well with our school’s selection and even fills in some gaps for our library.”
With the help of his support staff, Joyce handed out pamphlets to the students at the end of the period that describe his role in Congress and his various services for members of his district, including applications for federal grants, visits to Washington D.C., and appointments to the nation’s service academies.
Joyce is the representative of the 13th congressional district of Pennsylvania, which contains parts of 11 Pennsylvania counties and all of Perry County. Pennsylvania has a total of 17 congressional districts.
Joyce has 6 offices across his district and in Washington. The number for his Washington office is 202-225-2431. For more information on Representative Joyce’s policies and services, Joyce has an active website at https://johnjoyce.house.gov/.
