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Congressman Bill Johnson has a vision for his next term with Donald Trump as the “new sheriff in town.”

Johnson, R-Ohio, visited The Times Leader on Tuesday. He reflected on his accomplishments thus far and discussed his plans for his fourth term in Congress.

During his first three terms, Johnson authored seven bills that were all signed into law by President Barack Obama and co-sponsored hundreds of other pieces of legislation. He is proud to have authored legislation that provides funding for veterans’ medical facilities, funding to change the legal definition of “trauma” so that burn centers can get grants and a bill to put President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s D-Day landing prayer on the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.

“As far as accomplishments, I’m not sure how many lawmakers over the past six years since the Republicans took the majority in 2010 can say that they’ve had seven bills signed into law by President Obama. I have also been working hard on regulatory reform so that energy development can progress. I led the effort in the House to push back on the president’s war on coal because it is very, very real,” said Johnson. “We have lost thousands of jobs as a result of the drawdown in the use and production of coal. And we’ve been largely successful at stymying the efforts to shut down the coal industry. But it’s been an everyday challenge to do that.”

He said he has been on the front lines of making sure that government overreach and excessive regulation do not extend to hydraulic fracturing.

“We have been making sure that agencies like the Bureau of Land Management, for example, that tries to impose a one-size-fits-all hydraulic fracturing set of regulations that overly restrict it (have a hard time doing so). The EPA wanted to use that same template to regulate hydraulic fracturing on private lands, and we were successful in pushing back on that issue,” Johnson said.

Other legislation Johnson had signed into law concerns the BLM and federally owned lands. Titled the BLM Live Internet Auctions Act, the law allows live bidding of onshore oil and gas lease sales, opening up the market for many more bidders. The first BLM Live Internet Auction took place Tuesday and involved 1,600 acres in Ohio’s Wayne National Forest.

“Before this legislation, bidders had to be present and everything had to be done on paper. Therefore, only a very small segment of the population could participate,” Johnson said. “This legislation will make it easier for Ohio companies to create and expand jobs — Ohio companies that hire Ohio workers.”

Johnson also addressed cuts to local government funding for villages and cities across his district, which encompasses most of the rural Appalachian region of Ohio.

“That is a state issue, not a federal issue. Unfortunately the governor and the state legislature don’t need my vote so they don’t ask me my opinion on things like that. … Seventeen of my 18 counties voted for Trump in the primaries over Kasich. That should let you know what people in my region of the state think about what’s going on over in Columbus,” said Johnson.

Johnson added that the people of his district often feel forgotten by both Columbus and Washington, D.C., and it has taken him six years to convince his constituents that he is actually fighting for them. He said he advocates for and helps local entities obtain grant money for work force and economic development from the state, whether it be through writing letters or making phone calls for them.

“To help with local funding and development, we have pushed for the Haliburton Act, named so because Dan Haliburton who works for me came up with the concept. When federal energy development takes place on federal land, say, Wayne National Forest, right now any revenue that is generated goes to the federal government. Those federal lands don’t support the tax base in those counties. Those counties that have federal lands on them, their tax base suffers. … We came up with legislation that would take 20 percent off the top of the gross revenues from energy development on federal lands to go directly back to the county to be used for infrastructure, schools and those kinds of things. We will be pushing this legislation strongly after the first of the year,” Johnson said.

Johnson mentioned his work with RG Steel in Mingo Junction and his work with PTT Global Chemical, which may build an ethane cracker plant at Dilles Bottom. Johnson said he dealt with the bankruptcy judge when RG Steel first closed and helped negotiate terms that would make it easier for the plant to eventually be sold and used again.

“We have been heavily engaged with state and federal regulators in regards to PTT Global Chemical. It is a $5 billion project that will employ 10,000 construction workers and provide 1,000 permanent jobs. It is the biggest construction project in the history of the state of Ohio,” Johnson said of the proposed cracker.

In his next term, Johnson said he plans to focus on regulatory reform and tax reform. He said he receives complaints from business owners across the district about the “onerous burden” of regulation, and about the burden of excessive taxation.

“There is a new sheriff in town, as the old cliche says, and regulatory reform will be on his menu. Regulations take $2 trillion out of the economy each year,” he said. “We also need to let people keep more of their money. Our high corporate tax rate is making us non-competitive on the world stage. We will allow for the return of coal and innovation in energy that is market-driven, not subsidized on the backs of the taxpayer.”

He mentioned that the trend in Europe is going to a higher mix of fossil fuels, because it is much more inexpensive and will help drive economic growth.

“I am a member of a group of called The Problem Solvers — No Labels. It’s a group of Republicans and Democrats. We leave our political ideology at the door. We focus on areas where we can find agreement,” Johnson said. “Those areas are in line with what the president-elect has said.”

Johnson outlined the four main goals of the group, which are energy security and independence by 2024, balancing the federal budget and a plan to relieve the national debt by 2030, creating jobs and securing Medicare and Social Security for the next 75 years.

Johnson also talked about the importance of lowering health care costs and repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act.

“We must focus on quality, competition and choice. The market is what drives innovation and ingenuity,” he said. “I am encouraged that Mr. Trump chose Tom Price, a former practicing orthopedic surgeon who knows the health care industry in and out, to be the new Health and Human Services Secretary. After the ACA is repealed, its replacement will not be 30,000 pages long that no one can read.”

He concluded by saying that the two basic duties of the president of the United States are to provide for the national security as commander in chief and to execute the laws enacted by the legislative branch, not to take action on behalf of regulatory executive agencies.

“You can shrink the federal government by doing massive and intense regulatory reform. We are $20 trillion in debt. Imagine if $2 trillion each year was going back into our economy. … I think we need common-sense regulations. … Regulations should address public safety, public health and national security. Beyond that, why don’t we let the states deal with regulations,” he said.

Johnson has represented Ohio’s 6th District since he was first elected in 2010. In November he defeated a Democrat challenger, Belpre Mayor Michael Lorentz, and was elected to his fourth term.