NATCHEZ — U.S. Rep. Gregg Harper (R–Miss.) said Monday the national media’s obsession with controversy is overshadowing the many accomplishments of this year’s Congress.

The congressman from Mississippi’s Third District spoke to local leaders, residents and business owners Monday during a legislative breakfast organized by the Natchez-Adams County Chamber of Commerce.

“The media is so toxic,” Harper said. “It is hard to get to the truth.”

Harper said more than 250 bills had been passed by the House this year.

“They have been good bills,” Harper said.

Many of the bills have yet to be taken up by the Senate, which tends to be slower to act, Harper said.

Success stories in Congress include 14 congressional regulatory reviews, which have struck down federal regulations that Harper said have placed an undue burden on business and industry.

During the meeting, Harper was awarded the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Spirit of Enterprise award for his pro-business voting record in Congress.

Executive Director of the Southeast Region Moore Hallmark presented the award.

During his presentation, Harper said the national economy is performing better than it has in the past, thanks in part to the good team of advisors President Trump has put together.

On foreign policy, Harper said the president has embraced policies in Syria, Afghanistan and, now, North Korea that “send a message to enemies that (he) means what he says.”

As a member of the digital commerce and consumer protection subcommittee, Harper said he has seen advancements in technology that will have positive effects on business.

Harper said he recently witnessed firsthand the future of self-driving cars.

“This is coming,” Harper said.

The congressman in his fifth term said he recently traveled down the interstate in Washington, D.C., in a car that drove itself. The car transported Harper and other colleagues along with a technician that monitored the trip.

Harper said recent hearings on the Internet of Things — the interconnection of computing devices in everyday objects — have demonstrated how technology can be used to do everything from performing real-time diagnoses of bridges and infrastructure to analyzing data on the battlefield.

Some of the technology is being developed in Mississippi, Harper said.

Harper also took the opportunity to answer questions about education and climate change.

When asked how the dismantling of public education by the current administration will affect the education of special needs children, Harper challenged the question.

“I don’t think the Trump administration is dismantling public education,” Harper said.

Harper has a son with special needs, and he said there are those who do not like Education Secretary Betsy Devos and her advocacy of charter schools.

Harper said he believes Devos is not trying to tear down the public school and is certainly not trying to affect the education of special needs students detrimentally.

When asked about climate change, Harper said he believes the president was right to pull out of the Paris agreement on climate change.

“The Paris accord was not good for the U.S. It assumed a lot of things that are not really there,” Harper said. “If I can’t trust a weekly weather forecast, how can I trust a 50-year model (on climate change).”

“The president was right to get us out of it,” he said.