Karen Harned is President of Harned Strategies LLC, a legal, regulatory, and public affairs consulting firm.  

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Harned has over 35 years of legal, policy, and public relations experience. She began her career as Assistant Press Secretary to U.S. Senator Don Nickles of Oklahoma. She then worked as an attorney for seven years at a boutique food and drug law firm representing small and large businesses and their trade associations in Congress and before federal agencies. 

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For over 20 years she served as Executive Director of the NFIB Small Business Legal Center, building it from the ground up. She was responsible for leading NFIB in two historic, precedent-setting cases before the United States Supreme Court – NFIB v. Sebelius (challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act) and NFIB v. DOL (challenging President Biden’s vaccine mandate). 

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Harned is a recognized expert in small business issues, federal regulation and the regulatory process, labor law, and constitutional law. She has testified numerous times before the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate on regulatory and legal policy and its impact on small business. In addition, she testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary in support of the nomination of then Judge Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court.  

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Harned frequently authors opinion editorials and has appeared on Fox News, Fox Business, NBC Nightly News, CNN, CNBC, and MSNBC, as well as National Public Radio, CBS Radio, and radio outlets across the country. 

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Harned received her B.A. from the University of Oklahoma and her J.D. from The George Washington University National Law Center. Harned is a registered lobbyist and is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia.