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They said it couldn’t be done. The naysayers swore up and down for the last 2 months that Republicans would never be able to get all 12 appropriations bills done to avoid a shutdown. Yet that’s exactly what we did this week. 

With the passage of the final funding bills we had left to take up, including critical funding for Transportation, Defense and Homeland Security, the House completed all 12 appropriations bills. As soon as the Senate acts, it will ensure there is no shutdown come January 30th, which is very welcome news.

“Milk. It does a body good.”

America is at its best when we get big government out of the way and give people the freedom to innovate and succeed. It’s when the government invades people's lives, starts dictating everything we do, and bureaucrats decide they know better than us that we see America at its worst. That’s why Ronald Reagan used to say, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.”

As we wrap up 2025, I’m reflecting on what has been a busy year and looking forward to what’s ahead. We’ve gotten much accomplished and I’m proud of the things that I’ve specifically been able to get done. After being named the “Most Effective Legislator” of the last Congress, the bar was certainly high for this year, but my commitment is to always work diligently to get important things across the finish line. To that end, there were several pieces of legislation that were signed into law this past year that are beneficial to North Missourians and the country.

Anyone who has ever built a road, undertaken a water project, or constructed a home knows that the permitting process can hamstring the whole thing. While permits do serve a purpose, there’s no need for them to be overly burdensome or cause massive delays, particularly at the federal level.

For too long, we’ve been kicking around “WOTUS.” Short for “waters of the United States,” it was originally supposed to lay out what was regulated under the Clean Water Act. However, the Obama Administration decided to weaponize it, and we’ve been fighting it ever since.

Imagine working 10 hours a day, 6 days a week, and being expected to be right 100 percent of the time. Not 99.9 percent of the time—100 percent of the time. You don’t get to choose which days you work, and that means you’re working a lot of Saturdays and Sundays while your kids are home and a whole lot of missed baseball, softball, and other sporting events.

Raising cattle sounds mighty easy until you get kicked in the gut by a thousand-pound steer.