E-Newsletters

On the day he was inaugurated America's 16th President, Abraham Lincoln addressed the nation during one of the most trying times in its history.

"We must not be enemies,” he said on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. “Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."

It's no secret that the priorities of the new presidential administration will be significantly different than they’ve been over the past eight years.

The military has been dangerously disrespected and underappreciated by President Obama's White House, and our veterans, active duty service members, and military families have felt the consequences the hardest.

There are a few things that I want to prioritize as Congress begins its work alongside President-Elect Donald Trump this year.

One is the full repeal and replacement of Obamacare. Another is the development of infrastructure and tax reform bills that can jump start the economy, bring certainty to markets, and set our country on the path toward a balanced budget. Third, and perhaps most important, is reversing all the damage done to our military and national security interests under President Obama.

There are 10,000 known diseases in the world. Somehow, even today, treatment only exists for 500 of those. That is a staggering number, but the House of Representatives and the Senate have been working together to give our healthcare industries the tools to fix it.

Last week, I helped pass the 21st Century Cures Act, a bill that streamlines the review of life-saving drugs, provides funding to continue researching cures for rare and deadly diseases, and accelerates critical therapies for at-risk patients across the country.

Voters sent a message to Washington and elected officials from across the country on November 8. They gave Republicans control of both Houses in Congress and the White House for the first time in a decade.

With that message comes a mandate, a mandate that we replace Obamacare, revitalize the economy, and continue working to shrink annual deficits. Something that goes with each of those principles, and one of the things I am most hopeful to accomplish with a Republican in the White House, is comprehensive tax reform.

This year I'm wrapping up my first term as a member of the House Armed Services Committee. In the committee I’ve had the opportunity to serve as a voice for our veterans, our military men and women, and all of their families.

It is the federal government’s top priority to take care of everyone who’s risked their lives to protect this country. But unfortunately, due to problems at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Committee has had to work to correct problems that never should have existed in the first place.

Election Day should be a time for Americans to celebrate, to reflect on what the right to vote really means for all of us. Regardless of the outcome of any single election, the fact that each of us has a choice, a say on the path our government takes in the future, is something no one in this country should take for granted.

Last week, 50 million Americans found out their healthcare costs will go up by more than 25% in 2017. Although this is reason to worry for everyone affected, it’s not surprising to anybody who’s paid attention to Obamacare since it became law.

The administration has failed to deliver on so many of the promises President Obama made before Obamacare was pushed through Congress in the middle of the night. You can’t keep the plan you liked. Your healthcare costs haven’t gone down. And you don’t have more options than you did before.