E-Newsletters
This week, a bipartisan commission is scheduled to release its recommendations for balancing the budget by 2015. Congress should take a look at their recommendations and implement the best ideas.
There are reminders everywhere in Missouri that fall is beginning to wind down. Deer season has begun in earnest. High school football playoffs are reaching their pinnacle. The harvest has mostly been reaped. As we prepare for another winter in Northwest Missouri, it is time to give thanks.
Today, my House Republican colleagues and I passed an historic ban on earmarks for the next Congress. The election earlier this month provided definitive proof that the American people are tired of the record levels of borrowing and spending in Washington, and they want Congress to change the way it spends the people's money.
I've gotten a few questions about the "lame duck" session of Congress and what it means going forward. A lame duck session takes place during the time between an election and when the new Congress is seated in the new year. Between 1940 and 2008, there have been 15 lame duck sessions.
I have long supported increasing the renewable fuels standard to at least 15 percent ethanol. Just last week, we learned that E-15 (15 percent ethanol mixed with 85 percent gasoline) will now be available for use in 2007 model year or newer cars. An ongoing study will determine later this year if it can be used in cars from 2001 to the present.
It seems like almost every week since Obamacare was signed into law we've learned of a new way that the law will cost more than we were told, eliminate private coverage for those we were assured could keep it and hurt small businesses in ways we were promised it wouldn't.
When it comes to trade, China doesn't always fight fairly. For years now, the Chinese government has continuously undervalued their currency, the yuan, against the U.S. dollar. They do this so they can flood the American market with cheap Chinese goods at prices far lower than their American equivalents.
Late last evening, the House passed a Continuing Resolution (more on that below) and closed up shop more than a week earlier than scheduled. By leaving Washington early, the Congressional Leadership has missed an opportunity to stop the largest tax increase in American history from taking effect on January 1 when the tax relief packages of 2001 and 2003 are set to expire.
For too long, the voices of the American people have been ignored in Washington. While Americans have been speaking out, the current leadership in Washington has carried out a job-killing, big-spending agenda that doesn't reflect the priorities of the people.