Media

The clock is about to strike midnight on 2013. It has been an interesting year.

The biggest story of the year is the failure of Obamacare. Throughout all of my travel, from Tarkio to Hannibal and Kansas City to Kahoka, the number one concern I heard from constituents was uncertainty about how Obamacare would impact them personally. As we have seen in recent months, Obamacare just does not work, and the failed rollout and millions of cancellation notices have only raised more questions in the minds of Americans.

Throughout the course of history, the Christmas season seems to bring people together, even during times of war. For instance, in 1914, British and German troops stopped fighting during World War I while they decorated their barracks and sang Silent Night in English, French, and German.

Later, in World War II, battle was suspended on many fronts to tune intoopera star Ernestine Schumann-Heink singing "Stille Nacht." She had one son fighting for the Axis and one son fighting for the Allies.

It has become clearer than ever that Washington is out of touch with America. Too many bureaucrats and politicians don't understand the effects of the rules and laws they create.

You probably hear a lot about the gridlock in Washington. People say that nothing is getting done in this town. Yet in the House, we have acted on a number of fronts.

Since the beginning of the year, the House has passed 189 bills that were sent to the Senate for its consideration. However, of those 189 bills, only 41 of them have been signed into law. That means that the Senate has refused to even consider a total of 148 House-passed bills.

Just hours before Americans sat down to their turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce, news trickled out of Washington that the president's massive health care law was experiencing yet another setback. This time, we learned that the website for small businesses looking to purchase health insurance for their employees will be delayed for a whole year.

This week, we gather our families together to celebrate a day of giving thanks for our blessings. In his 1789 Thanksgiving proclamation, President George Washington called the occasion "a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."

In an essay on learning how to ride a bicycle, Mark Twain once observed that "the self-taught man seldom knows anything accurately, and he does not know a tenth as much as he could have known if he had worked under teachers."

Teachers play an essential role in our educational system. We rely on them to teach our children the skills they need to succeed in life. But we know that each teacher has a slightly different style in educating our nation's students.

We've heard the promise many times since 2008: "If you like your health insurance plan, you can keep it." In fact, we've heard it at least 29 times according to one report.