Only one other Republican House of Representatives in the past 30 years has enacted more legislation into law in its first seven months.
So far in 2015, Congress has achieved the first significant Medicare reform in two decades, the most free market trade rules ever written and several key bills to help veterans obtain quality health care.
Recently a new veterans bill signed into law repeals a key provision in the president’s Affordable Care Act. Now local businesses will no longer be penalized for hiring veterans who already receive health insurance through the VA or Tri-Care.
This new law also enables the VA to waive the wait time criteria for those who live within 40 miles of a VA community-based outpatient clinic that doesn’t feature a full-time physician on staff. This will allow more veterans access to primary care through the Veterans Choice Program.
Finally, the measure allows individuals eligible for veteran’s benefits to contribute to a health savings account to make it easier to pay for future procedures.
Another veterans bill passed by the House makes it easier to remove poor performing VA employees, and provides new protections for whistleblowers who report fraud and abuse at the VA. While there are many good employees at the VA, the scandal and poor use of taxpayer resources continues to grow. It’s simply unacceptable, especially given the sacrifices our veterans have made for our freedom and security.
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Have you heard about the EPA’s new global warming rule? The controversial power plant regulation will eventually close down nearly half of key generating plants in Texas, driving up electricity costs for families and businesses. And even supporters admit these new regulations will do little to impact the natural cooling and heating cycles of the earth.
Higher carbon costs mean higher monthly fuel bills. This will put an added strain on hardworking taxpayers who have seen their paychecks stagnate or even shrink during the Obama economic recovery – the slowest recovery in half a century.
The new red tape will increase energy costs across the board as more efficient coal and natural gas power plants are shut down in favor of unreliable and expensive renewable alternatives. This will also give foreign competitors an edge over our Main Street businesses. Fewer local jobs also hurt college graduates, families and local businesses.
Embarrassingly, while Americans are being assured “the EPA knows best”, recently the agency incompetently dumped millions of gallons of toxic waste into a Colorado river. It’s an environmental disaster that has devastated local communities.
The EPA doesn’t know best, nor does it have the authority to pursue these damaging rules. The better way would be to work with industry, large and small, to use smart technology and reasonable deadlines to lower emissions and clean the air while growing the economy – not killing it.
Like many other ends-around the Constitution’s checks-and-balances, I and my colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives will fight this controversial rule with every tool available.
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Thanks to all who have attended one of our many town hall meetings. More are set for August, so check our Facebook or website for upcoming town halls.
U.S. Congressman Kevin Brady leads the Joint Economic Committee for House Republicans and is a senior member of the House Ways & Means Committee.
