In the News
Speaker Pelosi Should Allow Oil Exploration in ANWR
Since Last Friday, House Republicans have stood with the American people in a nationwide protest against Speaker Pelosi’s decision to adjourn the House for the rest of the summer without a vote on the energy solutions Americans are demanding.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – High gas prices are affecting Alabamians in more ways than one. With skyrocketing prices at the pump, high gas prices are causing many local families to postpone or cancel their annual vacations. High gas prices are also affecting our everyday day commutes and forcing us to make budget cut-backs to other luxuries and even some necessities. In addition, the high price of gas is causing the price of food to be on the increase. My wife, Caroline, reminds me of this quite often.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – You’re probably aware that Congress and the President are currently locked in a political debate regarding the future of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program or SCHIP. This has been one of the uglier fights I’ve seen since I was first elected to Congress; in large measure because Congress and the President have both lost sight of what is important in this debate: the future of health insurance for needy children.
As the father of two young children, I more clearly understand the difficulties parents face on a daily basis protecting their children.
One especially daunting task is monitoring and controlling what children can access on TV. Everyone remembers what happened during the Super Bowl halftime show several years ago where a female performer exposed herself on national television. From that experience, changes were made to the decency standards applied to broadcast television, resulting in less objectionable material being spread across the airwaves.
Recently the Washington Post published a series of articles detailing the care, or lack thereof, of soldiers and Marines in the outpatient care system at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. There’s no easy way to talk about what has happened at Walter Reed. There’s certainly no way for us to make it up to those who have been patients at the facility or to their families. Simply put, this is something that should not have taken place.
How many times have we seen a solution looking for a problem?
Democrats in the House of Representatives believe they’ve found a solution to lower Medicare prescription drug prices by allowing the federal government to negotiate their costs. But, examining the current situation, I would suggest that we should look to correct the existing program rather than create a new one as offered and passed by House Democrats January 12.
Two weeks ago, I attended the opening of a new photography exhibit in North Alabama observing the 5th anniversary of 9/11. Called Aftermath: Images of Ground Zero, it was an inspiring chronicle of the destruction and painstaking recovery that occurred in New York following the attacks. With all of the images that have been recorded from Ground Zero in New York, September 11 has been etched into our consciousness like few events before.
Although a world away, the dire situation in the North African nation of Sudan deserves our attention – and more importantly, our action.
I am now pleased to see action on this issue: just days ago, Secretary of State Colin Powell declared that genocide has occurred in the western Sudan region of Darfur.
“We concluded that genocide has been committed in Darfur and that the government of Sudan and the Janjaweed bear responsibility and genocide may still be occurring,' Secretary Powell testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
I know – from personally talking to so many of you – that I am not the only one experiencing sticker shock every time I pull up to the gasoline pump. Gas prices are at record-breaking highs – and prices are only expected to go higher as the vacation season kicks in.