The United States House of Representatives is charged by the Constitution with funding our government. Time after time we are faced with maintaining the status quo or using the power of the purse to reflect America’s priorities. Funding government programs should be done in a specific, targeted way that respects the will of the American people. This week the House of Representatives missed an important opportunity to keep tax dollars from supporting organizations that perform abortions and sell ... READ MORE
History was made this week when Pope Francis addressed a joint session of Congress and was the first Pontiff ever to do so. Some of the most poignant remarks from Pope Francis focused on the importance of religious liberty. His observations come during a time when the religious rights of millions across the world and here in America are being trampled. For centuries the United States of America has led the way on tolerance and religious freedom. More than 350 years ago, the first religious liber... READ MORE
In a series of disturbing undercover videos filmed and recently released by The Center for Medical Progress, we learned that Planned Parenthood employees may have adjusted abortion procedures without notifying patients in order to harvest baby parts to sell to the highest bidder. Planned Parenthood performs more than 325,000 abortions a year – that’s equivalent to the entire population of St. Louis. It’s horrifying. The videos show employees with a grave disregard for human life, and Americans d... READ MORE
This week, I voted to stop the dangerous deal the Obama Administration negotiated to lift sanctions on Iran. I voted to protect Americans from the global threat posed by a nuclear Iran, because this is not a Republican issue or Democrat issue; this is an American security issue. Iran is not a friend of the United States, and we should not enter into agreements with our enemies. The Iranian government is holding four Americans hostage, and those American citizens will not be returned with this de... READ MORE
America needs a healthy economy that puts folks in control and on the path to financial independence, but last week five unelected bureaucrats at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) made a decision to set our economy back and hurt job growth. The NLRB, a federal agency that oversees the organization of labor unions, opted to change the way employees at franchises like McDonald’s, Colton’s Steakhouse, or Anytime Fitness are characterized. This decision will have a devastating effect on smal... READ MORE
Why am I so tough on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)? Because this agency is supposed to protect the environment, but all it seems to do is protect radical environmentalists and make life more difficult for Missourians. Now folks in the west are being forced to learn a lesson that we already know – the EPA operates at the expense of you, the taxpayers. Earlier this month, the EPA caused a state of emergency by accidentally releasing three million gallons of toxic waste into a river sys... READ MORE
Twenty stops. 15 counties. 5 days. That’s the tally for the 3rd Annual District-Wide Farm Tour so far, a yearly trip to see different sectors of the agriculture industry in every corner of our district. The Farm Tour kicked off on Monday and will travel to each of the 30 counties in Missouri’s Eighth Congressional District before it is finished. It gives me the chance to talk with the farmers and ranchers that keep our rural economy moving. We are halfway through the tour, and I have already bee... READ MORE
By now, you have probably seen the disturbing undercover videos that show Planned Parenthood executives discussing how they sell body parts of unborn babies. It sickened and troubled me to hear administrators talking so callously about the dismemberment of babies – valuable, precious lives taken too soon. The videos were vile, and Planned Parenthood’s actions potentially violate federal law. Everyone, especially our unborn, deserves better than these heartless acts. It is time for the Department... READ MORE
The Obama Administration continues to hammer rural America with unnecessary, expensive regulations and rules. On Monday, the Obama Administration released the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan rule that calls for a massive reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. The plan has serious implications for Missouri, which gets 83 percent of its energy from coal power. This Clean Power Plan rule is just the latest in a long list of regulations that illustrate how ... READ MORE
This week, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to rein in federal agencies with legislation to bring all new major rules for a Congressional vote before implementation. The bloated Code of Federal Regulations is more than 175,000 pages long, and just last year federal regulators in the Obama administration issued 2,400 new rules. During Barack Obama’s entire presidency, the administration has only issued 17 rules that decreased regulatory burdens, but has added $80 billion in new regulatory ... READ MORE
