E-Newsletter

Last weekend, I hosted my annual Service Academy Day at the New River Community College in Dublin.   I enjoy these events as they provide great opportunities for high school students, parents and educators to learn about Service Academies, Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC), and other programs.   I take pride in allowing students in Southwest Virginia to have… Read more »

One of my favorite movies has always been The Wizard of Oz. When my children were younger, I would often, in trying to teach them, recite the famous lines of the Cowardly Lion. “What makes the flag on the mast to wave?” “Courage!” “What makes a King out of a slave?” “Courage!” One day as I was driving, a little voice piped up from the car seat in the back.  “Daddy, has that… Read more »

While I travel throughout Virginia’s Ninth Congressional District, one of the opportunities afforded to me is visiting our local schools.   The Ninth District is big, comprised of twenty-eight cities and counties.   It is home to more than sixty high schools.   School visits allow me to talk directly with students and listen to their questions and… Read more »

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the United States has enjoyed status as the sole world superpower.   The defeat of the Evil Empire, coined by President Ronald Reagan, meant freedom could sound across the globe.   In 2024, those gains of freedom are under siege.   Challenging those freedoms as well as the leadership of the United States are a set of… Read more »

As we approach Easter, I am always reminded of one of my favorite stories from the Cold War, between the United States, the West and the Soviet Union. That story involves Soviet Communist leader Nikolai Bukharin. A Bolshevik revolutionary and member of the Politburo, Bukharin rose to great prominence in Soviet circles following the Russian Revolution of 1917. The Communist… Read more »

Recently, I attended a Republican Whip meeting where Tim Tebow and members of his organization stopped by to say hello to Members of Congress – Tebow was testifying the next day at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on child sexual abuse. One of the women who was with him was a familiar face, Camille Cooper, now the Vice President of Anti-Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation at the… Read more »

Everyone knows TikTok is the video sharing application (“app”) that people of all ages use, especially younger people. In fact, according to TikTok, 170 million Americans use the social media app. Unlike other popular social media sites (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc.), TikTok is linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In China, the Communist Party runs the government. TikTok… Read more »

Since coming to Congress, I have worked to find ways to protect and promote access to health care for rural Americans. One aspect of rural medicine I have tried to help on a federal level is pharmacies. For many in rural areas, visiting pharmacies and interacting with pharmacists is one of the most important points of access for health care in small towns and communities. Pharmacists are… Read more »

Soon it will be March and for many people, that means looking forward to celebrating St. Patrick’s Day on March 17th, the holiday honoring the patron saint of Ireland. However, a lesser-known holiday, St. David’s Day, celebrating the patron saint of Wales, is celebrated on March 1st. St. David was born circa 500 AD in Ceredigion, Wales, into an aristocratic Welsh family. He became a… Read more »

Recently, the House Administration Committee, of which I am a member, held a hearing on the use of private funding in our elections. Specifically, we discussed the use of “Zuckerbucks” (the name commonly used for non-government money spent on administering elections) in the 2020 presidential election, which has been a source of concern for many. As the country prepared for the 2020… Read more »