This column would ordinarily be for the week of March 28, 2016, but we have prepared it ahead of schedule in anticipation of Easter.
Peace
When the House of Representatives is in session in Washington, D.C., members of the House Republican Conference meet regularly to discuss legislation on the floor that week or in coming days, longer-term strategies, etc. I believe these… Read more »
Bureaucratic Accountability
When will Washington bureaucrats who do wrong be held accountable? We all know of the investigation into Lois Lerner, the former Director of the Internal Revenue Services’ (IRS) Exempt Organizations Division who was at the center of the IRS targeting scandal where she appeared to have been involved in targeting political groups for ideological reasons,… Read more »
EPA’s War on… Stock Cars?
As Ronald Reagan might say, “there you go again.” Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations impact many aspects of our economy such as energy, manufacturing, agriculture, etc., and it seems the agency may now have our hobbies and pastimes in its crosshairs (See bottom of column on how to have your voice heard at the EPA).
Members of my legislative… Read more »
Making Our Voices Heard
I often hear in the district that we get outvoted by those living in Northern Virginia. While the Fifth, Sixth, and Ninth Districts comprising Western and Southside Virginia cover more land, these districts have approximately the same number of people as Northern Virginia’s Eighth, Tenth, and Eleventh Districts. However, the Eighth, Tenth, and Eleventh… Read more »
Civil Liberties, Lawful Transportation of Firearms, and Accessing Public Lands
Last week, I successfully added an amendment to the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement (SHARE) Act (H.R. 2406), legislation introduced by Congressman Rob Wittman (R-VA-01) which protects Second Amendment rights and guarantees Americans ample access to federal lands in order to hunt, fish, and… Read more »
Brexit
On February 20, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that on June 23, a referendum will be held on whether Britain would remain part of the European Union (EU) or if it will depart and exit the EU, commonly known in the United Kingdom as “Brexit.” This announcement follows an EU summit in Brussels at which Cameron had renegotiated Britain’s membership in the EU,… Read more »
Justice Antonin Scalia
As you may know, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia passed away suddenly over the weekend. Justice Scalia was a clever, principled, incisive jurist and, by all accounts, was a great man. I join countless Americans in offering my condolences and prayers to his wife, family, and loved ones.
I have always thought Justice Scalia’s opinions were among the… Read more »
Fighting for Coal Regions
Whether you live in a coal-producing community, in a part of the district more directly reliant upon rail or manufacturing jobs, etc., recent years in Southwest Virginia and throughout Appalachia have been difficult. Unfortunately, life above ground is impacted when work stops underground as the result of the war on coal, the low cost of competitive fuel,… Read more »
Fast and Furious and El Chapo
Though it didn’t receive widespread coverage in the press, there have been recent developments related to Fast and Furious that I want to be sure was brought to your attention.
As you may recall, the Fast and Furious program was run through the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives ostensibly in an attempt to track the sale of weapons to… Read more »
Snow
Much of the Ninth District escaped the worst of the recent big snow – Salem, for example, unofficially received approximately a foot of snow, Covington unofficially got approximately 17 inches, and Independence got approximately 11 inches. The Washington, D.C. region saw snowfall in amounts around 20 inches and, as a result of “the severity of the winter storm in the D.C.… Read more »
