E-Newsletter

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 »

I recently chaired a hearing in the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee, in which we examined the effectiveness, and shortcomings, of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) foreign drug inspection program. Since 1955, the FDA has conducted international inspections on products regulated by the agency to ensure foreign facilities,… Read more »

I am often asked by friends and constituents how things are going in Washington. I have to say I am doing my best, but sometimes I get frustrated. We know that there can be partisan gridlock that slows things down in Washington, but right now frustrating and nonsensical decisions are coming from the Biden Administration. The way they decide policy reminds me of the Doctor Dolittle… Read more »