News List

Energy and Commerce Update        As you know, I serve on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Many major domestic policy issues fall under its jurisdiction, from energy to telecommunications to manufacturing to healthcare and health insurance. This means that the committee always has a lot on its plate. I am pleased to report that it’s been hard at work… Read more »

Filibuster Frustration I have written often in this column about the modern filibuster/cloture rule. Unlike the classic filibuster, in which a senator might take to the floor for hours to speak on an issue, the modern rule allows a senator to put a secret hold on a bill without having to go to the floor to explain his or her objections. And under the rules, the motion to proceed to… Read more »

So Now What? The United States Senate is letting down the American people by failing to advance any solution for the disaster that is Obamacare. It has rejected its own repeal and replace plan, it has rejected the 2015 repeal, and in the latest failure, it rejected the “skinny repeal” plan What was the skinny repeal plan? It was a plan to repeal Obamacare’s employer and individual… Read more »

Congressman Griffith’s Ninth District STAFF will be available at the following locations during the month of August. August 1, 2017 Tazewell County: 10:00 am – 12:00 pm American Legion Building 226 Central Avenue Tazewell, VA 24651 Buchanan County: 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm Town of Grundy Offices 1185 Plaza Drive Grundy, VA 24614 Pulaski County: 2:00 pm – 4:00… Read more »

Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-VA) issued the following statement after the House of Representatives voted on his amendment to H.R. 3219 abolishing the Budget Analysis Division of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO): “While a majority of the House did not agree with my amendment, the debate succeeded in bringing scrutiny to the repeated failings of the CBO. Even colleagues who did not… Read more »

Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-VA), along with Congressmen Jim Jordan (R-OH), Mark Meadows (R-NC), and Scott Perry (R-PA), today submitted to the Rules Committee an amendment to the Make America Secure Appropriations Act of 2018. This amendment would abolish the Budget Analysis Division of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and transfer its duties to the Office of the Director through… Read more »

The Trouble With the CBO If you have been watching the news coming from Washington in recent months, you will likely have heard mentioned again and again “the CBO score.” The release of the CBO score on a federal legislative proposal is treated as a marquee event. When a score is released, it is treated by the media as the definitive cost assessment of a proposal’s impact. Because the… Read more »

A Better Deal for the American People On July 11, the General Services Administration (GSA) announced that it had called off procurement for a new headquarters for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The FBI has been looking for a new facility to replace the J. Edgar Hoover Building in Washington, DC. If you are looking for a project that highlighted Federal Government… Read more »

Strengthening NATO Before attending the G20 summit with the leaders of the world’s largest economies in Hamburg, Germany, President Trump visited Poland. When he gave a speech in Warsaw, an estimated 15,000 people, many waving American flags, came to listen. This crowd reacted enthusiastically to the speech. I am not surprised that so many Poles turned out with such excitement for a… Read more »

Independence and Southwest Virginia On July 4, we celebrate Independence Day, the anniversary of when 56 men pledged “[their] Lives, [their] Fortunes and [their] sacred Honor” by adopting the Declaration of Independence. We honor them on Independence Day, but in Southwest Virginia, their legacies can be found every day. One can simply look at a map to find them.* Two of the counties… Read more »