News List

From trucking to manufacturing, and from mining to local government, the negative effects of high energy prices are being felt across the board. In February alone, the price per gallon of unleaded gasoline rose by 12 cents. Read more »

From an event at the Tri-Cities Regional Airport to meetings in Covington, I made several stops across the 9th Congressional District this week. In Abingdon, I toured the Southwest Virginia Food Bank to see the good work they are doing in the community. I also participated in a roundtable discussion with the Mountain Health Alliance and heard about the concerns facing health care providers in the region. In Marion and Lebanon, I met with town officials to discuss local issues. Read more »

The House voted for something new in Washington – unprecedented spending cuts. Keeping in step with the Pledge to America, House Republicans put forth a plan to cut more than $100 billion in spending from the President Obama’s proposed FY2011 budget. Read more »

Amendment 109 is a time-out on the EPA. The EPA and its guidelines for the water quality coming out of mines issued on April 1, 2010 came up with a conductivity test – a test which did not go through the Administrative Procedures Act; a test which is relying on science, which is not yet fully accounted for or reliable Read more »

I’ve always heard that things move slowly in Washington. That may have been true in the past, but not this week. Read more »

What do spilt milk and oil have in common? Quite a bit, according to the EPA. In fact, a new ruling by the EPA would force dairy farmers to comply with the Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure Program when dealing with spilt milk – the same regulations oil and natural gas producers must follow. The EPA’s reasoning is that milk contains "a percentage of animal fat, which is a non-petroleum oil." It appears spilt milk is just as threatening as an oil spill. Read more »

Congress has the responsibility to legislate, not unelected bureaucrats. Today we won a victory by the concession of EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. She stated that the EPA would not create a cap and trade program for CO2 under the Clean Air Act. Read more »

It was good to be back in the 9th District this past week and a half. Read more »

Last week, 14 of my colleagues joined me in sending a letter to Chairman Mica of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which has direct jurisdictional authority over the Clean Water Act. Read more »

Americans want results, not just empty rhetoric. However, the President’s State of the Union speech did little to provide much needed certainty. We heard that he wants to freeze the budget, but still continue to spend on new programs. How can you freeze and spend without adding to the deficit? This ‘Houdini accounting’ defies logic. Read more »