Today, the Department of Labor released its April Jobs Report, and CNBC reports, “The U.S. jobs machine kept humming along in April, adding a robust 263,000 new hires while the unemployment rate fell to 3.6%, the lowest in a generation.” The last time unemployment was this low was December of 1969! Right now, the economy has far more job openings than unemployed Americans, and for the ninth straight month, we’ve hit 3% or above for wage growth.
While Republicans continue to push for pro-growth policies that improve Americans’ lives, Democrats are focused on a government takeover of healthcare, also known as Medicare for All. Additionally, this week the House majority passed a bill that would force the United States to stay in the Paris Agreement, which mandates onerous economic tradeoffs in favor of dubious carbon reduction strategies to combat climate change.
Wednesday, House Democrats brought to the floor H.R. 9, the Climate Action Now Act. This bill would block the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and require the president to develop a plan for the United States to achieve a 26-28% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions below 2005 levels by 2025. It is important to note that the Obama administration’s unilateral commitment to the agreement in Paris was made without a clear plan to meet its promises, without a full view of the costs to American consumers and without the opportunity to vote on or approve of it in Congress.
Similarly, the Climate Action Now Act is long on messaging and short on action. The bill does not require that the president’s plan to reduce emissions be implemented. Nor does the bill prescribe the scope or level of detail required in the plan. If the House majority is serious about addressing the issue of climate change, then its leaders would advance realistic, enforceable and economically palatable policies that would achieve that goal, likely with bipartisan support.
Republicans will continue to initiate serious, solutions-oriented discussions about how to address climate change through American innovation, conservation, adaptation and preparation. In fact, I recently joined Republican leaders in sending a letter to Speaker Pelosi requesting hearings on the Green New Deal so environmental policies can be debated further.
| Holocaust Remembrance Day |
On Thursday, I joined Congressional members of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council in a memorial event for Yom Hashoah in the U.S. Capitol, reading the names of Holocaust victims and lighting a candle in their honor. Yom Hashoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, is a day to recall the persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. Yom Hashoah marks the date on the Hebrew calendar of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, in which the Jews forced to live in the Warsaw ghetto resisted Nazi deportation efforts. It was moving to observe Holocaust Remembrance Day with survivor volunteers from the Holocaust Museum who tell their stories so that we can learn from history and never again see the destruction caused by such hateful anti-Semitism.
Autopilot spending is the main driver of our national debt, and by 2028, it will constitute a whopping 15% of our GDP. This is simply unsustainable. Reigning in runaway federal spending is particularly important when radical proposals like Medicare for All are on table, which conservative estimates project will cost $32.6 trillion over the first 10 years.
That’s why this week I introduced H.R. 2516, the Spending Safeguard Act which provides Congress with a comprehensive mechanism to take action when mandatory programs significantly exceed their cost estimates in the six-year window after their enactment. We need a clear-eyed view for all spending, and this bill implements commonsense reforms to safeguard federal programs for current and future generations.
| Victory for Religious Freedom |
Yesterday, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) finalized a rule that expands the range of conscience protection violations that can be investigated by the Office for Civil Rights. No health care providers should ever be coerced into violating their conscience or religious beliefs by participation in an abortion or other procedure they have a moral objection to. There has long been bipartisan recognition in Congress on the importance of conscience protections. However, until now, employees have had legal recourse for violation of only three federal conscience protection laws. The new rule gives HHS the mechanisms necessary to better protect individuals, health care entities and providers from being discriminated against for not participating in abortion, assisted suicide or sterilization.
Many Americans work in the health care field because they want to actively contribute to a culture of life. They take risks by swimming against the current of our culture and often face discrimination in the workplace by standing for what they believe in. For them, this rule is absolutely necessary. I applaud Secretary Azar and President Trump for their outstanding work on preserving religious freedom and protecting conscience rights when, sadly, our laws don’t require the protection of life itself.
Read more about the new HHS final rule for conscience protection here.
| 2019 Assistance to Firefighters Grant Workshop |
Numerous federal grants are available to local fire departments through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Next month, I will be hosting two workshops for fire departments to learn the basics of navigating the federal grant application process. Attendees will hear from Chief Jeff Cash of the Cherryville Fire Department and Assistant Chief Chris Klutz of the Piney Grove Fire Department about how to submit the strongest possible application. Click here for workshop details.
Crossed paths with Mayland Community College President John Boyd at the college’s plant swap on Saturday. |
Members of the Southern Crop Production Association came by to discuss agriculture issues in Washington. |
Lewis Ledford, President of the National Association of State Parks and former Sate Park Director of North Carolina |
Dane Alsabrook from the American Traffic Safety Services Association |
Next week, the House will consider supplemental appropriations in addition to legislation that reimposes Obamacare provisions in states that have obtained innovation waivers. I look forward to debating these issues and standing for states’ ability to implement affordable and patient-centered health care choices without the constraints of overreaching federal laws.
Sincerely,
