Freedom is not free – it comes at incredible cost. Throughout our nation’s history, whenever our country is attacked or when enemies of freedom threaten peace in our world, American men and women in uniform answer the call to defend...

As the son and grandson of farmers, I grew up working on my family’s farm. In fact, my first job was cleaning out chicken houses at the age of 12, so I understand that small farmers and ranchers face enough challenges. The last thing they need is unelected, unaccountable Washington bureaucrats adding even more burdensome federal rules. That is why I am pleased to report that—thanks to outcry from farmers and ranchers in East Texas and across the country—the Department of Labor (DOL) has withdrawn a proposed rule imposing a new, unnecessary, job-killing regulation that would have had a devastating impact on the economy of our rural communities.

I had the privilege last week to travel across the 5th District, visiting with constituents and hearing their concerns. One of their major concerns was the high cost of energy. East Texas families and job creators are struggling to fill up their pickup trucks and their cars. They are struggling to take their children to school and their elderly parents to the doctor.

This week, I joined several other Republican leaders on the House Financial Services Committee in sending a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner that expressed our strong opposition to “American taxpayer dollars being used to bail out Europe” and requested assurances that “taxpayer funds will not be used to subsidize Europe’s financial programs through additional contributions to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).”

For many years, the citizens of Henderson County and surrounding communities throughout America have celebrated the Christmas season with an array of decorations surrounding the courthouse square—including a traditional Christian Nativity scene. I have had the opportunity to visit the...

This week in Washington, the House passed the Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act (H.R. 1633) to ease the federal regulatory burden on farmers, ranchers and rural businesses in order to restore confidence and create jobs. I was proud to vote for this bill and enter the following statement into the congressional record.

Veterans Day is an opportunity to say ‘Thank you’ to the generations of patriots who’ve volunteered to protect our country and defend liberty. Today, and every day, let us never forget that Freedom is not free – it comes at...

As you are aware, our nation's health care and retirement programs are going broke while simultaneously starting to disserve their beneficiaries. Increasingly doctors are not accepting Medicare patients; we are seeing forms of rationing when it comes to access and quality. When it comes to Social Security, our children are due to put more money into the system than they take out. While the rate of growth for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid is unsustainable, we do not have to cut one penny from these programs to save them. All we have to do is slow their rate of growth if we want to solve our nation's structural debt crisis and ensure these programs are around for future generations.

This week, House Republicans continued our commitment to relieve job creators of excessive regulatory burdens, like those imposed by the EPA through its new Boiler MACT (maximum achievable control technology) rules, by passing the EPA Regulatory Relief Act of 2011 (H.R. 2250). The Boiler MACT rules unfairly threaten the operations of countless schools, hospitals, factories and other key employers in East Texas by forcing them to pay more and hire less as a penalty for simply owning certain heating equipment. With this bill, thousands of jobs will be saved as job creators will have one less roll of confidence-killing red tape to worry about.

Today, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that the unemployment rate continues to stall at 9.1 percent. Our nation’s prolonged jobs crisis is serious and somber but far from surprising. If the president had the opportunity to listen to the...