There is no doubt that Hurricane Sandy rendered unspeakable damage to lives and property on our East Coast. It truly represents one of the great natural disasters of recent history. For millions of our fellow citizens, the devastation has been unfathomable. We are a compassionate nation, and that is why this week the House of Representatives is taking up its second Hurricane Sandy relief bill.

Congressman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), Chairman of the House Republican Conference, appeared on Battle Line with host Alan Nathan, a nationally syndicated radio show on the Main Street Radio Network, on Wednesday, October 10th to discuss the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya in September. Below are excerpts from the interview.

Two years ago, I was one of 43 members of Congress appointed to the conference committee for the Dodd-Frank financial-reform bill. Along with others, I fought against the legislation and lost.After an all-night session, Democrats (who then held the House...

Yesterday was a bad day for freedom. I respect the Supreme Court’s decision, but I vigorously disagree with its core ruling. While the court was heard from Wednesday, the American people will be heard from in November.President Barack Obama’s health...

Congressman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), Chairman of the House Republican Conference, appeared this morning at a press conference with members of House Republican Leadership to address the state of the Obama economy in light of this morning’s report that the unemployment rate has risen to 8.2 percent, making May the 40th straight month that unemployment has been stuck above 8 percent.

The news of J.P. Morgan Chase’s recent trading loss has raised the cry of “I told you so” from proponents of the almost 2-year-old Dodd-Frank Act. They say the law’s Volcker rule would have prevented such a loss and that without more regulation, financial institutions will continue to make poor investment decisions. As an opponent of Dodd-Frank and one of many who have warned against the politicization of our economy, the threat of future bailouts and attempts by the government to eliminate risks, I also wish to say, “I told you so.”

Congressman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), Chairman of the House Republican Conference, appeared this morning on CNN’s Starting Point today to discuss GOP efforts to deal with our spending-driven debt crisis and the challenge posed by the president and Washington Democrats. Below are excerpts from the interview.

As President Barack Obama prepares to deliver his State of the Union Address Tuesday, it is important that Americans recall the record of his earlier promises before he makes new ones. Three years ago, we were told if Congress passed his administration’s priority legislation – the trillion-dollar “stimulus,” his heath care law and the Dodd-Frank Act – then the economy would recover and job growth would flourish. Now, with all the key elements of his agenda in place, where do we find ourselves?

All now know that the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction has failed to reach an agreement. While there will still be $1.2 trillion of spending cuts as guaranteed under the Budget Control Act, we regrettably missed a historic opportunity to lift the burden of debt and help spur economic growth and job creation. Americans deserve an explanation.

President Barack Obama visited Eastfield College Tuesday to urge support for his latest economic plan. If Congress were not in session, I would have personally welcomed him to Mesquite , but offered far less welcome to his economic plan. His original stimulus plan helped bring our nation record unemployment, record poverty and record deficits. We should have little confidence that Stimulus Two will yield different results.

WASHINGTON – Congressman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) – a leading conservative and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee – issued the following statement in response to President Obama’s State of the Union address:

WASHINGTON – Congressman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) – a leading conservative and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee – issued the following statement today upon passage of the “Require a PLAN Act” (H.R. 444) legislation he cosponsored that requires the White House to submit a balanced budget to Congress:

WASHINGTON – Congressman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) – chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and sponsor of the Sequestration Transparency Act – issued the following statement today in response to President Obama’s statement on sequestration:

WASHINGTON – Congressman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) – chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and formerly the number two Republican on the House Budget Committee under now Chairman Paul Ryan – issued the following statement regarding the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) release of its annual Budget and Economic Outlook:

WASHINGTON – Congressman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), a leading conservative and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, issued the following statement regarding President Obama’s failure to submit a budget to Congress by the statutory deadline yesterday:

WASHINGTON – Congressman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), a leading conservative and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, issued the following statement today regarding the latest unemployment report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics which found that the unemployment rate increased to 7.9 percent.

WASHINGTON – Congressman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) – a leading conservative and Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee – released the following statement regarding the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit's ruling on President Obama’s alleged “recess” appointments:

WASHINGTON – Congressman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), a leading conservative and Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, released the following statement on House passage of a bill requiring the Senate to pass a budget or forfeit pay.

WASHINTON – Current and former Chairmen of the Republican Study Committee Reps. Scalise, Jordan, Price, and Hensarling, today issued the following statement on the path to a balanced budget and controlled Washington spending.

WASHINGTON— U.S. Congressman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) issued the following statement on President Obama’s planned action on gun control. “My thoughts and prayers remain with the victims of the tragic shooting in Newtown, CT. As a father, I can think of no greater tragedy than kissing my kids goodbye as they go off to school and never seeing them again....

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...