by George Cahlink When the Deepwater Horizon oil spill occurred in 2010, Texas Republican Rep. Michael Burgess was the ranking member on the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. "We all became junior petroleum engineers in a pretty short period of time, but I was very much on the firing line when Ed Markey and Henry Waxman went after every petroleum producer in the country with an inclination to shut [offshore drilling] down," Burgess recalled in a recent interview with E&E News. He pointed out how the Democrats' regulatory push — including from then Reps. Markey o... Read More »
The Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance (MITA) and several other stakeholders in the Medicare imaging space penned a letter to congressional leaders urging them to intercede in proposed cuts to Medicare rates paid for medical imaging procedures. The signers of the letter, a group that also includes the American College of Radiology, stated that the 2020 Medicare physician fee schedule (MPFS) already encoded an adjustment for fees for evaluation and management (E/M) services that reduced rates for some services due to the budget neutrality requirement, which intersected with the COVID-19 pand... Read More »
Washington D.C. -- Energy and Commerce Committee Republican Leader Greg Walden (R-OR), Health Subcommittee Republican Leader Dr. Michael Burgess (R-TX), and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Republican Leader Brett Guthrie (R-KY) sent a letter to the Comptroller General of the United States Gene Dodaro to request a technology assessment of COVID-19 contact tracing apps by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). “In the U.S., contact tracing apps have primarily been offered by states. Not much is known about the challenges various states may be facing in implementing the use of thes... Read More »
Washington, D.C. – Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), a member of the House Rules Committee and Republican Leader of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, was joined by Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler for a fireside chat to discuss the success of the EPA. "During this president’s tenure, his administration has taken significant steps to reduce pollution. Since 2017, emissions of pollutants have fallen seven percent. Also, we have seen greenhouse gas emissions fall two percent in 2019 even with a booming economy. Yet the avera... Read More »
Washington, D.C. – Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), a member of the House Rules Committee and Republican Leader of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, was presented with the Congressional Management Foundation’s Democracy Award for Transparency and Accountability. This award recognizes Congressional offices who that have enhanced constituent relations and accessible information about their work and performance. "My priority since coming to Congress has been to provide open and transparent reporting of my work product. It is an honor to have the recognition for bei... Read More »
October 9, 2020 Dear Friends, The National Institutes of Health announced 25 awards under the National Cancer Institute, creating the Serological Sciences Network for COVID-19, the nation’s largest coordinated effort to study immunology and COVID-19 in the United States. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent a warning letter to Battelle Memorial Institute for failure to comply with regulatory requirements for medical device reporting as specified in the Emergency Use Authorization for the Battelle Critical Care Decontamination System. The FDA updated the dashboard on the Coronavirus Tre... Read More »
Washington, D.C. -- Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), a member of the House Rules Committee and Republican Leader of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, released the following statement after Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s press conference announcing that she was having legislation introduced to establish a Commission on Presidential Capacity to Discharge the Powers and Duties of Office and invoke the 25th Amendment. "The Speaker just cannot help herself. She is caught up on the results of an election that happened almost four years ago. That is not good for our country es... Read More »
Washington, D.C. – This weekend, Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), a member of the House Rules Committee and Republican Leader of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, joined a Newsmax special to discuss the President’s COVID-19 treatment, which has not only benefitted the president as he navigates this illness, but been helpful for all Americans. Highlights here: “[The apparent success of certain drugs in treating the president] creates enormous capital, not just remdesivir, of course the regeneron polyclone antibody that he received Friday evening. That of course w... Read More »
Washington, D.C. – Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), a member of the House Rules Committee and Republican Leader of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, told Maria Bartiromo Monday morning that there is irony in Senate Democrats finding excuses not to have a hybrid hearing for the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. More Highlights here: Should the Senate hold a Supreme Court nomination hearing? “They [the Senate] can proceed with hybrid hearings now, but the Constitution doesn’t say anything about judiciary committee hearings, it says the Senate s... Read More »
Washington, D.C. – Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), a member of the House Rules Committee and Republican Leader of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, joined Minority Whip Steve Scalise in honoring Congressman John Shimkus last week. Remarks as prepared for delivery: Madame Speaker, I rise today to talk about my friend, John Shimkus. John is the embodiment of a statesmen. His life is the definition of service and protecting the Constitution – a graduate of West Point, served in both the U.S. Army and U.S. Army Reserves, and as a member of Congress. For over a deca... Read More »
