Washington, D.C. – Energy and Commerce Committee Republican Leader Greg Walden (R-OR) and Health Subcommittee Republican Leader Dr. Michael Burgess (R-TX) released the following statement after the House passed ten bipartisan health bills advanced by the Energy and Commerce Committee. “Finally, the Democratic majority advanced legislation that will help prevent ‘deaths from despair,’ something we know was long overdue and is so important, especially during the pandemic which continues to negatively impact mental health. Another bill passed today will help keep counterfeit medical devices – lik... Read More »
by Jeremy Dillon and Nick Sobczyk Bills could pass both the House and Senate this week in the push to enact a clean energy policy overhaul to address climate change and other concerns. Still, obstacles to the measures' becoming law remain high. The House is set to vote on H.R. 4447, a broad package unveiled this month, but there is creeping apathy among progressives for the legislation. The Senate's energy reform package, S. 2657, has been stalled for months and gaining momentum, but politics surrounding the new Supreme Court vacancy may affect its prospects. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on... 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, put out the following statement after learning about the death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. "Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg served the Supreme Court with the highest level of integrity and judicial influence. She followed in the steps of Sandra Day O’Connor and served as an inspiration to generations of women. Her longstanding friendship with Justice Scalia showed that partisanship doesn’t belong ... 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, praises the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for supporting President Trump’s Advancing American Kidney Health Initiative by finalizing rules that increase access to kidney transplantation and home dialysis and expand support for living organ donors. "Nearly 100,000 Americans are waiting to receive a new kidney. These patients have too few options for care and even fewer options for cures. The Centers f... Read More »
by Rep. Greg Walden Earlier this year, Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) and I found ourselves in a unique position to help the country respond to COVID-19 pandemic. In my role as the House Energy and Commerce Committee Republican leader and Rep. Guthrie’s role as Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Republican leader, we—along with Health Subcommittee Republican Leader Dr. Michael Burgess (R-Texas)—help oversee federal departments and agencies like HHS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Food and Drug Administration. This spring, we launched the Second Wave Preparedness Pro... Read More »
If you are old enough to remember dial-up, you can probably still hum the familiar cadence that took more than a minute to connect to the Internet through your phone line. Thankfully, Americans today can connect to the Internet in less than a second and without a theme song. We often refer to Internet services as broadband, but what counts as broadband and why is there still a “digital divide”? In the late 1990s, high-speed Internet was deployed for the first time. Twenty years later, the Internet seems ubiquitous in our daily lives. Yet, over 21 million Americans do not have broadband. Broadb... Read More »
Dear Friends, On the steps of the Capitol, House Republicans put forward their “Commitment to America”. The plan totals 150 policies that will RESTORE the American way of life, REBUILD the greatest economy America has ever seen, and RENEW the American dream. Americans want to defeat this Coronavirus, they want to know that their communities will be safe, and they want their Constitutional freedoms to remain protected. When outlining this plan, Leader McCarthy stated that House Republicans are ready to get to work. The plan that we have put forward is not a five/ten year plan, but a plan to ac... Read More »
September 16, 2020 Dear Friends, During this pandemic, the nation has seen mental illness and substance abuse disorders increase. It is important to maintain routine doctors’ appointments and seek help if you need it – whether that means reaching out to a health care professional in person or checking in via telehealth. In addition to a bill I co-authored on mental health in schools that passed the Energy and Commerce Committee last week, I was able to join Axios for an event on the state of medicine and chronic pain. National Updates: The National Institutes of Health(NIH) has launched two a... Read More »
by Dave Kovaleski House Republican leaders are seeking information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on how it plans to manage COVID-19 response efforts in addition to the flu and other respiratory issues this season. “We share your concerns about the unprecedented convergence of two highly contagious respiratory viruses that can cause life-threatening illness and death. Experts have noted that, in the upcoming influenza season, there could potentially be 100 million cases of influenza-like symptoms that could overwhelm current testing capacity. Health experts also note... Read More »
