As top White House officials criticized the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci — including a top aide sharing a mocking cartoon — four former directors of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have penned an op-ed warning that “undermining” science and the “willful disregard for public health guidelines” is “leading to a sharp rise in infections and deaths” from the novel coronavirus. “The four of us led the CDC over a period of more than 15 years, spanning Republican and Democratic administrations alike,” Tom Frieden, Jeffrey Koplan, David Satcher, and Rich... 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, introduced today the SAVE Jobs Act to help provide relief to America’s energy industry and save American jobs caused by the pandemic’s economic downturn. “This pandemic has affected more than Americans’ health,” said Burgess. “America’s energy independence and position of global leadership in energy is being threatened by COVID-19. This legislation will help energy producers continue to pay their workers and invest ... Read More »
by Zachary Brennan Some of the pharmaceutical companies developing Covid-19 vaccine candidates have pledged to not take a profit. But neither the companies nor the U.S. government bankrolling a great deal of the vaccine research has defined precisely what forgoing a profit means or how long that will last. And that’s feeding skepticism and uncertainty among industry watchers and doubts in Congress about who will end up paying what could be a very large tab. Some lawmakers want to make the vaccine companies live up to their “nonprofit” promise — or at least to guarantee that any profits are not... Read More »
July 9, 2020 Dear Friends, Today, the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce held a hearing on “Consumers Beware: Increased Risks During the COVID-19 Pandemic.” My questions centered around how technology is being used to help address COVID-19 issues. To this end, I recently introduced H.R. 6928, the Advancing 3D Printing Act. We have seen numerous innovative uses of 3D printing. The University of Miami is completing a project to 3D print 1,000 nasopharyngeal swabs per day. The University of Minnesota is developing a 3D printing technique using motion capture to ... Read More »
by Dr. Marc Siegel My father, who is 96 years old, felt suddenly fatigued back in March with some shortness of breath and fever. He laid down on his couch and said he didn’t think he was going to get up again. He has heart disease and a pacemaker, and his cardiologist weighed the options and agreed to start him on hydroxychloroquine. He was much better within a day. I made the same decision in several patients with COVID-19 or suspected COVID-19 in my practice over the first few months of the pandemic, after prescreening them for risk of heart rhythm abnormalities. I understood that the benefi... 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 today’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that The Little Sisters of the Poor, a Catholic charity, cannot be forced by the government to act in violation of their religious beliefs. “Today’s Supreme Court decision protected our First Amendment rights,” Burgess said. “The Constitution protects religious freedoms, and the government has no business requiring an organization to go against... Read More »
July 7, 2020 Dear Friends, This morning, I joined Mark Davis to discuss the latest with COVID-19 and what this fall might look like. National Updates The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization for the third combination diagnostic test that will help differentiate between flu and COVID-19 viruses in individuals, in order to help health care providers prepare for the upcoming flu season amidst the pandemic. The Department of Health and Human Services(HHS) and Department of Defense (DOD)announced a $1.6 billion agreement with Novavax, Inc.to fund manufacturing of... Read More »
by Brian Trusdell Loud noise environments may increase a person’s risk for contracting the novel coronavirus, nine-term congressman and doctor Rep. Mike Burgess told Newsmax TV on Tuesday, because it causes people to move closer than the 6-foot "social distancing" suggestion to be heard. Burgess is a 69-year-old Republican who has three decades as a doctor in North Texas and represents Texas’ 26th Congressional District in the northern section of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He was reacting to claims, such as the one from the World Health Organization earlier in the day, that "emerging evidence... Read More »
