Word came down Thursday evening from the House Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats: “The joint hearing of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations and the Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment entitled 'The Role of the Interior Department in the Deepwater Horizon Disaster,' scheduled for Tuesday, June 29, 2010 has been postponed. A new date and time for the hearing is… Read more »

When it was brought to my attention last month that an internal audit showed that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) failed to inform local officials in a timely manner of new air quality data collected at sites in North Texas, I took issue. On April 30, at my request, TCEQ officials briefed me in my Lewisville office on concerns I was hearing from North Texans on air quality. I specifically asked whether any air quality data showed abnormal results or should be cause for alarm. I asked, “Are there any red flags?” I was told there were none. Unfortunately, that response was not accurate. Now there are questions that TCEQ needs to answer, and the public is right to demand accountability. Read more »

Leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee today asked the Interior Department for documents related to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. In a letter to Interior Secretary Salazar, the lawmakers are asking for documents from the Minerals Management Service that concern the review of the well construction and preparation procedures associated with the drilling operations at the… Read more »

Five days after calling for an investigation by the Texas attorney general, U.S. Congressman Michael Burgess said Wednesday that such an investigation could duplicate efforts of the current sunset review of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. “I have determined that an investigation by the Texas attorney general’s office might not be the best course of action,” Burgess,… Read more »

The Colony High School became a microcosm of the nation's hot-button political issues on Saturday morning during a town hall hosted by Rep. Michael Burgess. Over the course of two hours, the Republican congressman from Texas' 26th District fielded a variety of questions from his constituents on topics ranging from illegal immigration to Washington, D.C.'s excessively partisan… Read more »

Westlake Academy graduated its first senior class Sunday, fulfilling a vision that town leaders had when the state's only municipally run charter school opened in 2003. One by one, 24 students crossed the stage at the Marriott Solana Hotel and were awarded their diplomas in front of a crowd that included Gov. Rick Perry; Texas Education Agency Commissioner Robert Scott; U.S. Rep.… Read more »

Although legislation that would require hospitals, physicians and others to disclose their prices has attracted some support in the U.S. House of Representatives, the pending bills may be stalled because of a key lawmaker's concerns about them. Each of the three bills would require hospitals to disclose more of their prices, but they diverge after that. The most sweeping measure would… Read more »

Congressman Michael C. Burgess has announced the winner of the 8th annual 26th Congressional District high school art competition, "An Artistic Discovery." Natalie Runnels, a sophomore at Marcus High School, won first prize with her pencil/prismacolor piece entitled "America's Ballgame." Natalie's work will be displayed in the United States Capitol complex for the coming year. A… Read more »

A new cost analysis of the health care overhaul law was issued this week. It was the third in as many weeks — and it won’t be the last. Two of the reports were requested by Republican lawmakers, part of a steady stream of inquiries to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and to the actuary for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) about the health care overhaul (PL… Read more »

Rep. Joe Barton, the ranking Republican of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and committee member Rep. Michael Burgess are scheduled to tour the oil spill site this afternoon as part of a nine-member delegation. For Barton, R-Arlington, and Burgess, R-Lewisville, the trip is a first-hand opportunity to survey the damage as the oil begins to wash ashore and the lawmakers prepare… Read more »