Madam Speaker, today I sent, along with Representative Scalise of Louisiana, a letter to the United States Army Corps of Engineers supporting Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal's request for an emergency permit to dredge and build sand barrier islands. The United States Corps of Engineers must conduct an environmental assessment before granting the State a permit to build the barriers.… Read more »

Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to recognize Denton County, Texas and members of the Denton County leadership delegation who are visiting here in Washington, D.C. this week. These local officials and business leaders understand that what goes on here in Washington affects their local communities. So this trip, this trip they make every 2 years, is a very important one. Over the next several… Read more »

Mr. Speaker, last week, our committee on Energy and Commerce, the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, held the first of what is likely to be many hearings into the events going on in the Gulf of Mexico. So far, the hearings and investigation have been decidedly ``asymmetric.'' My committee demanded and obtained thousands of pages of documents and testimony from the four… Read more »

Mr. Speaker, how many times did we hear during this past year, year and a half, ``If you like what you have, you can keep it''--talking about health insurance, talking about your doctor. We even heard the Presidential candidate of 2008 who eventually won the Presidency, ``If you like your doctor, if you like your insurance company, nothing about my law will require you to change that.''… Read more »

To view the video of the special order, click here. Mr. CARTER. I thank you for yielding, Madam Speaker, and I thank you for this night so that we can get together and talk about something that is still on the minds of almost everybody in the United States because, quite frankly, even though this bill has passed both Houses of Congress and even though it has been signed into law by the… Read more »

To view the video of Rep. Burgess' 1-hour special order, click here. This afternoon I thought we'd talk a little bit more about the health care bill that was passed by this House last month because it is an important subject and one that continues to cause problems across the country. Almost anyplace you go, people want to ask you questions about, Why did you do this bill, and what does… Read more »

Rep. Burgess delivered a 1-minute speech on the House floor outlining the negative effect health care reform will have on American businesses: Mr. Speaker, tomorrow we were to have a hearing in my Committee on Energy and Commerce about the companies in the United States that restated their earnings as a result of us passing the misguided health care bill last month. These companies were performing under requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission and under the Federal Accounting Standards Board. Read more »

To view the video of the floor speech, click here. To learn more about Rep. Burgess' flat tax proposal, go to /flattax/ Mr. Speaker, it is April 15. It is the day that we file our taxes, or in some cases we submit a request for an extension. In the interest of full disclosure, I did submit a request for an extension, not because--well, I will tell you, when I was practicing medicine… Read more »

Rep. Burgess delivered a 1-hour special order outlining to the American people some of the flawed provisions in the Senate bill, include provisions he intends to work to repeal. Read more »

Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-Texas), Chairman of the Congressional Health Care Caucus, took to the House floor to read letters he has received from Texas state officials, medical associations and a growing list of other constituencies who oppose the Democrats' health reform bill. Burgess read letters from Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, Texas Governor Rick Perry, Texas Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst, Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives Joe Straus, Texas State Senator Tommy Williams, the Texas Medical Association, and also read a list of medical associations representing over 500,000 physicians, all express strong opposition to the Democrats' health reform bill and urging Members to vote "NO." Read more »