Today, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the Fiscal Year 2006 Energy and Water Development Appropriations, and the Science, State, Justice and Commerce Appropriations conference reports. Congressman Michael C. Burgess voted in favor of both conference reports. “I am very pleased that these worthy projects will receive funding,” said Congressman Michael C. Burgess (TX-26). “When fighting for precious federal, taxpayer dollars, I knew I had to be accountable for picking projects that were... Read more

Madam Speaker, the path to a free and democratic Iraq has been dangerous and protracted. Yet, after years of oppression, the Iraqis are closer than ever to having a nation ruled by their people instead of a tyrant. For the safety of our Nation, I believe we must continue to support the sovereign actions of this developing nation. Current news headlines are showcasing the trial of Saddam Hussein and what danger accompanies that activity. His trial is important, but a strong, independent Iraqi jud... Read more

Mr. Speaker, indeed, tomorrow this House will hear the debate on the budget resolution, and I think the country needs to hear the debate. I think the country needs to see that all of us in Congress, on both sides of aisle, are accountable. They need to see that we are results driven. We are results oriented, and they need to see some success from this body. Now, our commitment, my commitment is to the hard-working Americans who pay taxes in this country. I think we have an obligation to the tax... Read more

And with that I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess), who, by the way, last August joined with me over in Iraq where we saw some extraordinarily interesting things, one who performs so well for the people from Texas. Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for organizing this hour, for being here. I know the gentleman has been a little bit under the weather, and I was concerned about his voice holding up for the whole time, but I am so glad he was talking about this issue. Mr.... Read more

Opening Statement Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. Hearing on Pandemic Flu November 8, 2005 Mr. Chairman, I believe that this hearing comes at a pivotal moment as our government gears up to address a potential pandemic influenza outbreak. On November 1, President Bush outlined broad principles of a national strategy to prepare for the risk of pandemic flu. Secretary Leavitt, I am especially interested to hear from you about lessons learned from your trip overseas to areas already hard-hit b... Read more

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess) is recognized for 5 minutes. Mr. BURGESS. Madam Speaker, we heard the chairman of the Appropriations Committee come to the floor and speak about his bill that he has introduced to fund preparation for a possible pandemic flu outbreak, and I thought it might be useful to come down to the floor and just review some of the reasons that scientists are concerned about this outbreak of avian flu in the... Read more

Mr. BURGESS. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for bringing this topic to the floor tonight and for including me in the discussion. In the Spanish flu outbreak in 1918, one of the observations was, instead of the very young, the very old and the infirm who were the victims of this illness. It was, in fact, young people age 28 to 45 who appeared to be the primary victims of this illness. Undoubtedly, part of that is related to the fact that we do not have any underlying immunity to this diseas... Read more

By: Phuong-Khanh Jessica Nguyen-Trong Congressional Health Care Fellow in the Office of U.S. Representative Michael C. Burgess (Texas-26) Not a newscast airs today that does not talk about the spread of avian flu. Is that attention warranted or has the threat been over-hyped? Attention devoted to this issue has certainly brought this virus to the forefront of everyone’s thoughts. It is significant to note that avian flu refers to viruses that only infect birds. In this particular instance, the v... Read more

STATEMENT FOR THE RECORD - MICHAEL C. BURGESS ENERGY AND AIR QUALITY HEARING NATURAL GAS AND HEATING OIL FOR AMERICAN HOMES November 2, 2005 First, I want to thank Chairman Barton for convening this hearing today. I think today's hearing will do a good job of breaking down the natural gas and home heating oil supply chains. We did something similar following Hurricane's Katrina and Rita to break down the supply chain for gasoline. As we discussed during our hearing last week, the EIA expects ho... Read more

Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, this morning the President at the National Institute of Health outlined his plan for dealing with pandemic flu should this illness jump from birds to people. The President outlined a plan that essentially covered three areas: to be able to detect the outbreak of avian flu anywhere in the world; stockpiling vaccines and medicines; and the response from both the local, State, and Federal level. To be able to detect the outbreak of avian flu anywhere in the world is going... Read more