A project with bipartisan support that would create more than 15,000 jobs and reduce our dependence on oil from unstable countries may sound too good to be true, but it’s not. According to a recent poll conducted by Fox News, 70 percent of Americans say they support building the Keystone XL pipeline—including 57 percent of Democrats. Despite administration delays, last week, the State Department released its review of the Keystone XL project. The review raised no major objections to the pipeline... Read more

While hard-working taxpayers were worrying how the sequester will impact their communities, President Obama spent his Tuesday traveling on Air Force One trying to convince the American people that more tax increases are necessary. I simply cannot understand why the president would continue to play blame-game politics instead of meeting with congressional leaders during this crucial time. Government spending seems to be on everyone’s mind, except the president’s. According to the Congressional Re... Read more

In President Obama’s fifth State of the Union address, he highlighted his plan to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014. While I disagree with much of the president’s agenda, I do agree it is time to bring our troops home. I am also pleased with the president’s decision to give military leaders flexibility to phase troops out as they see fit. Since I was elected to Congress, I've had the great honor of visiting Afghanistan on two different occasions to meet with our troops... Read more

In his fifth State of the Union address, President Obama underscored the importance of creating jobs and promoting economic growth, addressing the upcoming sequester, making investments in education and infrastructure, and passing comprehensive immigration reform. While most can agree these things are important, unfortunately, the president’s speech focused on what divides us as a nation, not what brings us together. For example, the president blames House Republicans for sequestration, when all... Read more

Families across the United States have tightened their belts as a result of high unemployment and underemployment, a slow economic recovery and unprecedented uncertainty around their tax burden. What families do when faced with these challenges is set a budget and have a plan to deal with the uncertainty. With looming spending cuts from sequestration and major shortfalls predicted in our mandatory programs, President Obama and Senate Democrats still won’t tell Americans their plan to address the... Read more

During President Obama’s second inaugural speech and in the days since, he laid the groundwork for a very liberal agenda. He has called for a path to citizenship for immigrants in the country illegally, a cap-and-trade system to address climate change, and comprehensive gun control measures. The rhetoric was a stark contrast to his pre-November challenge to Republicans to put partisan politics aside and come together to do what’s best for this great nation. When you look back over the last four ... Read more

President Obama’s Affordable Care Act (ACA), which ironically is unaffordable, is also bad medicine for America. The president predicted that after passing the ACA premiums would be cut by $2,500, but instead the average premium has increased by more than $3,000. You’ve probably read about the 21 new taxes the law imposes and how the law cuts more than $700 billion out of Medicare to fund a new entitlement. But one of the worst parts of the ACA is one you may not know about—the creation of an en... Read more

Did you know that if the federal government completely zeroed out spending on national defense, education, foreign aid and infrastructure, we would still be operating in the red? The U.S. spent nearly $40 billion on foreign aid last year, and that’s just over one percent of our total spending. Even if we eliminated every last penny of foreign aid, the impact would be minimal. That’s because 62 percent of what your government spends is on autopilot. 2012 marked the fourth consecutive annual defi... Read more

Tennessee was recently named in the U.S. Business Policy Index as one of the twenty friendliest policy environments for small business and entrepreneurship in 2012. It’s easy to see why. First, we don’t have a state income tax. Second, unlike the federal government, Tennessee requires a balanced budget. This means that our state officials have to make choices about spending priorities, just like hard-working families do. Finally, we have right-to-work laws that encourage job creation and we don’... Read more

This holiday season, as we enjoy time with our families and loved ones, let’s all take a moment to say a prayer for those in Newtown, Connecticut. In difficult times like these, it’s human nature to search for causation and look for someone or something to blame, but we may never be able to explain the senseless tragedy that occurred last Friday. What we can do, however, is let Newtown know that we are a nation united in our mourning for the victims of Friday’s act of violence and that we are se... Read more