Moving Solutions & Tackling Challenges

With a myriad of diverse and important challenges before the nation, the House took several steps last week to tackle those challenges and move real solutions forward.

As I’ve written many times lately, there is a growing and disturbing threat posed by the terrorist ISIS army in Iraq and Syria and more generally the chaos, violence and instability occurring around the world. These circumstances have emerged in no small part because of the vacuum that occurs when America fails to lead. We’ve called on the president to put forth a strategy to explain how he plans to reassert American leadership and protect Americans and our interest in the face of terrorism and tyranny. As promised, I carefully considered the president’s recent proposal – particularly his call to arm Syrian opposition forces to battle ISIS on the ground in Syria.

In light of what is known, and particularly what is unknown, about the nature of opposition forces in Syria, I voted against a proposal offered last week that authorizes the training and equipping of Syrian groups. The amendment did pass and was included in a larger spending bill that Congress sent to the president’s desk for his signature. While I believe we need to combat the threat of ISIS and more importantly have a coherent strategy of engagement, I do not have confidence that the president’s current strategy is one that can effectively and competently address the crisis brought on by ISIS and ultimately be successful.

On the domestic front, the House of Representatives passed two key pieces of legislation – H.R. 4, the Jobs for America Act, and H.R. 2, the American Energy Solutions for Lower Costs and More American Jobs Act. These bills encompass a number of policy initiatives aimed at strengthening America, lowering energy prices and enhancing economic opportunity across America.

In putting together these solutions, we started with the simple premise that Americans know how to create jobs and opportunity, how to build up our communities and secure a brighter future. Every day, folks all across this country are doing just that and doing their part to make America stronger and their families more secure. By standing on the side of workers and entrepreneurs, we are moving solutions forward focused on tax reform, regulatory reform, policies to encourage the hiring of veterans or giving workers relief from onerous Obamacare mandates.

Additionally, America has vast energy resources, innovative technologies, and the entrepreneurial spirit to pursue an all-of-the-above energy strategy that will lower energy costs, enhance economic growth, job creation and our national security. The energy solutions we have advanced will improve our energy infrastructure, enhance the production of American-made energy, protect against misguided regulatory overreach and allow the United States to utilize our energy resources as an asset in our diplomatic arsenal.

We are focused on policies that will grow opportunity in America while lowering the cost of living for families and the cost of doing business for job creators.