Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last week, our nation commemorated its 237th year of independence. As we celebrate each Independence Day, please remember the courage of our founding fathers. They took action by signing their names to one of the world’s most influential documents, the Declaration of Independence, which Americans hold dear. Also last week, while there was limited press coverage leading up to the Independence Day, the Obama Administration announced it was delaying the start date of the employer mandate in the president’s health care law until after the 2014 elections.
Delaying Employer Health Care Mandate
Late in the day on July 2, the Obama Administration announced it will delay the requirement, under the Affordable Care Act, that all employers with more than 50 employees provide health care coverage to their workers until after the 2014 elections. The president’s health care law is such a “train wreck” and so detrimental to our nation’s job creators that the administration is now delaying implementation of one of its central components.
This delay proves that the administration has come to realize the draconian effects the law will have on job creators and the American public. The administration’s delay, as implementation begins to unfold, reaffirms the fact that president’s health care law will harm employers, raise health care costs, and as a result, destroy jobs.
Furthermore, it appears that the administration’s decision was at least partially driven by politics as it delayed the start of this component until after the mid-term Congressional elections, presumably to avoid potential election year losses.
Since first being elected to Congress in 2010, I have voted over three dozen times to repeal, dismantle and defund the president’s health care law. Delaying implementation of this bureaucrat-controlled, budget-busting, job-destroying law will not solve the underlying problems of this ill-conceived move toward government-controlled health care.
I, along with my fellow House Conservatives, remain committed to repealing and replacing the president’s health care law with legislation that will focus on private-sector solutions with inputs from patients, health care providers, and health insurance providers. Hardworking American families deserve commonsense health care reforms that strengthen the doctor-patient relationship and give them a say in their health care.
Energy Legislation
One of the principal areas of focus in the House this summer is to promote American energy security. Alternatively, in late June, President Obama set forth an agenda that restricts American energy production. The president’s unproven climate change initiatives pile on more red tape and institute job-killing policies complete with tax hikes and higher energy prices for hardworking American families.
On June 27, the House passed the Outer Continental Shelf Transboundary Hydrocarbon Agreements Authorization Act. This legislation facilitates energy production along the U.S./Mexico maritime border in the Gulf of Mexico. It opens up nearly 1.5 million acres in the Gulf that is estimated to contain as much as 172 million barrels of oil and 304 billion cubic feet of natural gas. Allowing access to these reserves would expand U.S. energy production, create new American jobs, lower energy prices, and generate tens of millions of dollars in new federal revenue to reduce deficits.
The following day, on June 28, the House passed the Offshore Energy and Jobs Act. This legislation expands U.S. offshore energy production, implements a new five-year leasing plan for oil and gas drilling off the Gulf of Mexico, and ends President Obama’s defacto offshore drilling moratorium by once again opening selected areas off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Additionally, the bill establishes fair and equitable revenue sharing of offshore energy revenues for coastal states.
I was successful in adding an amendment to Offshore Energy and Jobs Act, which prohibits the president’s (2010) Executive Order to zone our oceans. Executive Order 13547 and its proposed National Ocean Policy includes an overreaching agenda that requires over 63 federal agencies, offices, and partnerships to work to zone our oceans.
The Obama Administration has decided to ignore Congressional concerns and has diverted scarce taxpayer resources to create the National Ocean Policy Implementation Plan. My amendment stops this by prohibiting agencies in the Department of Interior from implementing ocean zoning as mandated under the president’s ill-conceived and unconstitutional National Ocean Policy.
Additionally, the amendment requires transparency as it requires the administration to submit a report identifying what has been spent on this overreaching bureaucratic effort. We must stop these overreaching activities in order to protect our oceans and affiliated inland economies.
Both of these energy bills will help create over a million new American jobs, lower energy prices, grow our economy, and strengthen national security.
Military Whistleblower Protection
In late June, the House unanimously passed H.R. 1864, which expands whistleblower protections to those reporting crimes related to sexual assault in the military. This legislation requires military inspectors general to investigate claims 
that reports of sexual crimes lead to retaliation from others in the military.
Similar language was included in this year’s House-passed defense authorization bill. Rest assured that Congress remains committed to stopping sexual assaults in the military.
Honoring a Hero
On June 28, I paid tribute to another of our nation’s fallen heroes on the House floor. Army Lieutenant Colonel Todd Clark was killed in action in Afghanistan. During his Army career, he would serve on five separate deployments in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
At the conclusion of his current tour, Lt. Col. Clark’s next assignment was going to bring him back to Texas to become the executive officer of the Corps of Cadets ROTC Program at his alma mater, Texas A&M University. He will forever be remembered as an outstanding soldier, husband, and father. We thank him and his family for their service and sacrifice for our country.
Looking Forward
The House reconvenes this week to start a busy schedule during the month of July. During this time, the House will be continuing to work through various FY 2014 Appropriations Bills and to focus on American energy security. We will also continue to conduct vigorous Congressional oversight activities related to the ongoing administration scandals like IRS targeting, Benghazi, and similar problems.
As always, I encourage each of you to continue praying for our country during these challenging times, for our brave military men and women, and for our first responder personnel, all of whom selflessly serve to protect us each day.
