This week, I was joined by my husband, Brian, and our three kids, Cole, Grace and Brynn, as I took my sixth oath of office to serve as Eastern Washington’s representative in Congress. As I took that oath, I was reminded of why I serve: to make people’s lives better by advancing bold, visionary, and conservative solutions. And with a new Republican majority in the Senate and the largest Republican majority in the House since 1928, we are more prepared than ever to chart that course.
As Chair of the House Republican Conference, I am excited about the myriad opportunities we will have in America’s New Congress. At the same time, the responsibility is now ours – to govern responsibly; to advance positive, pro-growth, 21st century solutions to our country’s problems; and to restore the people’s trust in Washington.
But we are ready for the challenge.
Welcome to the 114th Congress – America’s New Congress. A Congress in which your priorities are our priorities. A Congress in which we will introduce legislation that strengthens the economy, holds Washington accountable to the American people, and addresses the problems facing all Americans.
America’s New Congress will promote policies that grow our economy naturally and organically, from the bottom up – instead of the old way, top-down, from Washington.
Let’s start with health care. The president’s health care law is a perfect example of what happens when Washington bureaucrats implement top-down policies rather than empowering individuals and local communities. Under Obamacare, Americans have seen skyrocketing premiums; they’ve lost their doctors and their coverage; and small businesses have been forced to lay off workers or reduce their hours in order to comply.
That’s why the House is acting immediately – in our first week back – to fix harmful provisions in Obamacare. We started by introducing the Hire More Heroes Act, which the House passed unanimously on Tuesday. This bill makes a commonsense change to encourage small businesses to hire more of our nation’s veterans. Under Obamacare, small businesses are hit with higher taxes and burdensome mandates, which discourage them from hiring. The Hire More Heroes Act exempts certain veterans from being counted toward the employee limit under the president’s health care law.
Today we will consider H.R. 2575, the Save American Workers Act. As the law currently stands, businesses must provide health coverage to full-time employees. Under Obamacare, the definition of “full-time” is 30 hours a week – so small businesses, local schools, and restaurants have begun reducing the hours of their employees to below 30 hours to avoid providing health coverage.
The Save American Workers Act restores the definition of full-time work to 40 hours, so that hardworking Americans aren’t forced to seek a second job to afford their daily expenses.
Both of these bills passed the House last year with large bipartisan support. But in addition to hundreds of other bipartisan, commonsense bills, they sat idly on the desk of then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Not in America’s New Congress. This week’s legislative victories are just the beginning. The beginning of a new year, a new Congress, and a new direction for the American people.
In November, Americans sent an unequivocal message to its leaders in Washington: it’s time to solve our nation’s most pressing issues.
If the president and our Democrat colleagues are willing to work with us, we can rejuvenate our economy from the bottom up. We can advance pro-growth solutions to get people back to work. And we can make life better for people in every corner of this country.
That is why we are here. So let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work.
