Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch--confirmed

On April 7, the Senate approved the nomination of a ninth judge to the US Supreme Court, Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch. After months of hearings, background checks, and meetings, he was confirmed by the Senate by a vote of 54-45.

I was honored to support Associate Justice Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court. He is a jurist with a proven record of interpreting the law as the law, not personal opinion. In his career as a judge for the 10^th Circuit Court of Appeals, he decided over 2,700 cases, 97 percent of which were unanimous. Ninety-nine percent of the time, he decided with the majority, even though the majority of judges were appointed by Presidents Carter, Clinton, and Obama. Associate Justice Gorsuch is the definition of a mainstream jurist and strict constitutionalist.

Associate Justice Gorsuch was sworn-in on Monday, April 10 and has taken his seat on the bench as the Supreme Court hears arguments during its spring term. Justices will write decisions throughout the remainder of the spring, and most decisions from this term will be handed down by July.

CLICK HERE to read more.

House debates healthcare reform

Small business regulatory bill

In March, I introduced a package of regulatory improvement bills, including the Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act. I’m honored by the outpouring of support from over 185 national and Oklahoma industry groups, which have urged Congress to pass the commonsense legislation. I couldn’t agree more.

If passed by Congress and signed into law by the President, the bill would require agencies to consider all costs and the cumulative burden of regulations and to hold real and meaningful conversations with small business owners before issuing new regulations. To read more about the enormous and disproportionate federal regulatory burden on small businesses, CLICK HERE.

Our economy continues to move very slowly, which means fewer jobs and fewer pay raises.In fact, over the past 15 years, our economy has remained flat. To get a different result, we need different policy. Simplifying our tax policy, keeping our regulatory policy consistent, and controlling healthcare costs may be the best way to promote an American private-sector growth economy once again.

CLICK HERE to read an op-ed I wrote on this topic. 

International tension

From Syria to North Korea, there is a lot happening internationally. At the beginning of April, the US launched an airstrike in Syria following the brutal chemical attack on innocent Syrians directed by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Assad is a ruthless tyrant who kills his own people and breeds terrorism throughout the Middle East. No one should expect the US to ignore a dictator who commits war crimes and uses chemical weapons against his own people. It’s time for the international community to join the US and demand that Assad step down and allow the refugees scattered around the globe to return home and pursue peace.

To read more about the chemical attacks, CLICK HERE. To read my statement about the airstrikes, CLICK HERE.

This week, I met with Senators at the White House to discuss the Trump Administration's change in America's policy related to North Korea. For decades, every American president has said we cannot have a nuclear North Korea. China also has a policy that the Korean Peninsula should remain denuclearized. But everyone knows that North Korea is steadily moving toward developing nuclear missiles. The Administration somberly laid out the case to change international policy to effect a change in North Korea's behavior. At the White House, we walked through the intelligence information and the detailed outline of the Administration's plan. It was clear that the Administration does not want a military conflict, but they were also clear that the United States does not accept North Korea's pointing nuclear missiles at the United States. Much like the Cuban Missile Crisis under President Kennedy, when America faces a future nuclear threat, America must de-escalate the crisis before millions of people have to live every day in fear of a rogue regime. CLICK HERE to watch a Fox News interview I conducted on this topic. 

In the past few months, I have met personally with key leaders from Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Israel, and South Korea. We should continue to work diplomatically for peace and our national interests.