Media

This week, as the Planned Parenthood investigation continues, members of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and the U.S. House overall, continue efforts to protect infants.

Today, the House Committee on Veterans Affairs advanced multiple bills to help improve the Department of Veterans Affairs to ensure efficiency and effectiveness for our nation's Veterans.

Included in the legislation was Congressman Bilirakis's bill to authorize a survey of GI Bill users about their experience in choosing a school and the adjudication of their claim by VA. This legislation continues his ongoing efforts to improve educational opportunities for Veterans.

Here in Washington, D.C., on this somber anniversary, my colleagues and I face a unique series of votes regarding a foreign policy pact like none I have encountered before. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a product of many months of negotiations between Obama Administration officials and other world leaders, will have a lasting impact well beyond this Congress and Obama's presidency. This international gamble will affect generations of Americans and Middle Easterners hoping to live in a more peaceful world.

Today, the Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Health reviewed six bills to strengthen Medicaid for our nation's most vulnerable. As part of our effort to improve Medicaid efficiency, we discussed my legislation, H.R. 1570, the Medicaid and CHIP Territory Transparency Act. H.R. 1570 would require the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to include similar information on the Medicaid and CHIP Programs in the territories on its website as it provides to the states.

When it comes to generating jobs and rebuilding the American economy, no single factor is more important than access to reliable, low-cost electricity. It is the fundamental building block of high-tech industry and the competitive advantage that many U.S. firms have used to hold steady against foreign competition.

That's why threats to the reliability and the affordability of energy are particularly dangerous. That's also why conversations about the future of energy are more important than ever for power providers and their customers.

More than 500,000 Floridians are living with Alzheimer's disease — the sixth-leading cause of death in the country. This degenerative disease destroys the brain by killing nerve cells and tissues until all functions are affected.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans with the disease are women according to the Alzheimer's Association, while 13 million women are suffering or caring for someone with Alzheimer's, making the disease not only a public health crisis, but also a woman's issue.

Today, the Obama administration denied Governor Rick Scott's request for a federal disaster declaration for multiple counties in Florida, including Pasco, Pinellas and Hillsborough. Congressman Bilirakis has been a tireless advocate for the victims of flooding in his district, proactively engaging all levels of government to provide relief to those in need.