I’m proud to announce that this year I’ve been appointed to serve as the Republican co-chair for the bipartisan Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. I’ve served on the commission since it’s founding in 2008 and before that when it was the Human Rights Caucus. The commission’s mission is to make human rights a priority in Congress and bring attention to those suffering under governments who trample on individual rights. The Democratic co-chair of the Commission, Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), is someone who I’ve worked with for many years and look forward to sharing leadership with. To view my remarks from the House floor on the appointment, CLICK HERE.
Tucked away in the President’s budget unveiled on Monday was a line item showing that taxpayers had lost nearly $22 billion on the student loan program. The Affordable Care Act contained the legislation enabling the government to takeover all student loans. According to the Congressional Budget Office, this was supposed to bring in $61 billion over ten years to pay for Obamacare. Now, because of President Obama’s unilateral moves to change student loan payments, the program is losing money instead of paying money into the Treasury. It’s yet another Obamacare budget gimmick that has proven to be hollow.
This week, I re-introduced legislation to help speed new therapies to patients by giving the Drug Enforcement Agency a deadline to schedule substances. DEA bureaucrats have been waiting months before taking the Food and Drug Administration’s advice on substances that may have addictive properties. This has held up new therapies for epilepsy patients and others. I introduced this bill with Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Rep. Gene Green (D-TX), my new Democrat counterpart on the Health Subcommittee. Read more about the legislation HERE.
This week, the Senate tried three times to begin debate on the House-passed Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Bill. After years of blaming Republicans for being the party of “no,” Senate Democrats simply won’t even discuss the House Homeland Security bill. While there are plenty of moderate Democrats who claimed that they were upset about the President’s unilateral immigration orders, none have voted to consider the House bill. I hope that they will agree that this bill should be debated and amended if they don’t agree with our provisions. Simply refusing to engage isn’t an option.
This week, groundhogs across the country like Octoraro Orphie and Punxsutawney Phil got dragged from their homes and made to look for their shadow. But Groundhog Day is now more than a large rodent predicting the weather. It is also a byword for doing the same thing over and over again because of the 1993 movie named for the day. READ MORE

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	The Tenth Amendment   Rep. Pitts reads the Tenth Amendment as part of the House reading of the U.S. Constitution.
	Obamacare Hurts Local Schools Rep. Pitts speaks in support of the bill repealing Obamacare, noting that the bill is hurting local schools.