When Donald Trump was elected president, many East Tennesseans, including myself, were very hopeful that his agenda would result in job creation, economic growth and increased prosperity for millions of people who felt the previous administration had left them behind. The results have been even better than expected. Immediately, the president began working with Congress to repeal some of the most burdensome regulations enacted during the last months of the Obama administration. This sent a clea... Read more

For the past eight years, union bosses have held the upper hand over East Tennessee workers, as the previous administration tried to stack the deck in favor of unionization. The National Labor Relations Board and the Department of Labor combined to pursue an agenda that put union bosses and special interests ahead of the rights of individual workers and job creation. If there was any doubt the Department of Labor was pushing a partisan agenda, just look at former Labor Secretary Tom Perez’s new ... Read more

For the vast majority of Americans today, labor unions are a relic of a bygone era. The union membership rate has been nearly cut in half since 1983, down to about 11 percent of the workforce. Unions have fallen in size and popularity since their heyday in the middle of the 20th century, largely because they have failed to evolve with the times. And they haven't had to. Federal labor law remains largely unchanged since the National Labor Relations Act passed 70 years ago. The status quo protects... Read more

Our nation’s Constitution guarantees us certain inalienable rights, not the least of which is contained in its First Amendment: the freedom of speech. For years, college campuses have stood as a beacon to the ideal of free speech. As a Vietnam-era veteran, I saw first-hand how colleges and universities served as hotbeds for free speech and debate — some of which I vehemently disagreed with, in all candor. But, as a veteran myself, I fought to protect and defend this right to free speech, and as ... Read more

CO-OP failures put spotlight on ACA’s many shortcomings By Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.), M.D. Since 2009, I’ve warned that the president’s healthcare law would eventually collapse. As a physician, I had serious concerns about the Affordable Care Act; unfortunately, Republican doctors in Congress were shut out of the debate by the Democrat majority at the time. Since then, we’ve seen premiums and out-of-pocket expenses skyrocket for American families. The law that was supposed to help expand access to... Read more

Our visit to Afghanistan Over Thanksgiving, our bipartisan delegation had the privilege of visiting Afghanistan to honor our troops and to receive briefings on security, the political transition in Afghanistan and counter-terrorism initiatives. On Thanksgiving Day, we ate with the soldiers and got to meet with service members from our home states. We were welcomed with hospitality and professionalism, and given objective and important information on the status of the U.S. mission in Afghanistan.... Read more

PHIL ROE: REPLACING NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND Editor’s Note: We welcome Tennessee Congressman Phil Roe to the blog to discuss the Every Student Succeeds Act. Congressman Roe serves on the House Education and Workforce Committee. This week, the House passed the Every Student Succeeds Act, bicameral, bipartisan legislation to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). This is the first reauthorization of ESEA since No Child Left Behind was signed into law by President George W. Bush... Read more

Rep. Phil Roe, M.D. (R-TN): Restoring Local Control to K-12 Education Since I was sworn in to Congress in 2009, I've proudly served on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. A former mayor, I am keenly aware of the importance of our educators and school administrators. They shape the future of our communities, and their work greatly affects the economy, which is why I've made it a point to regularly visit schools around Tennessee's first congressional district. Everywhere I go in th... Read more

On June 25, the Supreme Court ruled the IRS has the authority under the president’s health care law to financially support individuals purchasing health insurance through federally operated exchanges. The text of the Affordable Care Act, however, clearly states that subsidies were singularly intended for people who received insurance through a state owned and operated exchange. The court’s ruling is a familiar SCOTUS maneuver to yet again salvage Obamacare by rewriting the law. As physicians who... Read more

As King oral arguments begin, the RSC offers a plan to increase competition and level the playing field. Today, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in King v. Burwell, the lawsuit that could effectively cripple Obamacare and — we are happy to say — force Washington to go back to the drawing board on health-care reform. In short, the lawsuit challenges the Internal Revenue Service’s decision to expand Obamacare’s subsidies to individuals in federally run health-insurance exchanges, despite... Read more