Weekly Columns

It has been almost three months since President Obama sent U.S. forces to Libya -- without bothering to seek authorization from Congress. This action violates both the Constitution and the War Powers Resolution -- both of which clearly identify Congress as the sole governmental body with the responsibility to declare war and raise and support the armed forces. With U.S. troops and resources still embroiled in the Libyan conflict, Congress recently moved to reclaim its constitutional authority by holding two important votes.

Since 1985, Congress has voted 27 times to increase the debt limit -- often with little fanfare. The debt ceiling has already been raised three times and by almost $3 trillion just since President Obama took office. Debt limit increases have become so routine in recent years that the Obama administration, along with more than 100 House Democrats, thought it was realistic to call for a debt limit vote with no spending cuts attached.

The Obama administration floated a draft Executive Order in April that would require federal agencies to collect information about the campaign contributions and other political expenditures of any company applying for a federal contract. At first glance, this may seem like an acceptable method to promote transparency in the federal contracting process. In practice, however, it would create a number of disturbing consequences.

Medicare will run out of money by 2024. The latest annual report from the trustees of Medicare and Social Security states bluntly that Medicare, along with Social Security, is headed for bankruptcy unless Congress acts soon.

The increase in gas prices has become a significant hardship for American families and was one of the top concerns Oklahomans expressed to me during recent town hall meetings. House Republicans share these concerns and have passed three bills in the past several days to provide relief at the gas pump and create greatly needed jobs by expanding access to American energy.

Americans justly welcomed the news that Osama bin Laden has been dealt with in the manner which he deserved. This hard-won victory has taken almost a decade to achieve. Great respect and appreciation are due to the U.S. military, our intelligence services and those who assisted them in this ten- year effort.

I’ve had the privilege of spending the past two weeks visiting with Oklahomans at a series of town hall meetings. At assemblies in Ardmore, Marietta, Moore, Chickasha, Norman, Ada, Lawton, and Duncan, residents of the Fourth District came out to make their views known. As always, Oklahomans had thoughtful, commonsense perspectives on the important issues of the day.

The sobering news that Standard & Poor's has lowered its assessment of U.S. Treasury securities from “stable” to “negative” raises the stakes even higher for the upcoming debate about raising the debt ceiling.