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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Tom Cole (OK-04) released the following statement in response to President Obama's remarks in Afghanistan:
"I appreciate the fact that the president took the chance to visit Afghanistan for the first time in 17 months and address the American people on the war for the first time in over a year.
The Medicare and Social Security Trustees just released their annual reports, and the findings are predictably sobering. According to the latest calculations, Medicare will go bankrupt in 2024. Social Security will run out of money in 2033 -- three years earlier than last year's report projected.
Those dates may have seemed comfortably distant during the '80s and '90s, but in 2012 we can no longer deny that dire consequences are coming -- and soon -- if we don't take action to save these programs.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Tom Cole (OK-04) released the following statement after House passage of the Interest Rate Reduction Act, which will extend the current 3.4 percent interest rates on federal student loans for one year. The cost of the bill is paid for by eliminating unnecessary spending in the president’s health care law.
By any measure, the U.S. tax code is broken.
To hear the media tell it, congressional Republicans have no solutions for health care reform beyond repealing Obamacare. However, House Republicans have not only proposed but have passed numerous plans to make health care more affordable and accessible -- without putting the federal government in charge of one-sixth of the national economy.
Excessive government spending has become so commonplace, it rarely makes headlines. Yet every so often a government spending scandal comes along that reminds us all just how careless and irresponsible some federal agencies are with taxpayer money. New revelations about extravagant spending at the Government Services Administration (GSA) serve as one of the most egregious examples in recent memory. A report by the GSA inspector general revealed that the agency spent $823,000 for one training conference in October 2010.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Tom Cole (OK-04) released the following statement after the announcement that Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk is stepping down from his role in the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to accept a position with the Mormon Church:
The Supreme Court is still deliberating the constitutionality of President Obama's health care law, but the court of public opinion has already returned its verdict. Surveys show that a majority of Americans believe the law's individual mandate provision, which would force every citizen to purchase health insurance or pay a fine, is unconstitutional. Public opinion polls also show the law remains just as unpopular today as it was when Democrats forced it through the Pelosi/Reid Congress two years ago over widespread protests.
Rep. Tom Cole (OK-04) hosts his monthly program "Cole on Congress" and visits with former Oklahoma First Lady Cathy Keating to provide an analysis on the issues facing our nation. (March 2012)
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Tom Cole (OK-04) released the following statement after the House of Representatives approved H.Con.Res. 112, the "Path to Prosperity" Budget Resolution setting spending limits for 2013. The House Republican budget cuts $5 trillion, protects defense funding, reforms the tax system, and brings needed reforms to health and retirement security programs. Cole also voted in favor of the “Cut, Cap, and Balance” Budget. This budget plan was introduced by the Republican Study Committee, a caucus of House conservatives of which he is a member.