After spending nearly three decades practicing medicine in North Texas I have served the constituents of the 26th District since 2003 in the United States House of Representatives.
I currently serve on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, House Rules Committee, and House Budget Committee.
As of the 115th Congress, I am the most senior medical doctor, on both sides of the aisle, serving in the House of Representatives. Because of my medical background, I have been a strong advocate for health care legislation aimed at reducing health care costs, improving choices, reforming liability laws to put the needs of patients first, and ensuring there are enough doctors in the public and private sector to care for America’s patients and veterans. I have voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act over 50 times, and have played an important role in bipartisan efforts to reform the Food and Drug Administration.
In the past decade, the threats facing our nation have evolved, but the world is no less dangerous than when I first began serving the 26th District of Texas 15 years ago. We still face the possibility of terrorist attacks at home as well as on Americans abroad, nuclear weapons proliferation, localized aggressive acts by nation-states, cyberespionage and attacks, as well as destabilizing domestic conflicts. This requires continued advancement and development of our intelligence agencies and armed services. Since being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, I have worked to ensure the United States maintains the most capable military in the world.
Many troops and civilian personnel stationed abroad include brave soldiers and servants from the 26th District. These patriots, along with other Texans that have served our nation, are making our state proud as they protect the freedoms that are so often targeted.
I believe it is important that we do not lose our resolve against capable and committed enemies, foreign or domestic. The people that wish to do us harm show little, if any, regard for the legal, cultural, and moral structures that we rely on to maintain a society based upon the rule of law and respect for individual rights. I believe that we will prevail over any threat to our homeland just as we have in the past. The American vision of hope is superior to our enemies’ propagation of evil. This is a fight that we cannot win without sacrifice, but we will win.