For the third time since 2011, the U.S. House of Representatives has voted to fully repeal President Obama’s health care law. Area Congressman Mac Thornberry (R-Clarendon), a co-sponsor of the repeal bill, voted in favor of the measure, which passed 229 to 195. The House has voted more than 30 times to repeal, dismantle, and defund different parts of the new health care law. “There is no law that will have more influence over our lives than Obamacare, and that is why I voted again today to aboli... Read more

U.S. Congressman Mac Thornberry (R-Clarendon) made the following statement about the budget proposal submitted by President Obama: "The budget that the President submitted today does not seem serious. It is full of accounting gimmicks that expand the federal government’s role in the lives of hardworking Americans; it increases taxes; and it rapidly grows the size of our debt and deficit. Instead of reforming the mandatory spending programs that make up nearly two-thirds of the federal budget, th... Read more

U.S. Congressmen Mac Thornberry (R-Clarendon), Bill Flores, John Carter, Mike Conaway and Steve Pearce introduced legislation, H.R. 1314, in the House last week to prevent costly lawsuit abuse related to the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The bill would help protect American taxpayers from the expensive regulatory impact of closed-door litigation settlements between environmental organizations and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). The ESA would be amended to give local governments and cit... Read more

The Obama Administration’s plan to close six interior Border Patrol stations in Texas has hit another roadblock. The government funding bill passed by both the House and the Senate specifically prohibits the closures at least through September 30, 2013. “We have continued to work on this issue, and we are very pleased that our concerns about the immigration enforcement gaps these closures could create are being taken seriously,” said local Congressman Mac Thornberry. “We are working through seri... Read more

Congressman Mac Thornberry (R-Clarendon) made the following comments after the House passed the “No Budget, No Pay Act" with a bipartisan vote of 285-144: "Today the House passed a bill to extend the debt limit until May 18, 2013, and to withhold the pay of members of either the House or Senate if that body does not pass a budget resolution by April 15 as required by law. The bill will force both the House and the Senate to lay out how it would get our fiscal house in order. In the House, we wil... Read more

In the blizzard of statistics surrounding the “fiscal cliff,” two numbers give us the essential bottom line. They are 20.6 and 24.3. Let me explain. Since World War II, the top income tax rate has varied widely. It has been as high as 94 percent and as low as 28 percent. Usually it was somewhere in between. But in all those 67 years with all of those different tax rates, the revenue collected by the federal government was never higher than 20.6 percent of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the mo... Read more

The American people have always been resilient, especially during tough economic times. Our nation’s small business owners always find new and innovative ways to create and grow our private sector. The products and services they produce and the jobs they create are what drive our economy to prosper in good times and to recover in times of recession. In order to power our economy, though, our small businesses need an economic environment free from uncertainty about the regulations and taxes they ... Read more

Congressman Mac Thornberry (R-Clarendon) issued the following comments after the U.S.House of Representatives voted again to repeal President Obama’s 2010 health care law with a bipartisan vote of 244 to 185: “The House has voted more than 30 times to repeal, dismantle, and defund different parts of the massive, 2000-plus page law with Republican and Democratic support. Today, we voted to entirely repeal it again. While the Supreme Court ruled the majority of the law was constitutional, that ce... Read more

Congressman Mac Thornberry (R-Clarendon) issued the following statement after the U.S. House of Representatives voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress with a bi-partisan vote of 255-67: It is unfortunate that the House must vote on whether to hold the Attorney General in contempt for refusing to produce documents from his Department. The underlying facts are disturbing and tragic, leading to the death of a Border Patrol officer and several hundred people in Mexico. Th... Read more

Congressman Mac Thornberry (R-Clarendon) is warning 13th district residents that criminals posing as Special Agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) or other law enforcement agencies are extorting money from the public. “We became aware of this scam when a constituent turned to our office for help,” said Rep. Thornberry. “People should be are aware of this scheme before they become victims themselves. We also want them to know how important it is to report instances like this so th... Read more