The federal government does not directly control the price you pay at the pump. We do know, however, this administration has prevented actions that could promote stable prices through more domestic production of oil and gas. Among other things, the president has limited drilling off our shores and on federal lands. He continues to threaten tax increases on the oil and gas industry; he has vetoed the full-length of the Keystone XL pipeline; and he has sent EPA regulators to harass drillers. The administration also is working hard to discredit fracking and other successful technologies like horizontal drilling. Unfortunately, the cost of energy will continue to increase if the president continues this course.
The House is sending a message to the White House and Senate Democrats this week by passing a batch of cybersecurity bills aimed at preventing the digital version of a Pearl Harbor: Not on our watch.
The idea is to spur Democrats to move — giving them the choice to either bring their own stalled bill to a vote or risk standing on the wrong political side of a national security issue.
“I’m hoping … when we pass these bills, the Senate will pass something and that will give us a chance to go to conference and accomplish something,” Texas Rep. Mac Thornberry, who led the GOP Cybersecurity Task Force last year, told POLITICO. “We can do lots of talking, but they need to pass something.”
One issue that affects nearly everyone in our area and across the country is gas prices. There is no doubt that high energy prices have placed a real burden on many Americans. And, from small business owners to parents who drive carpool, chances are that the cost of gas is hitting your wallet hard.
Today the Romney for President campaign issued a press release, with my approval, that I support Mitt Romney for President.
As you know, I had not previously endorsed any candidate for President. My primary goal and focus has always been on supporting whatever candidate has the best chance to beat Barack Obama. We have reached a time when it is clear to me that Governor Mitt Romney is the candidate with the best chance to win in November.
Wichita Falls Mayor Glenn Barham (from right), former Texas Rep. David Farabee and U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry participate Tuesday in a round-table political discussion at Akin Auditorium. Claire Kowalick/Times Record News
America is reaching a turning point in how it manages money, said U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Clarendon, on Monday at a Downtown Amarillo Kiwanis Club luncheon meeting.
“We are rapidly approaching the time, and it’s coming at the end of this year, where we will no longer be kicking the can down the road, putting our problems off,” Thornberry said. “One way or another, through action or inaction, we will make decisions that will affect … the country we live in.”
There is so much constant, loud clatter in politics that often it is difficult to separate that which is important and revealing from that which is just noise. But President Obama said something important and revealing on Monday in South Korea. The White House tried to laugh off his comments at first and then to explain them away. But the implications are too serious for political spin.
Wichita Falls Rep. Mac Thornberry and 41 other Republicans reached out to President Obama this week, asking him to forego more military base closings and cuts.
The RSA Conference, an annual meeting of information security professionals from across the globe, gave Thornberry its Excellence in the Field of Public Policy Award. The conference’s awards recognize information security innovators and practitioners in mathematics, public policy and security practices.
The U.S. Postal Service is forecasting a $14-billion loss at the end of the current fiscal year. USPS’s solution? Close rural offices, end Saturday mail delivery, increase postal rates, remove next-day local delivery of first-class mail.
"It is disappointing that the President’s latest budget offers more of the same—more stimulus-type spending, higher taxes, and even more debt. It does nothing to address the unsustainable and unaffordable automatic spending on entitlements that continues to consume a larger and larger part of the budget."
The U.S. Department of Labor proposed new regulations last year for farms and other rural businesses that could, among other things, prevent a high school freshman from earning extra money on a farm or helping a neighbor work cattle.
Thornberry, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said it's unclear who those fighting the Syrian regime are, and suggested U.S. intervention could lead to unintended consequences.
A powerful GOP lawmaker on defense issues, House Armed Services Committee Vice Chairman Mac Thornberry (Texas), told The Hill in late December that it will be important for “us to invest in the weapons needed to project power, especially in Asia.”
After President Obama released a new strategy last week in a proposal to cut the nation's defense budget by almost 500 billion dollars, there have been a lot of questions about how that strategy is going to be implemented.
U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Clarendon, is among those lawmakers who have expressed concern over the closures. Indeed, Thornberry’s sprawling 13th Congressional District includes many towns affected by a decision to shutter these postal stations.
No one has a crystal ball that can tell us what will happen in the future, especially with national security. But we can predict one thing based on past experience: There will be change and turbulence in the world. America needs to be prepared to deal with it.
Pelosi is attempting to do something that has not been done since the days of the legendary Sam Rayburn nearly 60 years ago — become speaker of the House again after losing the gavel. Democrats need to pick up 25 seats to do so, and Pelosi believes it will happen, although she won’t bite when asked about whether the country will see Speaker Pelosi again in January 2013.