U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-5th, announced bipartisan legislation last week aimed at shedding more light on possible unfunded mandates that local governments and private-sector employers may incur as a result of new rules set by federal regulatory bodies. The bill has been referred to committee. A similar version passed the U.S. House last year but did not make it through the U.S. Senate. “Every year, Washington imposes thousands of rules on local governments and small businesses,” Foxx said. “Hi... Read more

Some U.S. House Republicans goofed, to put it plainly, by taking steps toward eliminating an independent ethics board as one of its first congressional term actions. And Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx, whose district contains much of Northwest North Carolina, was correct to vote against the wrongheaded move. The Office of Congressional Ethics is an independent body created in 2008 to investigate allegations of misconduct by lawmakers after several bribery and corruption scandals sent members to p... Read more

House Republicans did something significant this week that didn’t gain much notice in the press: Rep. Diane Black was named interim Budget Committee chair. On the face it, perhaps a new committee chair, and an interim, at that, is not noteworthy. But Ms. Black (R., Tenn.), is one of three Republican women serving as committee chairs this term. Together these legislators will not only help shape the debate on critical issues, they’ll help the Republican Party begin to tell a different story than ... Read more

U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-5th, voted against a move by some House Republicans to weaken an independent congressional ethics board, a proposal that on Tuesday came under fire from President-elect Donald Trump and got yanked from going to a floor vote. A majority of the House Republican Conference voted Monday to clip the powers of the Office of Congressional Ethics, the independent body created in 2008 to investigate allegations of misconduct by lawmakers after several bribery and corruption sca... Read more

The 115th Congress was sworn in and got to work Tuesday in the nation's capital. Republicans control both chambers of Congress, and are awaiting the swearing in a Republican Donald Trump as president. Even with one party in power, there were still some hiccups on this first day. It started with a vote taken by the Republican caucus Monday night to change ethics oversight rules, in a move that certainly gave the impression of limiting investigation of themselves. But after public uproar, and a re... Read more

In the office of U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, the incoming chair of the House of Representatives education committee, there’s a desk plate with this simple exhortation: Trust God, Work Smarter, Work Harder. It’s a motto that has guided the conservative lawmaker from North Carolina throughout her life — from a hardscrabble childhood in Appalachia through seven years spent working her way through college, two decades as an instructor, administrator, and college president, another decade in the North C... Read more

The next Congress should look to reduce how much the government lends individually to college and graduate students, a key House Republican said Thursday, comparing the loan programs to policies that helped inflate the housing bubble and ended in a wave of foreclosures. Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, the incoming chairwoman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, said the government has made it too easy for students and their parents to borrow too much, in turn driving up p... Read more

With President-elect Donald Trump waiting in the wings, the Republican majority in Congress will have the opportunity to tackle a host of education issues when its next session begins in 2017, from funding for disadvantaged and special education students and college access and affordability issues, to student-data privacy and career and technical education. At the same time, there will be significant turnover in some key positions: In addition to Trump's selection of school choice advocate Betsy... Read more

When the 115th Congress convenes in early January, North Carolina’s delegation is poised to play a prominent role in charting a post-Obama course on a host of policy issues. As I’ve previously noted, Sen. Richard Burr will begin the 2017 session as chairman of the Intelligence Committee and as a primary sponsor of the Senate’s Obamacare replacement. But other North Carolina Republicans are moving to the forefront, as well. A top priority for Congress and the incoming Trump administration will be... Read more

Emboldened by what's expected to be a more business-friendly White House come January, the private student loan industry is making a push to expand its role in the Department of Education's growing $1.3 trillion portfolio of federal student loans. A main lobbying group for the industry wrote a letter this week to President-elect Donald Trump's transition team, making a series of proposals that included a bold plan to auction off some of the existing portfolio of federal loans to private investor... Read more