Rooney’s Statement On First Week of 115th Congress

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Tom Rooney released the following statement at the conclusion of the first week of the 115th Congress:

“The House of Representatives hit the ground running legislatively this week and passed two important bills that we’re hopeful the president will sign soon after he’s sworn in. First, the House passed a bill that I was extremely proud to cosponsor that defends the United States’ important relationship with Israel. For the past 44 years, the US has vetoed every one-sided anti-Israel resolution proposed before the UN. In December, the Obama Administration broke this longstanding commitment and allowed a detrimental anti-Israel resolution to pass the Security Council. Israel is our greatest ally in the Middle East and in the fight against global terrorism. Our bill calls on the UN to repeal the resolution and it rejects President Obama’s reckless support of the Palestinians’ attempts to block peace and their refusal to recognize Israel’s right to exist.

The House also passed the REINS Act, which has been passed by the House before but President Obama would never sign into law. This bill gives Congress an up or down vote on regulations and policies coming out of the Executive Branch that have the potential to have a major financial impact on the US economy. Over the past eight years, President Obama has sidestepped Congress and issued countless regulations – like one to give the EPA control over neighborhood ditches and ponds. This bill will give the American people a voice in whether or not unelected bureaucrats in Washington can expand their reach into your daily lives.

We not only have a Republican-controlled House and Senate, but for the first time since I was elected back in 2008, we have a Republican president. In a few weeks when he is sworn in, we will welcome him and begin our work as a newly-unified government. I am looking forward to this opportunity to successfully enact a positive conservative agenda that protects individual freedoms through smaller government and that actually listens to the will of the people. I am confident that this Congress and the new Administration will put our country back on track. More importantly though, I am hopeful that we can rebuild your confidence in us, your elected officials, because it is you we are here to serve.”