CO-OP failures put spotlight on ACA’s many shortcomings By Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.), M.D. Since 2009, I’ve warned that the president’s healthcare law would eventually collapse. As a physician, I had serious concerns about the Affordable Care Act; unfortunately, Republican doctors in Congress were shut out of the debate by the Democrat majority at the time. Since then, we’ve seen premiums and out-of-pocket expenses skyrocket for American families. The law that was supposed to help expand access to... Read more

Our visit to Afghanistan Over Thanksgiving, our bipartisan delegation had the privilege of visiting Afghanistan to honor our troops and to receive briefings on security, the political transition in Afghanistan and counter-terrorism initiatives. On Thanksgiving Day, we ate with the soldiers and got to meet with service members from our home states. We were welcomed with hospitality and professionalism, and given objective and important information on the status of the U.S. mission in Afghanistan.... Read more

PHIL ROE: REPLACING NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND Editor’s Note: We welcome Tennessee Congressman Phil Roe to the blog to discuss the Every Student Succeeds Act. Congressman Roe serves on the House Education and Workforce Committee. This week, the House passed the Every Student Succeeds Act, bicameral, bipartisan legislation to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). This is the first reauthorization of ESEA since No Child Left Behind was signed into law by President George W. Bush... Read more

Rep. Phil Roe, M.D. (R-TN): Restoring Local Control to K-12 Education Since I was sworn in to Congress in 2009, I've proudly served on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. A former mayor, I am keenly aware of the importance of our educators and school administrators. They shape the future of our communities, and their work greatly affects the economy, which is why I've made it a point to regularly visit schools around Tennessee's first congressional district. Everywhere I go in th... Read more

On June 25, the Supreme Court ruled the IRS has the authority under the president’s health care law to financially support individuals purchasing health insurance through federally operated exchanges. The text of the Affordable Care Act, however, clearly states that subsidies were singularly intended for people who received insurance through a state owned and operated exchange. The court’s ruling is a familiar SCOTUS maneuver to yet again salvage Obamacare by rewriting the law. As physicians who... Read more

As King oral arguments begin, the RSC offers a plan to increase competition and level the playing field. Today, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in King v. Burwell, the lawsuit that could effectively cripple Obamacare and — we are happy to say — force Washington to go back to the drawing board on health-care reform. In short, the lawsuit challenges the Internal Revenue Service’s decision to expand Obamacare’s subsidies to individuals in federally run health-insurance exchanges, despite... Read more

In the four years since the Affordable Care Act was passed, health care in our country has become more complicated and expensive. The law has many troubling aspects, but the Independent Payment Advisory Board is among the worst and most dangerous. This is why, on Thursday, several members of the House will file an amicus brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take up Coons v. Lew. This lawsuit, filed by the Goldwater Institute on behalf of Dr. Eric Novack, an orthopedic surgeon, and Nick Coons, ... Read more

The president is waging a public-relations campaign about income inequality in this country, but rather than focus on growing the economy and encouraging businesses to hire, this administration has fallen back on stale, bankrupt ideas that don’t help workers achieve more. The latest is a rule proposed by the National Labor Relations Board to speed up union elections, reduce the time workers have to decide whether or not to join a labor union, and force employers to hand over to union organizers ... Read more

Every day we hear new reports of challenges surrounding the implementation of the president's health care law. More workers and businesses are coming forward to express frustration with the law. Under the law's employer mandate, businesses are forced to provide government-approved health insurance or pay a penalty. The president's recent decision to delay the mandate for a year only underscores what many citizens, businesses, and members of Congress have been saying for a long time: The law is a... Read more

Emergency epinephrine is needed in our schools By Reps. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) - Over the coming weeks, students across the country will start preparing for the upcoming school year, looking forward to reuniting with friends, meeting their teachers and tackling new lessons. But for the nearly 6 million children in our country who have food allergies, school can be an unnecessarily frightening place. A tiny amount of an allergen or an innocently swapped snack at lunchtime coul... Read more