Columns
When I have the opportunity to travel around the 67,000 square miles of the Third District, I spend a lot of time in the car driving the many highways and byways of Nebraska. I enjoy this time on the road, taking in the diverse scenery as I map my way from town to town.
Agriculture is integral to Nebraska's history. The Homestead Act of 1863 allowed U.S. citizens to earn ownership of lands in the west including Nebraska, provided they improve and farm the land for five years. Four years after the Homestead Act, in 1867, Nebraska earned its statehood with help from these new farmers and ranchers.
As the strongest democracy in the Middle East, Israel is a special partner and crucial ally to the United States. Together we collaborate on defense, intelligence, and trade. In fact, President Reagan signed our country's first trade agreement with Israel in 1985.
One of my top priorities is improving health care for rural Americans. Access to high quality, affordable, and available heath care is increasingly lacking in many areas. Empowering providers to better meet the needs of patients and reducing costly and burdensome regulations can go a long way to streamline and strengthen our health care system.
With July upon us, we are now more than halfway through the first year of the 116th Congress. So far 2019 has been marked by partisan divides which have stood in the way of results.
As recent trends demonstrate, we must take border security seriously. In May, U.S. Customs and Border Protection stopped 144,000 people from illegally entering the United States – the most in one month since 2006. This incredible number of people is almost three times the population of Grand Island.
On July 4, 1776, our founders introduced to the world a new idea of government. In this government, citizens would not look to a tyrant, monarch, or group of powerful people to provide for them, but would be free to provide for themselves and determine their own destinies.
Trade agreements reduce trade barriers, which promotes economic growth and cooperative relationships between nations. Because 95 percent of consumers reside outside U.S. borders, we must constantly be looking for ways to increase access to foreign markets and ensure America's competitiveness in an increasingly global marketplace.
Federal revenue continued at near-record highs in 2018, at $3.33 trillion. Unfortunately, this amount was not enough to cover the $4.2 trillion in spending last year, further exacerbating our $22 trillion in national debt. As President Ronald Reagan said, "The problem is not that the people are taxed too little. The problem is that government spends too much."