CongressmanBob Goodlatte

It’s a problem that affects Americans in all parts of the country. It doesn’t discriminate across socioeconomic lines, distinguish between urban, suburban, and rural, or limit itself to the young or old. Today, the United States is in the throes of an epidemic of prescription opioid abuse and heroin use. The statistics are shocking. Approximately 46,000 Americans die from a drug overdose each year. Recent studies have shown that more than half of chronic prescription drug abusers received those ... Read more

There was a big victory for the United States Constitution in Washington this week. In an historic decision, a federal judge ruled in favor of the separation of powers in the Constitution and the voice of the American people in the legislative process. While President Obama may have forgotten, the American people know that it is Congress who writes our laws, not the White House. However, the President has acted unconstitutionally on many occasions to rewrite our laws. Back in 2014, for the first... Read more

Did you ever have any old records or CDs that just got stuck after a while? When it comes to the United States’ dealings with Iran, it seems like the record is stuck on repeat. Hardly a week goes by without another news story about Iran’s questionable actions on the global stage. The Iran Nuclear Agreement was a bad deal from the start, and one that I firmly opposed. Now, several months into its implementation, it’s easier than ever to see the flaws in this half-baked policy. Recently, the U.S. ... Read more

A lot has changed since 1986. Mail was sent with postage stamp, a search engine was called a library, “tweets” were the sounds made by birds, and “clouds” were found only in the sky. In 1986, computer storage was finite and expensive. It was unfathomable to think that something like email would allow users to send and receive electronic communications around the globe for free, much less store vast amounts of your information. Thirty years ago, Congress passed the Electronic Communications Priva... Read more

Sarah Root and Joshua Wilkerson were like many young people you might know. Sarah just graduated from college and Joshua was a senior in high school. Both had much life left to live. But instead of living out their potential, they are two of the many innocent victims of the irresponsible policies of the Obama Administration that allow the presence of dangerous criminal aliens in American communities. At a Judiciary Committee hearing a few days ago, we heard the heartbreaking stories of their dea... Read more

Fair representation and accountability – that’s just the starting point for what the American people deserve from their government. At the very core of the United States is a government of the people, by the people, for the people. However, all too often we’ve seen bureaucracy stand in the way of the efforts of the People’s House to seek answers on behalf of the public, leaving Americans in the dark. Two prime examples of this Administration’s stonewalling are incidents where American lives wer... Read more

There are very few certainties in life. One of those, however, is that Tax Day comes around each year. By the time the April 18th deadline passes to submit 2015 tax returns, millions of Americans will have experienced our broken tax code firsthand yet again. A very appropriate quote by an unknown author sums up the feelings of many during tax season: “People who complain about taxes can be divided into two classes: men and women.” While that may draw a few laughs, in all seriousness tax season ... Read more

Don’t you want to know how the federal government spends and leverages your taxpayer dollars? Odds are that the answer is a resounding “YES.” However, the Federal Reserve, the nation’s central bank and an independent federal agency, has been subject to very little scrutiny. That shouldn’t be the case, especially given that the Federal Reserve, or the Fed, is responsible for monetary policy decisions that affect every American. Following the recent financial crisis, the Fed has continued to expa... Read more

Our veterans have done their duty to serve us. It is our now our duty to serve them. That’s the purpose of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA). While many veterans receive quality care from these VA facilities, we still hear horror stories in some parts of the country of long wait times, poor service, and, in some cases, downright negligence by health care providers. This should never be the case, and Congress is responsible for holding the VA accountable. There is no better way to hear ab... Read more

What do regulating puddles, attempting to ban popular ammunition, and making recess appointments have in common? They are all examples of attempts by President Obama to overstep his power and bypass Congress. But these are just a drop in the bucket when it comes to the pattern of overreach we have seen from the Executive Branch in recent years. On nearly every issue – from health care to farming – President Obama has used his pen and phone to rewrite the law on his own. With our immigration law... Read more