Dear Friend,
Since taking office in January 2021, President Biden and House Democrats have increased the 10-year spending trajectory of our nation by $10 trillion. This out-of-control spending – which overstimulated our economy and brought 40-year high inflation – accelerated America's debit crisis at an alarming rate. It is long past time that Congress enforce meaningful limits on America's future spending. We simply cannot continue to kick the can down the road.
Recently, House Republicans came together to pass the Limit, Save, Grow Act which would reduce our nation’s deficit by $4.8 trillion over the next 10 years – and would get America’s fiscal house under control. Big-government cannot continue to spend trillions of dollars we do not have each year. We must make the responsible choices to stop the mismanagement of taxpayer dollars.
The Limit, Save, Grow Act would ensure the federal government is more fiscally responsible by: - limiting federal spending through discretionary spending limits:
- saving taxpayer dollars by rescinding unspent COVID funds, prohibiting unfair student loan giveaways, expanding work requirements for childless – and able-bodied adults, and repealing market-distorting green tax hand-outs to billion-dollar corporations: and
- growing the economy through common-sense reforms, accountability in the federal regulatory process, and unleashing American energy dominance.
Putting meaningful limits on our country’s future spending is vital, and we need to change the direction of our nation’s spending to make sure the United States doesn’t keep hitting its debt limit. The American people deserve a common-sense solution and the legislation passed in the House is a step in the right direction. It is time for the Senate and President Joe Biden to work with House Republicans towards a solution that limits Washington’s irresponsible spending, saves taxpayer dollars, and grows the American economy. |
Antibiotics make modern medicine possible and the U.S. is at risk of losing these critical drugs. Antibiotic resistant infections are becoming more commonplace, and Congress must take action so that the foundation of modern medicine doesn’t crumble. In order to address this growing threat, I proudly reintroduced the Pioneering Antimicrobial Subscriptions to End Upsurging Resistance (PASTEUR) Act. This bipartisan, bicameral legislation would encourage innovative drug development targeting the most threatening infections, improve the appropriate use of antibiotics, and ensure domestic availability of antibiotics when needed.
The PASTEUR Act brings together the public and private sectors to address these drug development market failures, increase public health preparedness, and help usher in a new era of antibiotic development. This essential legislation will also improve appropriate antibiotic use across the healthcare system while enhancing and safeguarding new antibiotic development. Simply put, we must act now to keep research and development from falling behind.
Click here to learn more about the PASTEUR Act.
You can also click here to read a brief summary of the bill |
I’m pleased to announce that Grace Zondervan, a student at McIntosh High School, is the winner of the 2023 Congressional Art Competition for the Third District. Grace's artwork, titled “Childhood Portrait,” will be displayed in the U.S. Capitol for one year.
I really appreciate the students, parents, teachers, and all others in our community who made this year’s art competition a great success. |
Additionally, this year’s winner of the People’s Choice Award, which was decided by the public via online vote, is Destiny Cameron from Whitewater High School, for her piece "The Beauty of Us." It will hang in my Newnan District Office for the next year! |
I’m proud of all our participants and the immense creativity and talent showcased through their submissions. Click here to see the full list of the artwork submitted this year. |
Recently, the House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing with Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Danny Werfel. During the hearing, we discussed a number of topics including how the IRS intends to spend over $80 billion – which was allocated to the agency last Congress as part of the Democrat’s so-called Inflation Reduction Act.
With Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently directing the agency to provide details “on how resources will be spent over the 10-year horizon on technology, service improvement, and personnel,” the IRS strategic “plan” failed to detail how the agency will spend the $80 billion. What we do know is much of that funding is going towards enforcement and operations rather than customer service. It’s clear that Congressional Democrats do not want the American people to know their plans for doubling the size of the agency and drastically ramping up audits on hardworking taxpayers at every income level.
Click here to watch my exchange with Commissioner Werfel. |
It was a pleasure meeting Barry Gardner with the Military Officers Association of America during his trip to our nation’s Capitol. We had a great discussion around veteran's benefits, and I thanked him for all the hard work he does around our community to support the men and women who served. |
It was great meeting with the Georgia Automotive Dealers Association. We had a productive discussion about the automotive industry and their work in the Peach State. Thanks for stopping in! |
Thank you to the folks at the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) and Yamaha Motors – including Greg Motto, Steve O’Donnell, and Travis Pastrana – for taking the time to chat. I enjoyed getting a glimpse into the day-to-day operations of a NASCAR team. |
President SeungKyu Yoon of Kia America came by my office last week to discuss some of his recent work. The Kia Motors plant in my hometown of West Point has been a major success for our local economy – and has helped define our state as a leader in the automotive manufacturing industry. |
Ferguson gives update on Congressional talks April 26, 2023 | By Noah Schroyer
Congressman Drew Ferguson, Representative of Georgia’s Third Congressional District, held a phone interview with the Times-Georgian on Wednesday which included his chairing his first Social Security Subcommittee hearing and talked about the Pioneering Antimicrobial Subscriptions to End Upsurging Resistance (PASTEUR) Act which was recently introduced to Congress.
SOCIAL SECURITY SUBCOMMITTEE
Ferguson Chaired his first Social Security Subcommittee hearing that consists of seven House Republicans and four House Democrats. Ferguson also talked about the importance of the Subcommittee being able to work together on Social Security.
“One thing that we wanted to do starting this subcommittee out is to do our best to remove the political attacks from the conversation and take a very academic, intellectually-honest approach to solving the problems of social security,” he said. “We had the numbers guys in. The folks that are looking at this going ‘the trust fund is going to run out in about nine years.”
Ferguson clarified that there are multiple numbers in the issue and explained that the Social Security Actuary and the Congressional Budget Office both have their own set of numbers.
“Before we can figure out how to solve the problem is to understand exactly where we are,” he explained. “We took a big first step in that today and for the most part we had a very bipartisan tone in the subcommittee today.”
Ferguson also talked about waiving in other members of the House of Representatives today during the meeting today “because we felt like it was important that if members who were off the subcommittee but were members of the full Ways and Means Committee wanted to participate in the hearing we allowed some of those members to participate as well.”
Ferguson said that Representatives Danny Davis and Jimmy Pannetta were able to join specifying that 13 total members of the House attended the hearing.
PASTEUR ACT
Ferguson then proceeded to talk with the Times-Georgian about the PASTEUR Act that was introduced. Ferguson explained the purpose of the PASTEUR act and talked about infections that regular antibodies can not take care of using the example of staph infections.
“You hear about staph infections that are in hospitals and they wind up not only costing lives but they also cost our healthcare system billions of dollars a year,” he said. “One of the problems is we are not keeping up with the research and development of drugs, specifically antibiotics to deal with these evolving bacteria. What the PASTEUR act does is it stabilizes the market place in a way that allows for the research and development and then through a subscription model with the federal government these folks are pulled into the marketplace for use.”
As far as benefits, Ferguson said, “This is something we can save lives with. Number two we think we can ultimately save the federal government and the taxpayers billions of dollars if we can address this.”
“A lot of times what happens in the marketplace is the smaller pharmaceutical companies that develop the antibiotics, they get them right to the finish line and then they go bankrupt,” he added. “In many cases the intellectual property is sold to other countries. So if it is sold to Communist China you can imagine what one of our enemies would do if they were the only ones with the intellectual property to fight a certain strain of bacteria.”
When asked what citizens will see as the outcome of the PASTEUR act, Ferguson used staph infection as an example once again.
“The individual person, if they are unfortunate enough to get one of these resistant infections they’re going to have a much better outcome,” he said. “The focus is on being prepared. A lot of the work that was done around COVID-19 and vaccines and therapeutics was not a result of one year worth of work, it was the result of 20 years worth of work, research and development. If we don’t have that information and research and development in the pipeline, it is going to take us way too long to get the therapeutics and the antibiotics to the patient in the event of a pandemic. There is an immediate concern regarding current day infections with resistant bacteria but there is also a very real issue with dealing with long term concerns such as pandemics and national security.” |
The House returns to Washington, D.C. this week and will consider the following pieces of legislation on the House floor:
H.R. 676 - Coastal Communities Ocean Acidification Act of 2023
H.R. 1715 - Advanced Weather Model Computing Development Act
H.R. 1734 - Testing, Rapid Analysis, and Narcotic Quality Research Act
H.R. 2 - Secure the Border Act of 2023
H.R. 1163 - Protecting Taxpayers and Victims of Unemployment Fraud Act
As always, I’m here to serve you. Please contact my office with any questions, comments, or concerns. Be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to keep track of upcoming legislation and events! |
|
Sincerely,
|
|
|
|
|
|
Drew Ferguson
Member of Congress
|
|
|
|
