Solutions to Rising Food & Fuel Costs

Dear Friend,

Below are a few updates on some of the actions taken by Congress on issues I know are important to many of you. Thank you for subscribing, and please consider recommending this resource to a friend.

Solutions to Rising Food & Fuel Costs

This week, Congressional Democrats brought a legislative package to the House Floor with the intent to address the ongoing supply chain and inflationary crises hurting North Carolina farm families and consumers. Unfortunately, their package falls woefully short of this goal. A good bit of it, in fact, will make things worse.

The title of their legislation – the Lower Food and Fuel Costs Act – misleads Americans. It does nothing to bring down the costs of food and energy in the short run, instead giving excuses to the crises caused by the Biden Administration’s attacks on American agriculture and energy.

There are bipartisan pieces of legislation in this package, but House Democrats refused to allow these bills to receive their individual vote on the House Floor, instead using them as pawns in their political messaging.

Our farm families are suffering from the high cost of inputs needed to grow our food supply. They need diesel prices to come down, and they need to be able to produce the food to feed this country and world without the government making it harder day in and day out.

That’s why I am an original co-sponsor of the Reducing Farm Input Costs and Barriers to Production Act – legislation to bring down costs for Americans by unraveling the bureaucratic red tape placed on them by this Administration. Specifically, the bill:

Provides relief from EPA’s unprecedented actions related to crop protection tools to help U.S. agriculture meet global food needs.
Offers clarity related to burdensome WOTUS regulations.
Rescinds the SEC’s harmful proposed rule on climate-related disclosures. Many small farmers do not have the time or resources to comply with such onerous and ridiculous requirements.
Reinstates the streamlined 2020 NEPA to provide relief from the energy and fertilizer crisis.
Requires an economic analysis, and amendment I offered in Committee, on the costs and benefits of GIPSA rules to better understand how much these new regulations will increase the price of food.

NC-07 Updates

Meeting with NC-07 Mayors & the American Flood Coalition

I had a great meeting with local leaders from NC-07 and the American Flood Coalition to collaborate on flood mitigation and resilience measures that can help better protect the citizens of North Carolina from flood risk. Thank you for your visit!

Meeting with North Carolina Home Builders

At a minimum, rules and regulations account for 25 percent of the cost of a home. In California, it is upwards of 65 percent of the cost. (They’ve got everything else backwards out there too.) Because of this and other factors, communities in NC-07, like many others, are facing an affordable housing crisis. I talked to NC home builders this week regarding the housing crisis, supply chain disruptions & labor shortages — all of which are contributing to inflation.

Statement on New Drinking Water Health Advisories for PFAS Chemicals

This week, the EPA announced four new drinking water health advisories for PFAS substances. Our communities rightfully have questions about PFAS chemicals, including GenX, and how they affect our drinking water, health, and the environment.

The scientific community has been working hard to answer these questions, and I’m glad to see the EPA move forward with new PFAS drinking water health advisories so we can achieve progress on cleaning up the contamination entering our source waters. I will continue to work with my colleagues in Congress, along with state and local officials, to ensure families in North Carolina have access to safe drinking water.

This Week's Good News Story

For this week's good news story, I'm recognizing the UNCW Men's Basketball Team. They traveled to the state capital this week to receive recognition from our state's legislative leaders for their outstanding accomplishments in the 2021-22 season.

This season, the team won the school's first postseason championship, the Roman College Basketball Invitational and finished with a 27-9 record. North Carolina is home to many great universities, and I'm proud to represent one of the best, which is right here in North Carolina's 7th District.

Closing Thoughts...

“We the people, elect leaders not to rule but to serve.” - Dwight D Eisenhower