CONGRESSIONAL SPOTLIGHT/
Rep. Stephanie Bice, OK-5
As your first year as a Member of Congress comes to an end, what pices of legislation or work on behalf of the Oklahoma 5th district are you most proud of?
The first bill I authored this year was H.R. 2378, the Protecting Military Families with Disabilities Act, which would prevent service members and their families from being charged out-of-pocket expenses for needed housing upgrades to accommodate a disabled family member. Sadly, this is an issue we have seen at military bases across the nation, and Tinker AFB has had several housing related issues over the last few years. I’m pleased to say that a modified version of my bill was included in both the House and Senate versions of the FY2022 National Defense Authorization Act, and I expect it to be signed into law before the end of the year. I was also proud to have authored successful amendments that secured millions of additional dollars to assist the National Guard in securing the U.S.-Mexico border, and an amendment that would require the Department of Defense to strengthen its mental health and suicide prevention efforts. I’d also like to mention the casework my constituent services team has been focused on. My office has been inundated with passport requests and assistance with the IRS for stimulus checks and other issues. We’ve handled more than 374 of cases successfully. Constituent service is one of the most important things members of Congress do, and my team is the best. This June, you toured Energy Workforce & Technology Council Member Company Kimray’s facilities in your district. You saw first-hand how manufacturing and distribution can be affected by the ups and downs of the energy industry. What is Congress doing to relieve regulatory burdens targeted at the
energy and manufacturing industries? This is an issue I think a lot about because it affects the livelihoods of millions of everyday Americans. Sadly, we have seen this Administration take drastic actions to halt oil and gas exploration, shut down key infrastructure like the Keystone XL pipeline, and propose new burdensome regulations on a range of our nation’s most important industries. I have been working on legislation with my colleagues to counter these efforts, including cosponsoring H.R. 4132, the Unnecessary Agency Regulations Reduction Act, which would require the federal government to put together an annual list of burdensome or duplicative regulations and would establish a process to allow Congress to quickly eliminate such regulations through passage of a joint resolution of disapproval. WellServicingMagazine.com
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