{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://woodall.house.gov/media-center/e-newsletter-archive/washington-watch-12417", "Washington Watch - 12/4/17", "2017-12-04", "2017", "2017-12", "Republican", "House", "GA", "Rob Woodall", "W000810", "woodall.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "TOWN HALL MEETING THIS THURSDAY Since we last had the opportunity to check-in with each other and discuss those issues that are most important to the 7th District, a lot has happened in Washington, D.C., chief among them is the House and Senate passage of the \"Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.\" We are working on the final version of this critically important measure, and as we do, I hope that you will take some time to join me on Thursday evening and share your thoughts with me on this or any other piece of legislation.\nTelephone Town Hall Meeting  \n\tThursday, December 7th  \n\t7:00PM - 7:30PM  \n\tDial-In: (877) 229-8493  \n\tPasscode: 17849 \u00a0\nHOUSE PASSES SERIES OF BILLS MAKING GOVERNMENT MORE ACCOUNTABLE \nAs is often the case with Congress, good intentions can sometimes result in poor policy making. In one such case, federal employees are offered job protections which shield them from being unduly terminated, guaranteeing them job security regardless of the administration or their personal political affiliation. This is an important protection, and one that I know every Member of Congress supports. However, federal managers have found it increasingly difficult to dismiss poor-performing employees, and one of the reasons for that is a lack of adequate time during the probationary employment period to evaluate the employee\u2019s work. H.R. 4182, the \u201cEnsuring a Qualified Civil Service Act\u201d would fix that. Rather than allowing a new hire to have only one year to prove themselves to a supervisor, new hires under this bill will be provided a two year probationary period after they have completed their training, giving them ample time to demonstrate their ability and allowing managers the opportunity to evaluate performance metrics before determining if the employee is a good fit for a permanent position on the civil service team. This will ensure that those who do work at our federal agencies are up to the task of serving the American people.\nAnother case of poor policy execution came to affect those seeking out loans to purchase manufactured housing. In response to the financial crisis in 2008, Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act, which included a provision to prevent consumers from accessing loans they may not be able to afford. But implementing a one-size-fits-all solution like this effectively shut out qualified potential homebuyers from the market. That is why my colleague, Representative Andy Barr (R-KY), introduced H.R. 1699, the \u201cPreserving Access to Manufactured Housing Act.\u201d The bill preserves essential protections for borrowers, while at the same time protecting their right to access credit.\u00a0\nI am proud to have supported both bills when they passed the House last week, and I\u2019m pleased that my colleagues are continuing to take full advantage of the opportunity given to us by the American people to make our government more effective and more accountable.\nClick on the picture below to watch my remarks on these important bills.\n\u00a0\nHOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE HOLDS FIELD HEARING ON OPIOID ABUSE\u00a0\nWith over 64,000 Americans lost to drug overdoses last year, the opioid crisis has taken an especially devastating toll across our country, and has become a priority for the federal government, with President Trump assembling the Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis earlier this year, and more recently declaring the opioid crisis as a public health emergency. \u00a0Last week the President\u2019s commission joined the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee at a field hearing in Baltimore, one of the many parts of our country that continues to battle our ongoing opioid crisis. At the hearing, Chairman of the Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, Governor Chris Christie (R-NJ), presented the Commission\u2019s detailed report with a number of policy recommendations, all of which you can read here. While the report contains dozens of recommendations, Governor Christie distilled it down to a three pronged approach: (1) preventing deadly drugs such as fentanyl from entering the U.S., (2) educating the medical community on the dangers of over prescribing opioids as well as the need for alternative therapies, and (3) providing better treatment for those already addicted to opioids.\u00a0\nWe\u2019ve all heard that the first step to battling addiction is admitting there is a problem, and I was encouraged to see the entire Committee come to a consensus on the scope and extent of our nation\u2019s tragic problem with addiction. I commend both the Commission and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform for their hard work and for going out to see this issue where it is truly affecting everyday Americans. I look forward to promoting the policies that result from hearings such as this one, and from reports, such as the Commission\u2019s, that can make a difference for our loved ones and neighbors battling addiction.\u00a0\n\u00a0\nSENATE PASSES TAX REFORM BILL\nThe Senate\u2019s success in passing its version of the \u201cTax Cuts and Jobs Act\u201d marks another big step in making tax reform a reality for millions of taxpaying Americans. That said, I want to take this opportunity to commend my Senate counterparts for their work and diligence in crafting and passing their tax reform package. While the Senate bill differs from the House bill, there is still much work to be done and hours of debate left to be had to resolve the differences before we can send a final bill to the President for his signature.\u00a0\nAs you may likely know, some of the notable differences between the two chambers include the tax treatment of state and local taxes, the elimination or modification of certain deductions, changes to the child tax credit, the number of individual tax rates, and the repeal of the Affordable Care Act\u2019s individual mandate just to name a few. Irrespective of these differences, which as I said before will continue to be worked out and debated, I am pleased that Congress\u2019 overarching goal of simplifying the tax code and making it work better for as\u00a0many\u00a0Americans as possible is still an achievable goal.\u00a0\nThat said, I know there are still anxieties out there, and I want to assure you that I\u2019ve heard many of them from our friends and neighbors in the 7th District. As we move toward the next step in this process, I remain committed to working together, and I hope I can count on your counsel in the future.\n\u00a0\nGOVERNMENT AND CIVILIAN EXPERTS WORK TOGETHER TO SUPPORT SAFETY IN A GROWING DRONE INDUSTRY\nOn Wednesday, my colleagues and I on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee convened\u00a0two panels of experts to discuss the rapidly growing drone industry.\u00a0 America has always been the world\u2019s leader in aviation, and with this burgeoning new commercial industry, we have an opportunity to build on that record of safety, innovation, and success.\u00a0 Drones present a number of challenges, including questions of safety, privacy, and federalism, but this particular hearing was focused on the real-world applications of drone technology (specifically during the most recent hurricane season) and how we can construct a regulatory environment that promotes private sector innovation while maintaining world-class safety standards.\nWe began this work in the recent FAA bill, wherein we included new laws to safely integrate drones into our national airspace and establish remote identification to bolster security.\u00a0 The 2016 law also included legislation I authored to expedite the approval of drone operations in emergency recovery and restoration efforts \u2013 such as in the aftermath of a destructive hurricane, flood, or earthquake for instance.\u00a0 Close to one million Georgians lost power as a result of the recent hurricane, and we saw drones take\u00a0flight\u00a0to identify downed utility infrastructure, which led to\u00a0quicker restoration\u00a0of service right here in our own backyard.\u00a0 As we continue to work through these policy questions, I invite you to reach out with your own experiences and ideas.\u00a0\n\u00a0\nCONGRATULATING FORSYTH COUNTY SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS\nI often say that our schools here at home provide every young person with the opportunity to be anything they want to be if they work hard and apply themselves.\u00a0That\u2019s true for academics certainly, but it goes well beyond that. The way in which our community empowers these young people to pursue their passions at the extracurricular level as well as in the classroom opens\u00a0even more\u00a0doors for them.\u00a0As we saw last week with 60 Forsyth County high school students participating in early signing for athletic scholarships at the collegiate level, there\u2019s an abundance of talent, and I\u2019m sure proud of what each of them is accomplishing.\u00a0Over the years I\u2019ve been fortunate to visit with many students across the district, and I\u2019m so impressed with their drive and work ethic.\u00a0I have no doubt these young men and women fit into that category, and clearly their hard work is already paying off.\u00a0Best of luck, and keep it up!\n\u00a0\nCHRISTMAS AND HOLIDAY SPIRIT IN FULL SWING\nEvery year, I look forward to the Christmas and holiday season, as it\u2019s a time when we celebrate those things nearest and dearest to each\u00a0of\u00a0us. Part of the season\u2019s traditions has become the wonderful young people that come by to visit the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center (GJAC) and share their talent with us.\u00a0I have to say, whenever I\u2019m able, I look forward to hearing these groups perform the timeless songs we all know. While business in Washington and throughout the Seventh District keeps the calendar full,\u00a0any time\u00a0I can be in our local office in the Gwinnett Justice\u00a0and Administration Center\u00a0for these performances, it brightens my day. If you find yourself attending to business over the course of the next month and hear the sound of caroling, I encourage you to take a few extra minutes to listen.\u00a0You won\u2019t regret it!\n\u00a0\nTHE WEEK AHEAD\nThe House\u2019s work week begins tonight with an important vote that will allow the House to go into a Conference Committee with the Senate to work out our differences on the \u201cTax Cuts and Jobs Act.\u201d I\u2019ve said it all along, bringing tax reform to the President\u2019s desk is a long process, and this is another step in that process that will hopefully be fulfilled before the end of this year.\nThe House is also expected to consider and pass two regulatory reduction bills that will spur economic growth through cutting red tape:\u00a0H.R. 477, the \u201cSmall Business Mergers, Acquisitions, Sales, and Brokerage Simplification Act of 2017,\u201d and\u00a0H.R. 3971, the \u201cCommunity Institution Mortgage Relief Act of 2017.\u201d H.R. 477 would make it easier for hometown brokers to help small businesses to sell or merge without onerous federal regulations and registration requirements getting in the way. We know that hard-working small\u00a0business men\u00a0and women want to grow the economy, and one way to do that is to engage in mergers and acquisitions with other small businesses. The brokers that help them do that shouldn\u2019t be overly burdened by federal regulations that are meant for large broker-deals making Wall Street level transactions, not Main Street level transactions. \u00a0Similarly, H.R. 3971 would boost local economic growth by making it easier for small community banks and credit unions to engage in mortgage lending and servicing business without having to comply with the complicated and unnecessary regulations of the Dodd-Frank Act that are meant for large financial institutions with expansive mortgage portfolios. I look forward to sending both of these common-sense bills to the Senate soon, and hopefully, seeing them cross the President\u2019s desk.\u00a0\nSincerely,    \n\tRob Woodall  \n\tMember of Congress", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://woodall.house.gov/media-center/e-newsletter-archive/washington-watch-12417"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.781164038926363, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}