It’s been a busy week in Washington. I thought I’d take a moment to update you on the latest on the health care debate and a little about what I’ve been working on.

As you know, the health care bill has been the dominant issue in Washington for some time now, and it will continue to be so for the foreseeable future. That’s a good thing. People are beginning to see this health care reform bill for what it is – a giant step toward government-run health care, and they don’t like what they see. The longer this debate continues, the better it is for all of us.

Some claim that Republicans offer no solutions. Let me assure you that this is not the case. Republicans, including myself, have offered numerous bills to help drive down the cost of health care and make it more accessible to those with or without insurance. Our proposals foster competition in the marketplace and allow for portability so you can take your insurance with you if you switch jobs. Our proposals give people more control over their own health care decisions by creating incentives for people to be more engaged in managing their well being.

Our solutions allow businesses to come together to purchase insurance as a larger block, therefore driving down costs for them and their employees. If we're serious about reforming health care and not expanding government, we can see positive results very soon.

If you’ve read my previous messages, you’ve seen what Safeway, a national grocery store chain, is doing to stabilize costs while gaining a healthier workforce. This only goes to prove that we do not need more government intervention – we need to let the free market work.

Yesterday, I appeared on MSNBC to discuss the President’s health care proposals. I hope you’ll take a few moments to watch it and, as always, I’d appreciate hearing your thoughts.

On another note, this week I announced plans to file 540 amendments to strip earmarks from the bill making appropriations for the Department of Defense, which we will consider next week on the House floor. If you’re wondering why I’m offering so many, it’s because there are 540 no-bid contracts for private companies in the bill. This isn’t just wasteful, it’s corrupting. No member of congress should have the ability to award no-bid contracts. Now we’ll see how many of these amendments the Democrats allow to come to the floor. Not many, I’m guessing, but I’ll keep trying.

Thank you again for your continued support. I look forward to hearing from you.