Legislative Update from Congressman Pete Sessions

The House continued our work to pass common-sense bills this week to help provide relief to the American people from the failed policies of the Obama Administration. On Wednesday, we approved H.R. 4118, the Suspending the Individual Mandate Penalty Law Equals Fairness Act, which delays ObamaCare’s individual mandate. Since ObamaCare was enacted in 2010, the Administration has delayed or modified parts of the law more than 20 times through unilateral executive. Although the employer mandate has been delayed twice due to pressure from businesses and unions seeking reprieve from the law’s onerous costs, the Obama Administration refuses to delay the individual mandate. I believe that families and individuals deserve the same relief as businesses from the devastating health care law. While I continue to fight to fully repeal the president’s health care law, I was pleased to vote this week to protect all Americans from ObamaCare’s individual mandate.

On Thursday, the House passed H.R. 3826, the Electricity Security and Affordability Act, and H.R. 2641, the Responsibly And Professionally Invigorating Development (RAPID) Act. These bills seek to address the Administration’s failed energy and jobs policies. At a time when millions of Americans are looking for work, the focus in Washington should be on productive ways to harness our nation’s vast energy resources instead of promulgating new onerous and expensive regulations that undermine economic growth. The RAPID Act streamlines the approval process for infrastructure, energy, and construction projects to generate economic activity and job creation. The Electricity Security and Affordability Act repeals recently proposed EPA regulations for future fossil fuel-fired power plants to ensure that we have abundant, affordable, and domestically-generated energy.