The momentum that the National Guard empowerment issue has been gaining in the Senate and the House has several explanations, but one is the deeply personal experience of lawmakers who have personally encountered the bureaucratic cobwebs that the Guard has to contend with in order to perform its many and varied missions.

Monday morning's CongressDaily gives a glimpse of that. Writer George Wilson recaps an interview with Congressman Gene Taylor of Mississippi, who lost his own house to Katrina. Congressman Taylor recounts calling General Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, asking for help for his desperate constituents. If it was up to General Blum, the Guard's help would immediately have been on its way. But under the Guard's stepchild relationship with the Pentagon, General Blum had to work it through Army channels to get the Army's permission to help. Congressman Taylor contrasts that call with his appeal to the Navy, which was answered instantly.

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Since the beginning, I have thought that this war went against every traditional conservative principle I know. Millions of conservatives across this Nation believe this war was unconstitutional, unaffordable and worst of all, unnecessary.

As a physician for over 25 years, I've seen our health care delivery system change in significant ways. Some changes, like medical breakthroughs and prescription drug availability, have been wonderful. Some changes, though, have left patients with less flexibility and higher costs - this is clearly an area in need of improvement. Consequently, I recently introduced H. Res. 876 calling for greater patient empowerment and choice in healthcare decisions. Reforming our health care system is much easier said than done. Of the numerous ideas and proposals out there, we must adhere to fundamental principles as we move forward. The paramount tenet of all healthcare is that medical decisions must be made by patients and their doctors.

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Roughly two dozen OCS (Outer Continental Shelf)-related energy bills have been introduced in this Congress. The Deep Ocean Energy Resources (DOER) Act is a hybrid of these bills, making it the most comprehensive, balanced and forward-thinking approach proposed to date. The current one-size-fits-all federal framework locks away massive amounts of desperately-needed energy resources and will not withstand the pressures of economic necessities much longer. It does not allow states that wish to produce off-shore energy for the nation the ability to do so, nor does it give states that wish to continue off-shore production bans any real assurance they will be able to so for the long term. The DOER Act is a commonsense compromise that rectifies this imbalance. It creates a flexible framework that balances the interests of different states by putting the states themselves in the driver's seat with unprecedented authority over their coastal resources.  Energy is the lifeblood of our economy.  Producing more American energy creates more American jobs, lowers prices for consumers, and strengthens our economy- goals all Members of Congress fight to achieve together.

As the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Health Subcommittee, I feel strongly that we must address the unique challenges that rural veterans face in accessing health care. Nationwide, more than 44 percent of recent U.S. military recruits come from rural areas, while across the country, one in five veterans who is enrolled to receive VA health care lives in a rural area. Veterans who live in rural settings are often older and have more physical and mental health diseases as compared to veterans who live in suburban or urban settings, and often lack access to high-quality medical services. The Rural Veterans Health Care Act would help address the unique challenges that our rural veterans face by increasing the number of facilities in rural areas and the amount of outreach that goes directly to rural veterans through mobile Vet Centers; encouraging recruitment and training of health care professionals in rural areas by instituting new programs and medical rotations; focusing on research related to the needs of rural veterans by establishing four Rural Health Research, Education, and Clinical Care Centers; and helping to develop the IT infrastructure needed to enhance services in rural areas. These are important steps that will make meaningful differences in the lives of rural veterans and help them to access the care that they have earned.

Having a social security number visible on a health care or identification card poses an unnecessary risk to an individual’s personal information. My bill would remove that threat from ever being realized. With all the technological advances we have these days, there’s no need to put Americans’ personal information in jeopardy. Why not remove these risks and protect people when and where you can?

The mysterious appearance of this letter, which details Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham looking to secure a contract for Shirlington Limousine with the Department of Homeland Security, on the day after the hearing and after intense media scrutiny would lead even the most trusting person to wonder what else is lurking in the catacombs of the DHS. This is all a bit too convenient. I can promise that this investigation will go forward and we will hold the top leaders of this Department accountable. If we can't trust them to find a letter, how can we trust them to find a terrorist?

On Tuesday June 13, the House Armed Services Committee met to consider H.R. 5200, a bill that would reorganize the National Guard as an independent service within the Department of Defense and appoint the Director of the National Guard Bureau to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The bill would also elevate the Director of the National Guard Bureau to the rank of 4-star general.

This hearing was the first of what I believe will be many hearings on this topic. Today, the guard and reserve have become an operational reserve. Individuals serving in either the guard or the reserve are expected to be highly trained and ready to deploy when called. Approximately 40% of the armed forces members currently in Iraq and Afghanistan are members of either the guard or reserve. Because the roles of the guard and reserve are changing, the committee will hold numerous hearings to determine the best way to reorganize the Department of Defense.

The last major reconstruction of the Pentagon was the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986. The Goldwater-Nichols Act created the Joint Chiefs of Staff, appointed the Chairman of the Joint Chief as the primary military advisor to the President, and ushered in an era of joint cooperation between the services that led to repeated military success over the past 20 years. I am confident the committee will carefully deliberate and legislate on a bipartisan basis in the best interest of our nation to reorganize the Department of Defense.

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I've been fighting the Line Item Veto for years.  I think that it is an invitation to blackmail.  It is an abdication of the power of the House to a President who doesn't have better judgement than we do on spending.

Should it pass, I assure you it will go back to the Supreme Court.