Last month, I had the honor of meeting Hunter West and his father, Dave. Earlier this summer, Hunter graduated as Valedictorian from Raceland-Worthington High School and will be attending the University of Louisville’s JB Speed School of Engineering to study Mechanical Engineering.

Hunter received a perfect score of 36 on his ACT not once, but twice! And that’s just the start of his achievements to date. He is also a U.S. Presidential Scholar, Governor’s Scholar, National Merit Scholar, Kentucky Technology Student Association State President, Governor’s Cup Quick Recall State Champion, Quiz Bowl National All-Star, and Governor’s Cup Science Top-10 State Finisher.

Congratulations again on your accomplishments, Hunter. As an engineer myself, I enjoyed hearing about your excitement to start your studies this fall—I wish you the best of luck!

At the beginning of August, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport CEO Candace McGraw penned an Op-Ed titled, Rep. Massie leading the fight to fix US airports. 

McGraw writes:

"One of the financing tools that airports rely on to fund infrastructure projects is the Passenger Facility Charge (PFC). The PFC is federally capped at a maximum of $4.50. It hasn’t been updated in nearly 20 years, making it ineffective and inadequate to serve 21st century airports.

In an effort to address the significant funding shortfall faced by CVG and all of America’s airports, Congressman Massie has introduced legislation to allow airports to establish a PFC at the rate needed by each airport based on its capital needs. This free market solution would go a long way toward improving our airports."

Click here to read the full Op-Ed. 

I had the opportunity to tour the Acela CBD facility in Maysville, Kentucky last month. It’s always exciting to see how the new industrial hemp industry has boosted the economy in Kentucky—especially when I’m able to wear a lab coat which reminds me of my days at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Acela CBD is a particularly innovative startup. This company is entirely local, contracting with Kentucky farms to supply industrial hemp, honey, lemongrass, lavender, and other ingredients to use in their own products.

Last month, I met with members of the AMAC - The Association of Mature American Citizens. The organization's mission is to protect the interests of America’s seniors by fighting runaway taxes, excessive government regulation, and the erosion of government accountability.

At the town hall-style meeting, I told audience members about a bill I recently reintroduced, the bipartisan Senior Citizens Tax Elimination Act (H.R. 3971). Although Americans pay tax on their Social Security contributions via the payroll tax, seniors are still required to list their benefits as taxable income on their tax returns during retirement. Many seniors are then forced to pay a tax—again!—on the Social Security benefits that they withdraw from the federal government. My bill would exempt Social Security retirement benefits from taxation, eliminating this unjust double-tax.

My goal for the Senior Citizens Tax Elimination Act is to get it through committee and to the House floor for a vote by getting buy-in from cosponsors on both sides of the aisle.

I also spoke about high drug prices. I serve as a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and we recently had a hearing on this topic. As an engineer, I try to avoid misidentifying contributing factors to a problem. For instance, some people wrongly think that patents are to blame for the high price of insulin and the EpiPen, but the reality is the patents for those original drugs and drug delivery methods have expired. The audience and I discussed two verifiable contributing factors to the high price of drugs at Tuesday’s meeting. First, I explained how the Food and Drug Administration’s burdensome regulatory approval process for generic drugs stifles competition, which makes drugs like the EpiPen more expensive. Another contributing factor is the Medicare Anti-Kickback Safe Harbor Statute, created by Congress, which gives an otherwise illegal advantage to group purchasing organizations and pharmacy benefit managers. The safe harbor has unintentionally created a system where purchasing agents, not clinicians, routinely decide which drugs, medical devices, and supplies physicians can use for their patients.

During the question and answer period, I was asked about foreign relations with Israel, "LGBTQ rights," and social media bias. My answer to these prompts came back to a central point: Most things my colleagues in Congress attempt to control are not within the purview of the federal government. When deciding how to vote in Congress, I use a 3 part test—is it constitutional; can we afford it; is it better handled on a state or local level?

Many thanks to Andrew Mangione Jr., Vice President of AMAC, for the invitation.

“Congress is notorious for passing legislation without reading it, but the urge to rush legislation reached a new level in Washington this month. Some members of Congress have announced support for gun control bills that haven’t even been written yet!

What’s already clear from their vague proposals, however, is that none of these measures would have stopped any recent mass public shooting. For the safety of the general public, perhaps we should have a mandatory waiting period for lawmakers who rush to pass unconstitutional and unhelpful legislation.”

Click here to read more of the Op-Ed that Representative Jim Jordan and I wrote about recent gun control proposals.