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This week, the United States House of Representatives passed the “Jobs for America Act” to grow our economy and put Americans back to work. This package of bills included proposals to provide our farmers and small business owners with needed tax relief, and reduce unnecessary regulations. For the 2014 tax year, unless the “Jobs for America Act” or something like it passes, the amount of equipment that farmers and small businesses can expense like tractors, heavy machinery, or computer software, will be reduced by ninety-five percent. Section 179 of the tax code – the section that provides for the equipment deduction – expired on January first of this year. Unless it is renewed for 2014, folks will only be able

Even as we're kicking off football season, we can all recognize that one area in which we shouldn't just be tossing the ball back and forth is policy-making. Unfortunately, instead of putting the necessary polices into place to keep boosting jobs and businesses, some members of Congress have once against turned a traditionally nonpartisan issue into the next controversial political football. As I traveled around Missouri in recent weeks, I saw signs of our country's economic recovery everywhere. Businesses are thriving, companies are hiring, and construction is booming. But we have more work to do. To keep us on this path to recovery, we've got to make sure we're using every available resource at our disposal to continue boosting jobs

Last fall, millions of Americans and families right here in Missouri had their health insurance plans cancelled despite repeated promises from President Obama that if you liked your health plan, you would be able to keep it. Now, millions more with employer-sponsored coverage are also facing plan cancellations because their plans do not meet ObamaCare’s requirements. In response to this problem, this week the House passed H.R. 3522, the “Employee Health Care Protection Act.” This bill would help American workers keep their current health insurance plans and fulfill President Obama’s broken promise. It would also give Americans in the group insurance market the opportunity to keep their current health insurance policies. Additionally, the bill we passed would give small businesses

The above book is available at Amazon.com: Makers: The New Industrial Revolution Have you heard of The Maker Movement? I've only recently started seeing it used as a term, but it is more than just a catch phrase. I believe it is part of the return of “America, The Great”. Sometimes people, even nations stray from the path that made them great in the first place. They start taking the easy road rather than the right road. I believe this is what happened to America. When America was new, she was the land of Makers. We made everything we used. And we invented new things to make what we do easier and better than what we could in the past.

Over the last two weeks I have visited dozens of farms and ranches and listened to hundreds of farmers on my second annual Eighth Congressional District Farm Tour. Agriculture in South-Central and Southeast Missouri is incredibly diverse. If fact, we grow everything except citrus and sugar. While the crops we grow and the livestock we raise are diverse, every farmer I talked to in the last two weeks brought up the same topic: the EPA war on rural America. No other federal agency pushes more intrusive and ineffective regulations on farmers than the Environmental Protection Agency. On the Farm Tour, the EPA’s proposed “Waters of the United States” plan was discussed numerous times. Back in April, the EPA announced it would