Last night was one of my favorite nights of the year in Washington: the annual charity Congressional Baseball Game.  Every year, Republican and Democrat Members of Congress face off for the coveted Roll Call Trophy.  I’m proud to say the GOP continued our seven year wining streak, beating the Democrats 5-2. 

While last year I drove a double into the left field corner off Democratic pitcher Joe Baca (D-CA), this year I was stranded on third base twice – 90 feet away from scoring a run.  Regardless, it was still a fun night.

I’ve included some photographs from the game below.  This year, I wore the Berry College Vikings uniform.  In the past, I’ve worn uniforms from Kennesaw State University, Georgia Tech and the Rome Braves. 

#11 (our district) is #1 in my book

Republicans and Democrats line up to pledge allegiance

Leading off second base

 Joking with my friends in the crowd

The Small Business Administration’s Disaster Loan deadline is rapidly approaching. Georgia businesses requesting disaster loans must file by April 23, 2007.  The SBA can provide loans for businesses in the event of a disaster, from economic injury loans to personal property loans. To learn more, visit the SBA’s Disaster Loan website HERE. �

Click HERE to read the latest edition of the Gingrey Report, Phil’s weekly update on the latest news from Washington and Georgia.

In today’s Atlanta Journal Constitution, Phil opines on S.B. 155, legislation introduced in the Georgia state Senate to make HPV vaccination mandatory for all sixth-grade girls.  Phil notes:

[T]he Georgia Legislature would be wrong to implement a mandatory vaccination program for our sixth-grade girls… As a father, physician and member of Congress, I firmly believe parents, not politicians, should be making health care decisions for our children.

His reasoning?

In Georgia, public school students must be vaccinated against a variety of diseases, from measles and mumps to polio and rubella. These diseases pose communicable health threats; vaccination is mandatory to protect our children from the sneezes and coughs of infected schoolmates.

But HPV is not a communicable disease; it is a sexually transmitted disease, one that is passed not through casual contact, but through sexual behavior. In short, our students aren’t at risk of catching HPV by sharing a juice box at lunch or playing tag during recess.

Because of this critical distinction, it is both inappropriate and unprecedented to mandate vaccination for HPV. The Georgia Legislature would do a grave disservice to parents across our state by allowing the government to unnecessarily take a health care decision away from our families.

Phil concludes:

There any many reasons parents might oppose vaccinating their children, from religious objections to age-appropriateness to concerns over side effects and adverse reactions. Whatever the reason, it is a discussion for the doctor’s office, not the statehouse.

When we assume that elected officials better know the health care needs of our children than do their own parents, we risk turning over the care of our loved ones to the whims of our government.

To read the complete Op-Ed, click HERE. To read more about legislation Phil introduced to combat this growing trend, click HERE.

Today, I had the honor of eating lunch with Petty Officer Dustin Kirby, a solider from Hiram, Georgia who was injured by sniper fire outside of Falluja on Christmas Day.  He’s been recovering at the Bethesda Naval hospital, where I’ve had the opportunity to visit with him and his family (see the photo above). Dustin’s wife, Lauren, and his parents, Jack and Gail, were able to join us, and also enjoyed a tour of the White House and the Capitol.

Our lunch together was inspiring. Dustin is so full of enthusiasm and humor, it is hard to remember he was injured a mere 4 weeks ago while defending the freedom of our nation. His attitude made me so proud to live in a country where brave men and women dedicate themselves to upholding the liberties we enjoy every day.

I wish Dustin a speedy recovery.  I know the support of his family and his sharp sense of humor will help him grow in strength every day.

In today’s papers, Phil gives us his take on President Bush’s speech last night. The Associated Press reports on Phil’s appeal for bipartisanship on Iraq:

“It is so important to give this a chance, to give victory a chance,” Republican Rep. Phil Gingrey of Marietta said of Bush’s plan to send more troops and money in an effort to stabilize Iraq. “The president I think is making a very reasonable request of the Congress.”

In the Cartersville Daily Tribune, Phil calls the President’s comments on Iraq courageous:

President George W. Bush delivered his sixth State of the Union Address Tuesday night to Congress and the country with what has been declared the lowest approval ratings of any president since Richard Nixon.

That shows just how much courage he has, according to Rep. Phil Gingrey. Attributing the low poll numbers to the negative news about progress in Iraq, Gingrey said the American people are tired of losing. However, he feels reassured that “the president is committed to victory.”

But in the Marietta Daily Journal, Phil explains he didn’t see eye-to-eye with everything the President had to say – especially on immigration:

“I am concerned the President’s guest worker program amounts to amnesty for illegal immigrants,” Gingrey said. “The state of Georgia has felt the full impact of illegal immigration on our health care, education and social welfare systems, and amnesty would only exacerbate these problems.”

To read more of Gingrey’s comments, click HERE.

The Marietta Daily Journal reports this morning on efforts to reduce drug trafficking in the Atlanta area:

White House Director of National Drug Control Policy John Walters on Monday named Cobb as one of two metro-Atlanta counties that will benefit from a federal crackdown on illegal drug trafficking.

Walters and Congressman Phil Gingrey (R-Marietta) made the announcement at Cobb Police headquarters Monday morning as they presented a check for $1.1 million to Jack Killorin, director of the Atlanta-area High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program.

Walters explained the critical nature of Atlanta’s drug problem:

“That Atlanta area has become a hub,” Walters said. “It has become a way in which traffic coming across the southwest border comes up and is distributed in the eastern part of the United States. It’s not coming from Miami. It’s coming from Atlanta.”

Phil noted that while the inclusion of Cobb County in this anti-trafficking program was a tremendous step forward, there is still more to be done in the future:

“We felt it very necessary that we expanded the (Atlanta-area program),” Gingrey said. “We want to eventually get into northwest Georgia where there are a lot of clandestine laboratories for the production of methamphetamines, which is ruining a lot of people’s lives.”

For more information on the $1.1 Million grant, click HERE.

On the House floor today, Phil remembered Dr. Robert Lipson, CEO of Wellstar Healthcare System in Georgia. Dr. Lipson was killed in an automobile accident earlier this week.

Below are exerts of Phil’s speech:

Dr. Robert Lipson, the Chief Executive Officer and President of Wellstar Health System, was a man of honor and genuine character.

When Dr. Lipson saw the great need for primary care physicians in his community, he decided to leave his lucrative private practice and put together the Wellstar team.  There he helped build the Wellstar Physicians Group, which currently is comprised of 250 physicians who are responsible for nearly a million annual patient visits in Northwest Georgia.

Dr. Lipson will also be remembered as a prolific philanthropist.  He was known for his generous spirit, always willing to support charities that needed his help.  And due to the financial success of the system he led, he was able to give back compassionately to the community.

Mr. Speaker, I cannot say enough about this fine man, a man who did more in his too-short 60 years than many can aspire to in a longer lifetime. 

To read more about Dr. Lipson, click HERE for an article on his life from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.Š

Did you do a double-take? That’s not a photo of Phil, it’s a photo of Jose Serrano, a Congressman representing the 16th District of New York. 

The Hill Newspaper today surmises that Phil and Mr. Serrano were “separated at birth”:

Both have curly dark hair and substantial mustaches. Reps. José Serrano (D-N.Y.) and Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) have long been confused for each other, so much so that Serrano was once shown Gingrey’s medical chart at the House physician’s office.

Phil’s staff members have noticed the similarity, too:

Gingrey spokeswoman Becky Ruby is well aware of the look-alike phenomenon: “It’s the mustache, I tell you. It’s that dark hair and that dark mustache.”

 “Sometimes we’ll see him on the House floor and it takes a second look to be sure it’s not our boss, though Congressman Serrano does lack Congressman Gingrey’s thick Southern drawl. When one of them speaks, it’s a dead giveaway.”