This Week From Washington Video:
Addressing Rising Gas Prices

Watch the entire video online HERE.

 Georgia Gasoline Prices

• April 2012 Average: $3.71 per gallon
• February 2009 Average: $1.75 per gallon

Since President Obama took office, gas prices have more than doubled. Rather than increasing our domestic energy production to responsibly combat rising oil prices, President Obama has suggested tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR.) The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is an emergency oil supply meant to protect the United States from natural disasters—not shield President Obama from a political one. Should the President choose to draw down the SPR, H.R. 4480, the Strategic Energy Production Act of 2012, would preserve our emergency supply by requiring the equivalent amount of federal land to be opened up for oil and gas exploration. You can learn more about this important legislation here.

This week, members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and I passed the Gasoline Regulations Act of 2012. This bill establishes a temporary committee to study the impact of EPA regulations on U.S. energy prices and prevents the three most punitive regulations from taking effect until six months after the committee reports its findings. Learn more about H.R. 4471.

Medicare 'Slush Fund'

In yet another election-year tactic, President Obama redirected $8.3 billion dollars into a Medicare ‘slush fund’ . The passage of Obamacare was especially damaging for seniors as it effectively guts the Medicare Advantage plan. With federal ‘open-enrollment’ scheduled a few weeks before Election Day, it’s no surprise that the President would want to postpone drastic changes for 12 million seniors in order to entice voters. This is another reason why we must repeal Obamacare and focus on implementing fiscally sound and long-term, patient-centered solutions.

Stafford Loans

Many of you have expressed concern about the impending increase in federal student loan interest rates. To be clear, students who took out subsidized Stafford loans as undergraduates between 2007 and today will keep the fixed interest rate provided at the time of the loan. Without Congressional action, beginning July 1, 2012, any new subsidized student loan taken out will be subject to a 6.8 percent interest rate. To prevent this, House Republicans have introduced H.R. 4628, the Interest Rate Reduction Act, which sets a 3.4 percent interest rate for undergraduate Stafford loans. To offset the $5.9 billion cost, another Obamacare ‘slush fund’, the Prevention and Public Health Fund, which costs taxpayers $11.9 billion over ten years, will be repealed. The remaining $6 billion will be dedicated to deficit reduction.

Congressional Art Competition

Last Friday, I announced the winners of the annual Congressional Art Competition during a ceremony at the Rome Area History Museum. Congratulations to our first place winner, Mattie Stubbs of Darlington. I am proud to feature her artwork in our nation’s Capitol. I welcome all of you to visit Washington to view the full student exhibition.

The winners are:

First place — Mattie Stubbs of Darlington
Second place — Avani Reddy of Darlington
Third place — Seohi Song of Kennesaw Mountain

Honorable Mentions: 

Larae Krouse — Armuchee
Kelsey Ann Williams — Darlington
Luuly Nguyen — Kennesaw Mountain

Next Monday marks the beginning of a constituent work week. I look forward to speaking with many of you while I am back in the 11^th district.

Photo of the Week

Congratulations to the winners of the Congressional Art Competition. First-place winner Mattie Stubbs of Darlington and Second-place winner Avani Reddy of Darlington are pictured with their art teacher, Kathryn O’Mara. View the full list of winners and honorable mentions on my website.

Media Highlights of the Week

• On Tuesday, I spoke with Alan Ray of WBHF 1450 AM Cartersville about this week’s legislative agenda.
• I also joined the Al Gainey Show on Tuesday to discuss my joint report with Rep. Roe and Senators Coburn and Barrasso about the coming insolvency of Medicare. You can read our full report on my website here.
• Later that day, I addressed Obamacare spending and the Senate’s lack of a budget with G. Gordon Liddy.

Social Media ‘Suggestions’

I am participating in the Congressional ‘Twitter Challenge’. Twitter is a great way to keep in touch with constituents back home about key votes, legislative updates, and upcoming events. Stay informed and help me to reach my goal of communicating with 10,000 followers by signing up to ‘follow’ me.

 
Op-Ed of the Week

Physicians News Digest: An Invisible Threat

Imagine a world where a simple cut, or common cold, can routinely lead to hospitalization and even death. Sixty years ago, that world was a reality. The advent of penicillin along with 40 years of medical innovation changed all that, resulting in a host of new antibiotic drugs that literally transformed public health in the United States. 

However, as with many other forms of life, living micro organisms will adapt and build defenses to outside threats over time. For bacteria, that defense mechanism is evolution: the more often a drug is used to treat a certain type of bacteria, the more that bacteria will respond by developing resistant strains. 

To counterbalance this progression, patients need access to newer and stronger forms of antibiotics when resistance occurs. Unfortunately, drug development has not kept up with the pace of bacterial evolution in recent years.

According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the approval of new antibiotics has decreased by 70 percent since the mid-1980s. A combination of factors – including the high cost of drug development and small profit margins – have helped to drive companies out of the anti-infective space for markets where the return on investment is much higher. The result, quite simply, is a stagnant research and development pipeline for antibiotics that is ill equipped to keep up with evolving bacterium. Without fresh and complex medical treatments available, the American people face a potentially catastrophic situation.

Today, antibiotic-resistant infections cause more deaths annually than AIDS, traffic accidents, or the flu - and those numbers will only get worse if nothing is done. The discovery of the “New Delhi” gene, which can create drug-resistance to nearly any bacteria it comes in contact with, is a threat that remains particularly worrisome as it makes these infections virtually untreatable. Americans from all walks of life are at risk to bugs like the “New Delhi” gene, but patients with chronic illnesses, children, and wounded soldiers on foreign battlefields are especially vulnerable populations.

Without new policies and market mechanisms that encourage companies back into the antibiotic business, we are simply ignoring the looming public threat that compromises the health and welfare of the United States – and the world. Given the fact that it takes years to create and get a new drug approved by the FDA, it is imperative that we address this problem now before we are faced with a deadly bug for which no treatment is available. 

Therefore, I joined with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to introduce H.R. 2182, the Generating Antibiotic Incentives Now (GAIN) Act, now included in broader health care legislation known as the FDA User Fee Authorization Act. Among other things, the legislation creates more value for new antibiotic companies by increasing FDA data exclusivity protections for new products, while at the same time encouraging greater collaboration between regulators and companies that seek approval for new treatments.

As both a physician and a Member of Congress, I recognize that the threat posed to public health by bacterial infections is not a political issue, but rather a serious health problem facing all Americans. People from all walks of life – and on both sides of the aisle – are at risk. It is my hope that this legislation – crafted on a bipartisan basis for the benefit of patients in all 50 states – will spur innovation and encourage the development of new antibiotics to the superbugs of tomorrow.  

Congressman Phil Gingrey, M.D., was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2002.  He is a graduate of the Medical College of Georgia and practiced for 26 years as an OB/GYN.