I am honored to announce that I will be joining the Senate Finance Committee, and I thank Senator McConnell and the Republican Conference for allowing me the opportunity to serve on this important committee.

There is no aspect of our daily lives that is not touched by the laws and regulations that fall under the committee’s jurisdiction, from the tax code and our nation’s trade laws to health care and retirement security.  Regrettably, many of these laws and regulations have become so burdensome and complex that they are choking our nation’s economy, hampering job creation, and drowning our country in debt.  I look forward to working with my committee colleagues to address these critical challenges which I believe are among the most important of our time.

While taking the seat on Finance requires me to leave my seat on the Energy Committee, this new committee assignment will only serve to complement my current seat on the Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee, particularly on health care and retirement security issues.  I have long made these issues a priority, and look forward to bringing my ideas and experience to the table at Finance.

Given the broad scope of Finance’s jurisdiction, and the critical importance of these issues to the day-to-day lives of all North Carolinians and all Americans, I look forward to the challenges that this new opportunity brings.

Also this week, I introduced a bill that holds the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) accountable for funds saved through competitive bidding for major VA medical facilities. The legislation mandates that VA obtain congressional approval to expand the scope of a previously authorized project if it wishes to use funds saved as a result of a favorable bidding environment.

This is common sense and fair legislation that will apply any bid savings toward projects that are already on the waiting list. Congress can help VA maximize the use of the limited funding available for construction projects by properly allocating them where they are most needed.

Finally, I want to address a bill I introduced last week to increase efficiency and cut spending by combining the Department of Energy and the EPA into a single, streamlined agency.  This legislation would not make any changes to our nation’s pollution laws or energy policy, nor would it reduce current enforcement responsibilities. In his State of the Union address earlier this year, the President proposed merging and consolidating federal agencies, and this bill advances that proposal. I think we can all agree that decreasing administrative costs by combining duplicative support and administrative functions is a common sense way to reduce government sense spending.  You can read more about this bill by clicking here.