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About

Source: Government page

Congressman Mark Meadows is in his fourth term in Congress serving North Carolina’s Eleventh District since January of 2013. Meadows ran for Congress after a career in business, accumulating nearly 30 years of work experience as a small business owner.

During his time in the House, Rep. Meadows has been a known champion for fiscal responsibility, accountable government, pro-growth economic policies, pro-family and pro-life initiatives, and a strong military. Meadows’s office is widely known in North Carolina and on Capitol Hill for providing top notch constituent services—particularly in service of Veterans and military members.

Rep. Meadows has developed a reputation on Capitol Hill as a principled conservative with a unique ability to communicate, negotiate, and find consensus among members with differing opinions. Both Democrats and Republicans alike refer to him as a “great leader,” a “listener,” and someone who “doesn’t back down from a fight.” As a result, in just over 5 years in Washington, Meadows has risen to be one of the most influential Members of Congress—and has been called so in multiple profiles and pieces of political commentary.

In 2015, Meadows co-founded the House Freedom Caucus, an influential group consisting of roughly 40 conservative Members of Congress dedicated to giving a voice to those who feel forgotten by their government. Meadows was elected chairman of the caucus in 2016, serving from 2017-2019 — where under his chairmanship, the Freedom Caucus became one of the most powerful conservative caucuses in the US Congress. Meadows led the group through numerous high profile legislative battles, including healthcare reform and tax reform—and as a result, several commentators have labeled the House Freedom Caucus as, under Meadows’ leadership, a group with “new clout in Washington.”

Meadows expertise spans a broad policy portfolio. He served two consecutive terms as Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Operations (2015-2019), with oversight jurisdiction over federal agencies, including the Executive Office of the President, the Postal Service, and more. He also served three terms as a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, with expertise in the Middle East and North Africa. Meadows was the lead sponsor of H.R. 2297, a landmark bill from the 115th Congress which was signed into law, that harshly sanctioned the terrorist organization Hezbollah by targeting their foreign assets and global criminal operations. Meadows has also been recognized numerous times for his support of Israel, including his leadership of a bipartisan charge to condemn the United Nation’s anti-Israel record fighting back against anti-Israel policies that came to the forefront under the Obama Administration.

Congressman Meadows serves as the lead Republican on two different subcommittees in the 116th Congress: Ranking Member of the Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Government Operations—involving oversight jurisdiction over federal agencies; and Ranking Member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management. Both roles give Rep. Meadows a unique opportunity to shape policy debates directly benefiting western North Carolinians.

Meadows’s leadership on Capitol Hill has been recognized by the American Conservative Union, the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), the National Rifle Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Taxpayer Union (NTU), the Military Officers Association of America, the Nature Conservatory, the National Retail Federation, the FreedomWorks “FreedomFighter Award,” and more. He has also previously served as a congressional delegate to the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly and as a commissioner on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.

Above all, Congressman Meadows is a deeply committed Christian, and someone who has demonstrated a devotion to his faith even in the highest pressure environments. One of his proudest accomplishments to date was his role in helping secure the release of Miriam Ibrahim, an individual who had been imprisoned by the Sudanese government for simply practicing her Christian faith.

Mark and Debbie, have two grown children and one granddaughter.

Experience

Work Experience

• Manager/ Coordinator
  Tampa Electric
  1983 to 1986
• Real estate developer
  1990 to present

Education

• A.S.
  University of South Florida

Personal

Birth Year: 1959
Place of Birth: Verdun, France
Gender: Male
Race(s): Caucasian
Religion: Christian
Spouse:  Debbie Meadows
Children: Blake Meadows, Haley Meadows

Contact

Email:

• Government
• Campaign

Offices

Washington D.C. Office
2160 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-6401
Fax: (202) 226-6422

Henderson District Office
Main District Office
Henderson County Court House
200 N. Grove Street, Suite 90
Hendersonville, NC 28792
Phone: (828) 693-5660
Fax: (828) 693-5603

Web

Government Page, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook

Politics

Source: none

Recent Elections

2018 of 11th District

Finances

MEADOWS, MARK RANDAL has run in 5 races for public office, winning 4 of them. The candidate has raised a total of $4,897,436.

Source: Follow the Money

Committees

Committees

House Committee on Oversight and Reform
House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

Subcommittees

Government Operations
Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
National Security
Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management
Highways and Transit

Voting Record

See: Vote Smart

New Legislation

• Sponsored
• Cosponsored

Source: Congress.gov

Issues

Agriculture

Please contact my office at 202 225 6401 to learn more.

Defense & National Security 

Maintaining national security is one of the federal government’s primary responsibilities under the Constitution. We must ensure the people of the United States are protected by providing for our common defense. This nation has men and women in uniform stationed around the world with the goal of preserving our way of life. It is critical that our troops have the necessary resources to effectively defend our nation in the 21st century.

While we need to make sure the Department of Defense has the resources to protect our nation, this does not mean they should be written a blank check. With a national debt of more than $20 trillion, Congress needs to be working with our military leaders at the Pentagon to identify wasteful and duplicative programs that can be consolidated or removed in order to ensure our defense budget is being spent responsibly. As a member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, I look forward to working with my colleagues to guarantee our spending on defense is aiding troops on the ground and keeping our nation safe.

America is currently combating terrorism around the world. We cannot allow another terrorist attack to take place on our soil. Protecting our nation is not something that should be ever taken lightly. I am committed to working to make sure that our military has the capability to meet the modern-day challenges facing our nation.

Drug Pricing 

Over the last few decades, costs of healthcare and prescription drugs have increased at an unprecedented rate. As your representative, I’m deeply concerned about the financial burden this places on Americans and particularly families in western North Carolina. Given the urgency of this issue, I am constantly seeking out bipartisan solutions where both parties can work together to provide relief for families across the country, expanding the supply of prescription drugs and increasing competition in the U.S. market.

I’ve introduced two bills to address underlying problems in the market that contribute to these soaring prices:

H.R.2038 – The State-Based, Market-Oriented, Prescription Drug Negotiations Act of 2019. This bill would lower the costs of prescription drugs by allowing insurers to jointly negotiate prices of prescription drugs purchased from drug manufacturers.
H.R.2209 – The Fixing Global Freeloading Act. This bill would establish a Chief Pharmaceutical Negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative responsible for conducting trade negotiations and enforcing trade agreements to ensure that the United States’ pharmaceutical innovations are appropriately rewarded.
I’ve also done bipartisan work on legislation that addresses several important facets that affect the high cost of prescription drugs—resulting in cosponsoring the following legislation:

H.R. 965 – Creating and Restoring Equal Access to Equivalent Samples (CREATES) Act. CREATES aims to stop brand-drug makers from withholding samples that generic drug makers need to pursue U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review and approval.
H.R.2376 – Prescription Pricing for People Act of 2019. This bill requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to study the role of pharmacy benefit managers in the drug supply chain and make recommendations for how to improve transparency and competition.
H.R.2374 – Stop STALLING Act. This bill ends the practice of sham petitions by drugmakers to delay FDA approval of lower-cost generic alternatives.
HR 2375 – The Preserve Access to Affordable Generics and Biosimilars Act is halts anticompetitive agreements between generic and brand name manufacturers. Most recently, the FTC found that even an agreement not to market an authorized generic can be considered a form of reverse payment to delay the entry of generic competition.
H.R.938 – BLOCKING Act of 2019. Currently, federal law awards 180 days of market exclusivity to a drug manufacturer that’s the first to file a generic drug application with the FDA for a drug that doesn’t yet have a generic form. The 180-day exclusivity clock starts as soon as a manufacturer begins marketing the drug. At that point, all other generic competitors are blocked from coming to market. Some manufacturers have been allowed to “park” their 180-day exclusivity application before actually receiving final approval on it, subsequently blocking competition beyond the permitted 180 days. This bill amends Section 505(j)(5)(B)(iv) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to close this anti-competitive, regulatory loophole.

Economy & Jobs 

One of my top priorities is to ensure that the government creates an economic-friendly environment that will spur growth and help rebuild the economy of Western North Carolina and the nation. In order to do so, Congress must prioritize legislation that encourages job creation by keeping taxes low, paying down our national debt, controlling spending and eliminating waste, fraud and abuse within our government. Economic growth originates from the hard-working entrepreneurial spirit of the American people, not from Washington. The best thing we can do to reignite job growth in this country is to get the federal government out of the way of the American worker and ensure that the United States remains a top global economic competitor.

I will work hard to pass legislation focusing on empowering small business owners, reforming the tax code, paying down our national debt, fostering domestic energy production and removing burdensome regulations and mandates associated with intrusive government programs.

Education

Having proudly raised two children, I have a personal understanding of the successes and failures of our education system. We need to ensure that we are implementing the appropriate policies to educate the future leaders of our nation.

When it comes to the federal government, I believe this is one of the many areas where less is more. Rather than have government bureaucracy interfering in our schools, I believe we need to return the decision-making responsibility to states and local school boards. The teachers and principals tasked with educating our youth are much more qualified to make decisions on issues like curriculum than bureaucrats in Washington.

North Carolina has a proud legacy of success in higher education. From UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State to Western Carolina University and Appalachian State, our universities, colleges, and community colleges have a bright future ahead. With that said, we need to continue to find ways to keep college affordable and ensure that every North Carolinian has the opportunity to advance their education.

The best way for the federal government to help out in education is to get out of the way. Let’s get our parents involved and promote accountability within the education system. We should be striving, not settling, when it comes to educating our students.

Energy 

With energy prices continuing to rise, it is essential that Congress take bold actions to address our nation’s energy policy. America’s economic health and national security have become increasingly tied to our access to secure and affordable energy. High global demand for oil, coupled with increasing unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, continues to push the price of fuel to record levels.

In order to shield ourselves from the volatility of global energy markets, Congress’s number one energy-related priority should be to end our dependence on foreign suppliers. A more balanced energy portfolio, which includes both a robust, domestic oil and natural gas supply and numerous forms of renewable energies, is desperately needed to increase our energy independence. We must pave the way for increased carbon-based energy production by allowing greater drilling access to public lands, eliminating costly EPA regulations and investing in technological research to improve our energy production capabilities. In addition, we must always take advantage of opportunities to access sources of energy in neighboring countries, such as Canada.

Federal Budget & National Debt 

am deeply concerned about our nation’s fiscal situation and recognize the danger it poses to our economic well-being and national security. Today, out of control federal spending and excessive borrowing poses a serious threat to the long-term stability of the U.S. economy. At a time when strong leadership is needed in the White House, President Obama continues to fail to heed the warnings of economists and the desire of the American people to reduce government spending and balance the budget. With the national debt at over $20 trillion, the consequences of allowing our spending problems to continue to go unresolved are extremely dire.

In order to put us back on a path to budgetary balance and economic prosperity, we must offer bold solutions that tackle the drivers of the debt, including major reforms to our federal budget, tax code and entitlement systems. I will do everything in my power to rein in wasteful spending, fraud and abuse and push for tough reforms to ensure that we get our government’s fiscal house in order. I believe Congress must fulfill its responsibility to the taxpayers by being good stewards of their money. In order to do so, we will face some difficult choices, but the taxpayers should expect and desire nothing less from their representatives.

Health Care 

Reforming healthcare is critical to the future of our nation. With healthcare costs rising to record levels over the past twenty years, it is vitally important that we implement cost-control solutions. President Obama’s healthcare bill, the Affordable Care Act, does nothing to drive down the rising costs of healthcare and instead promotes more bureaucracy, more regulations, increased taxes, and less patient choice.

I believe we need to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act with real solutions that will actually help lower the cost of healthcare and leave the medical decisions to be made between a patient and their doctor, where it belongs. This starts with medical malpractice reform that protects the medical community from frivolous lawsuits and focuses on patient safety. We need to allow individuals and small businesses to group together to purchase the same health insurance plans as our larger employees. In addition, we should be allowing individuals and businesses purchase health insurance across state lines to promote competition within the health insurance market.

I am committed to repealing President Obama’s healthcare bill and replacing it with commonsense solutions that will improve healthcare quality while bringing down costs.

Immigration 

Throughout our nation’s history, legal immigrants have blessed the United States with talent, diversity and an expanding labor force that has been crucial in sustaining periods of robust economic growth. Restrained legal immigration is essential in maintaining our nation’s industrial capacity, technological edge and global competitiveness. However, illegal immigration puts tremendous strain on many of our nation’s resources, displaces American workers, threatens national security and makes a mockery out of our judicial system.

I believe immigration reform must, first and foremost, encompass a significant plan to secure and gain operational control of our borders, strengthen workplace enforcement and implement effective visa tracking capabilities. We must crack down on illegal immigration and enforce our current immigration laws, but until we enact measures to stop the flow of illegal immigrants across our borders, any reforms addressing the problem of illegals currently residing in the United States are impractical. Citizenship in this country is something to be valued, and I intend to fight to preserve that value.

Life 

I believe that human life is sacred – beginning at conception and ending in natural death. Based on this principle, I am strongly opposed to any policies that advocate for abortion or use taxpayer dollars to fund abortion providers. As a pro-life advocate, regardless of the politics, I will always fight to preserve and protect life.

Social Security & Medicare

Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid must be at the center of any serious proposal to return spending to sustainable levels. These programs represent over 40 percent of all government spending. Social Security works by taxing today’s workers to pay for today’s retirees. The money current retirees “paid in” during their working years went to pay their parent’s benefits, not to pay their own. In the 1960s, there were sixteen workers paying into Social Security for every person receiving benefits. Today, that number has dropped to just above three workers for each beneficiary. This decline in population growth is what will deplete the “trust fund” and cause Social Security to become insolvent by 2042.

Medicare faces much the same population driven problems as Social Security. Their long-term solvency, however, is further weakened by the new healthcare law’s $500 billion cuts to Medicare. These programs continue to promise more in benefits to more Americans than they are capable of sustaining with current payroll taxes.

Without reform, both Social Security and Medicare will be unable to fully meet their promises to the next generation of retirees and will enslave future generations with debt. I do not support seriously proposing radical changes to current or soon-to-be retirees’ benefits. But if we are to continue providing these safety-nets for Americans in need we must renegotiate expectations with younger Americans. This could include increasing the retirement age for those just starting their careers, raising or eliminating the cap on payroll taxes for higher wage earners and creating incentives for personal retirement and health care savings.

We must ensure that Social Security and Medicare are sustainable and seniors who depend on them are protected. I promise to work with my colleagues in Congress to get these programs back on track so they are available in the future for all Americans.

Tax Reform 

Having spent the majority of my life in the private sector, I fully understand the tax burden born by American workers, families and small businesses. In order to address our current fiscal crisis, we must get serious about tax reform and abandon the idea that simply raising taxes on Americans will solve our economic problems. Families and small businesses in North Carolina’s 11th district are already forced to live under the strains of a stagnant economy. Asking our communities to foot the bill for our federal government’s inefficient and unrestrained spending is simply wrong.

Instead of supplementing higher spending with higher taxes, Congress needs to get serious about cutting spending and making our tax code competitive and simple. Our current tax code is almost four million words long and contains thousands of deductions, credits and exemptions that result in an incredibly inefficient and costly system. I support a simplified tax code that not only eliminates loopholes but also reduces overall rates. America has one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world, creating a major disincentive for both domestic and foreign companies to invest here at home. Across-the-board tax code simplification and rate reductions will create greater certainty and the kind of economic boost that our nation desperately needs.

Now more than ever, North Carolina families should be allowed to keep more of their money. Our current tax policy is broken and raising taxes only contributes to the problem. While I continue to support legislation to stop tax hikes and close loopholes, large scale reform of our nation’s tax code must be our ultimate goal.

Veterans 

Honoring the veterans who have defended our nation is of the utmost importance. To sacrifice life and limb to defend our freedoms and way of life demands our gratitude and respect.

We must ensure we are keeping the promises made to veterans by protecting the benefits they have earned. Further, for those veterans who have recently transitioned back to the general workforce, we need to promote policies which make these men and women competitive in the private-sector economy.

With thousands of veterans in North Carolina’s 11th District, I look forward to supporting policies which preserve the benefits they have earned while fighting to protect our freedom.