Mullin touts House accomplishments
Second District Congressman Markwayne Mullin isn’t exactly moving on, but he does want to talk about something besides health care policy.
“I did everything I could on the health care bill,” Mullin said Tuesday. “I read the Bible every day, and I read on health care every day. Lately, I’ve read more about health care than I’ve read the Bible.
“I can’t sit back and wait, not when there are some wins out there for the public,” Mullin said.
Mullin took the unusual step of holding a conference call with state media Tuesday morning to talk about some of those “wins.”
Specifically, he wanted reporters to know the House will be up late and maybe all night this week voting on appropriations bills. He pointed out a Department of Homeland Security reauthorization bill passed the House with substantial support from Democrats, and mentioned two of his bills — one that takes the State Department out of cross-border pipeline approval and another dealing with pediatric cancer drugs — as proof that work is being done, at least in the House.
“We are working with Democrats a lot more right now — except on health care,” Mullin said.
Health care, of course, is the kink in the lawmaking hose and is likely to be for awhile. If the Senate does manage to pass something, Mullin said Tuesday, he could see it coming straight to the House floor without going through conference committee.
During the brief call, Mullin was asked about his investment in an Australian pharmaceutical company, maintenance and improvement to the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System and Illinois River water quality.
The pharmaceutical company, Innate Immunotherapeutics, was touted by New York Rep. Chris Collins on the expectation its multiple sclerosis drug would win approval for sale in the U.S.
The drug failed clinical trials in Australia, however, and has gone from a high of $1.71 per share in late January to 5 cents a share on Tuesday.
Mullin said the McClellan-Kerr is not a Department of Defense priority for the Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the system.
“The Corps has the money, but we cannot tell the Corps how to spend it,” Mullin said. “Since we did away with earmarks ... all we can do is ask ‘pretty please.’”
Mullin would not directly commit to support for enforcement of a water quality agreement in the Illinois River watershed, saying only that “we are still working with the new EPA” toward a solution.
The Environmental Protection Agency is now headed by former Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, who negotiated the terms of the settlement Illinois River advocates say is being ignored.