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Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) announced Friday that he will not seek reelection, making the six-term lawmaker the latest House Republican to head for the doors. "After prayerful consideration, I have decided to retire at the end of the 116th Congress," Roe said in a statement. "Serving East Tennesseans these past 11 years has been the honor of my life, and I will be forever grateful for the trust my friends and neighbors put in me to represent them," said Roe, the top Republican on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee. "As someone who practiced medicine for over 30 years, I said...

Over 500 organizations are calling on Congress to repeal a Medicare cost-cutting board that is part of ObamaCare. The panel at issue is called the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), and is charged with coming up with ways to cut Medicare spending. Legislation to repeal the board sponsored by Reps. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) and Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) has 222 co-sponsors, including 19 Democrats. While some opponents of ObamaCare have called the IPAB a “death panel,” the board is banned by law from recommending changes that would ration care or require seniors to pay a higher share of costs. Its reforms...

A Texas Republican plans to introduce a resolution of Articles of Impeachment for Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday. Rep. Pete Olson’s (R-Texas) office said this morning that “this was not a decision made lightly,” but comes with Holder’s “pattern of disregard for the rule of law and refusal to be forthright with Congress and the American people” since being held in contempt in June 2012. That 255-67 vote on criminal contempt, which included 17 Democrats, was tied to the Fast and Furious scandal and marked the first time Congress has found an attorney general in contempt. A measure of...

House Republicans say new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidelines aimed at forcing students to eat fruits and vegetables are a failure because students across the country are simply tossing the healthy fare into the trash. "[T]here remains great concern with the amount of food waste generated at school cafeterias, much of it brought on by requiring students to take fruits and vegetables rather than simply offer them," Reps. John Kline (R-Minn.), Kristi Noem (R-S.D.) and Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) told USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack in a letter sent Thursday. "This is a waste of federal, state and local funds and...

(Reuters) - Representative Phil Roe retired from his medical career to go to Congress, but on Tuesday he put his doctor skills to use to help save a man's life at a Charlotte, North Carolina airport. The Tennessee Republican said he was drinking a cup of coffee and chatting with Representative Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport when he heard someone shouting for a doctor. Roe ran over to a man lying on the floor. "I couldn't feel a pulse," Roe told Reuters by telephone from Washington. "It looked like he was taking his last...

Chalk up Tennessee Republican Rep. Phil Roe’s Tuesday morning actions to heroism: Roe saved a man’s life with CPR after he flatlined in the Charlotte, North Carolina airport. Roe, an obstetrician before he first ran for public office, was walking through the Charlotte terminal with South Carolina Republican Rep. Mick Mulvaney at about 7:15 a.m. when someone yelled out, “Is anybody here a doctor? There’s a gentleman who just collapsed!” Mulvaney told The Daily Caller that Roe rushed to the mans’ side and began CPR immediately. “He literally had just collapsed and Phil ran over there and I believe there...

UPDATED at 9:20p.m. Roe, Davis running close in 1st District primary UPDATES with early returns in 1st District, Blackburn leading, Davis and Wamp winning. From the Associated Press: By WOODY BAIRD Associated Press Writer MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Early voting returns show congressman David Davis and challenger Phil Roe running close in the Republican primary for the Tennessee’s 1st District seat. With 21 percent of precincts reporting in the northeast Tennessee district, Roe was barely ahead with 8,901 votes to Davis’ 8,843. Each candidate had just over 49 percent of the vote. The 1st District GOP primary and the 9th...

The re-election campaign of incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. David Davis will today begin airing a TV ad that attempts to counter GOP challenger Phil Roe’s ad campaign accusing Davis of selling out to “Big Oil.” Davis’ ad says Roe, Johnson City’s mayor, is “deceiving voters” about Davis’ record and insists Davis hasn’t pocketed money from oil interests. The Davis ad also says the incumbent is “fighting to cut gas prices for our families with his ‘No More Excuses Energy Act.’” The “No More Excuses” legislation, which calls for offshore drilling and other practices to develop more American energy, was introduced...