Michael C. Burgess

Michael C. Burgess
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 26th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2003
Preceded by	Dick Armey
Personal details
Born	Michael Clifton Burgess (1950-12-23) December 23, 1950 Rochester, Minnesota
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Laura Burgess
Children	3
Residence	Flower Mound, Texas (1980s–2014) Lewisville, Texas (2014–present)
Alma mater	University of North Texas (B.S. and M.S.) The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (M.D.) University of Texas at Dallas (M.S.)[1]
Occupation	Obstetrician
Committees	Energy and Commerce
Religion	Anglican[2]
Website	burgess.house.gov

Michael Clifton Burgess (born December 23, 1950) is a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives representing Texas's 26th congressional district. In 2002, he defeated Scott Armey, the son of House Majority Leader and then-representative Dick Armey, in a primary runoff election. Prior to his election, he practiced as a doctor of obstetrics and gynecology. Burgess is a member of the congressional Tea Party Caucus, and he has been involved in the debates over health care reform and energy policy.

Early life, education, and medical career

Michael Burgess was born on December 23, 1950 in Rochester, Minnesota, the son of Norma (née Crowhurst) and Harry Meredith Burgess; his paternal family immigrated from Nova Scotia.^[3] He graduated from North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas) in 1972 and graduated from the medical school at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston in 1977. He completed a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, Texas.^[4]

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

Burgess, who had never held any public office and voted in the Democratic primaries in 1990, 1992, and 1994, entered in the 2002 Republican primary election to replace U.S. Congressman and House Majority Leader Dick Armey. His primary opponent was Armey's son, Scott. The district, comprising the majority of Denton County, was strongly Republican, and political pundits had predicted that whoever won the primary would not only win the general election, but be assured of at least a decade in Congress.^[5] Using the campaign slogan "My dad is NOT Dick Armey", Burgess touted the support of medical Political Action Committees and organizations like the National Beer Wholesalers Association.^[5][6] Burgess took second place in the primary behind Armey, finishing with 23% of the vote to Armey's 45%. Since neither candidate earned the required majority of votes, the election led to a primary runoff election. Before the runoff, The Dallas Morning News released a series of articles alleging that Armey used his influence as a judge to procure county jobs and contracts for his friends. The report hurt Armey's campaign, and Burgess won the runoff with 55% of the vote. He won the general election with 75% of the vote.^[7]

Since his original election, Burgess has handily won re-election each time:

• 66% in 2004^[8]
• 60% in 2006^[9]
• 60% in 2008^[10]
• 67% in 2010^[11]
• 68% in 2012^[12]
• nearly 84% in 2014 (for the first time, Burgess did not draw a Democratic challenger, and ran against nominal Libertarian opposition)

Tenure

Rep. Burgess speaks to Senators John Kerry and John McCain in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol before the 2011 State of the Union Address

A member of the Republican Party and Tea Party caucus, Burgess is considered to be a conservative member of the House of Representatives. Through 2011, he had a lifetime rating of 93.59 percent from the American Conservative Union.^[13] Burgess is a signer of Americans for Tax Reform's Taxpayer Protection Pledge,^[14] wherein the signer pledges to:

ONE, oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rates for individuals and/or businesses; and

TWO, oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates.^[15]

Burgess is one of nine medical doctors in Congress, and one of seven in the House of Representatives. In May 2009, Congressional Quarterly noted that Congressman Burgess had "become a prominent voice on health care issues" in the U.S. House.^[16] Since the 111th United States Congress, he has chaired the Congressional Health Care caucus, of which he is the only official member.^[17]

As a member of the United States House Energy Subcommittee on Energy and Power, Burgess has been active in the debate over energy policy. In 2011, he submitted an amendment to the 2012 Energy and Water Appropriations Act to defund part of the act that established higher efficiency standards for household light bulbs.^[18] However, Burgess' claims that the standards represented a "ban" on conventional lightbulbs were rated as "Mostly False" by the fact checking website PolitiFact.com.^[19]

Impeachment of Obama

On August 9, 2011, Burgess met with a Tea Party group in Keller, Texas to discuss his vote to raise the debt ceiling. When a constituent asked if the House of Representatives was considering impeaching President Barack Obama, Burgess responded, "It needs to happen, and I agree with you it would tie things up... No question about that."^[20]

Comments on fetal pain and pleasure

While speaking in support of the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act at a House Rules Committee meeting on June 17, 2013, Burgess reasoned that abortions should be illegal after 15 weeks because he had seen fetuses commit intelligent behaviors involving both pleasure and pain, commenting that he had seen male fetuses place their "hands between their legs":

You watch a sonogram of a 15 week baby and they have movements that are purposeful. They stroke their face. If they are a male baby, they may have their hand between their legs. I mean, they feel pleasure. Why is it so hard to think they feel pain?

Although he never used the phrase specifically, Burgess' comments were widely regarded as referring to fetal masturbation, and they attracted national attention and controversy. According to other doctors, his statements were "not based on science" at the moment, since the evidence is not yet clear as to whether late-term fetuses are aware of pleasure and pain.^{[21][22][23][24][25]}

Legislation

On February 8, 2013, Burgess introduced the Paul D. Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Community Assistance, Research and Education Amendments of 2013 (H.R. 594; 113th Congress), a bill that would amend the Public Health Service Act to revise the muscular dystrophy research program of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).^[26]

On February 6, 2014, Burgess introduced the SGR Repeal and Medicare Provider Payment Modernization Act of 2014 (H.R. 4015; 113th Congress).^[27] The bill would replace the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula, which determines the annual updates to payment rates for physicians’ services in Medicare, with new systems for establishing those payment rates.^[28]

On February 25, 2014, Burgess introduced the Trauma Systems and Regionalization of Emergency Care Reauthorization Act (H.R. 4080; 113th Congress), a bill that would amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize funding for public and private entities that provide trauma and emergency care services and for the administration of the Federal Interagency Committee on Emergency Medical Services (FICEMS).^[29][30]

On April 30, 2015, Burgess once again introduced an amendment to the $35.4 billion fiscal 2016 energy and water spending bill which would defund the Department of Energy enforcement of incandescent light bulb efficiency standards, a measure which passed 232-189, largely on a party line vote ^[31]

Committee assignments

• Committee on Energy and Commerce
  • Subcommittee on Energy and Power
  • Subcommittee on Health (Vice Chair)
  • Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations (Vice Chair – Health)

Works

• Burgess, Michael (2011). Doctor in the House: A Physician-Turned-Congressman Offers His Prescription for Scrapping Obamacare – and Saving America's Medical System. Midpoint Trade Books. ISBN 978-1-936488-25-4. Retrieved 2011-11-16. 

See also

• Physicians in US Congress

References

External links

• Congressman Michael C. Burgess official U.S. House site
• Michael Burgess for Congress
• Michael Burgess at DMOZ

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Profile at Project Vote Smart
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at The Library of Congress
• Appearances on C-SPAN