Markwayne Mullin

While Markwayne was in college, his father fell ill and he returned home to take over the family business. This business experience served Markwayne well as he and his wife now own several successful businesses in Oklahoma. Markwayne was sworn into Congress in 2013 and brings the business perspective into the national debate on many issues directly impacting Oklahoma’s thousands of small businesses.

In case you were living under a rock last week, Democrats did a lot of media-ing to commemorate the attack on the Capitol on 1/6/21. Republicans were less enthused about the fanfare, most refusing to even comment. Markwayne however, who notably helped protect fellow lawmakers on the House floor that day, did issue a statement saying that 1/6/22 was “just going to be a day for me”. He did follow up with “I’m just going to move forward with my life… I’m going to realize that there’s still some lessons that can be learned there and I’m going to do better myself and that’s the only thing I can control.”

Markwayne spent his year working on energy and the environment. Markwayne is co-chair of the House Energy Action Team (HEAT) and after Biden took office and issued Executive Orders banning new oil and gas leases on federal land, HEAT wasn’t happy. Markwayne joined several of his Republican colleagues in writing a letter to the Secretary of Interior regarding the 60-day suspension of new gas and oil leases on federal lands. In an Environment and Climate Change and Energy Subcommittee hearing, Markwayne talked about the importance of nuclear energy to the U.S. ‘s plan and reducing emissions.

Hold on just a minute, you’re telling me that a Republican wants to expand Medicare? Next you’re going to tell me that Joe Biden is old and Donald Trump has an orange tan. Okay, so yes to all the above, specifically Markwayne, who’s introduced the Access to Rare Indications Act. This legislation would technically expand Medicare Part D by allowing patients suffering from rare diseases (and reliant on Medicare part D) to access greater coverage for potentially lifesaving, off-label treatments. Specifically, it ensures rare disease parity in accessing medically necessary care under Medicare and Medicaid through aligning the definition of “medically accepted use” for rare conditions. While some may pounce on this with a “socialism” label, this does sure seem like a worthy bill.

Oklahoma’s oil and gas industry employs ~400,000 workers across the state…that is a big number. Mark and his Oklahoma colleagues sent a letter to the head of the EPA asking them to extend the public comment by 60-days for the EPA’s proposed rule to directly regulate methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. Markwayne’s issue is that this new rule will have a large effect on the industry and hurt the small business owners and workers. The current deadline is January 14, 2022…do you think they will find a mutual solution?