Rep. Diana Harshbarger

R

Tennessee – District 1
representative

News & Announcements

Apr 30, 2025
Press Release

Full Committee Markup Recap: E&C Advances Six Bills to the Full House

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, led by Chairman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), reported six pieces of legislation to the full House of Representatives. Chairman Guthrie issued the following statement after the conclusion of the markup. “This markup was another important opportunity for our committee to advance legislation to support the most vulnerable Americans ,” said Chairman Guthrie. “All of these bipartisan bills reflect our commitment to improving Americans’ health and strengthening our health care system. Thank you to all of the sponsors for their hard work to champion this vital legislation.”  Legislative Vote Summary: H.R. 2483 , SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act of 2025, was reported to the full House by a roll call vote of 36 yeas – 13 nays. H.R. 1520 , Charlotte Woodward Organ Transplant Discrimination Prevention Act, was reported to the full House by a roll call vote of 46 yeas – 1 nay. H.R. 2319 , Women and Lung Cancer Research and Preventive Services Act of 2025, was reported to the full House by voice vote. H.R. 1669 , To amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize the Stop, Observe, Ask, and Respond to Health and Wellness Training Program, was reported to the full House by voice vote. H.R. 1082 , Shandra Eisenga Human Cell and Tissue Product Safety Act, was reported to the full House by voice vote. H.R. 2484 , Seniors’ Access to Critical Medications Act, was reported to the full House by a roll call vote of 38 yeas – 7 nays. Watch the full markup here . Below are key excerpts from yesterday’s markup: Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02) on the SUPPORT Act: “For far too long, Americans have witnessed the unprecedented rise in drug overdoses and substance use disorders, creating an imminent need for prevention, treatment and recovery services. The SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act is a long standing priority for me and all the members of this committee, and this bill would reauthorize essential public health programs focused on prevention, treatment, and recovery for patients with substance use disorder.” Congresswoman Kat Cammack (FL-03) on the Charlotte Woodward Organ Transplant Discrimination Prevention Act: “This legislation is named in honor of Charlotte Woodward, a remarkable young woman with Down syndrome, who received a life-saving heart transplant more than 12 years ago. Charlotte is here with us today, and one day, she's going to be a member of Congress. That's what I'm putting my money on, but her presence here today is a powerful reminder that every life has value and potential, regardless of disability.” Congresswoman Diana Harshbarger (TN-01) on Seniors’ Access to Critical Medications Act: “ This legislation would provide continuation of pre-pandemic era flexibilities for specialty physicians and other healthcare providers to be able to deliver oral medications to patients by mail delivery or courier, or it would allow a designated caregiver or family member to pick up these medications instead for the patients. It's critically important for the well-being of cancer patients and others with serious diseases who are too sick to pick up their medications in person who live in rural areas distant from their physicians or who simply do not have transportation.” ###

Apr 24, 2025
Press Release

Chairmen Guthrie and Bilirakis Lead E&C Republican Letter to DeepSeek Over Relationship with Chinese Communist Party

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Congressman Gus Bilirakis (FL-12), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, along with 10 members of the subcommittee, sent a letter to DeepSeek regarding their data practices and close relationship with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). “DeepSeek admits to sending Americans’ personal information to servers in China, where it is undoubtedly accessed by officials connected to the Chinese Communist Party. We are concerned that this relationship with agents having close connections to our primary adversary jeopardizes our data and our national security,” said Chairmen Guthrie and Bilirakis. “To ensure Americans and their businesses are secure from foreign interference, we are launching this investigation into DeepSeek and the risks it poses to our nation.” KEY LETTER EXCERPT: “By its own admission, the company’s mobile application—available on app stores in the U.S.—is sending Americans’ personal information to servers in the People’s Republic of China. According to media reports, the company is also sharing users’ personal information with other CCP-linked entities, including ByteDance Ltd. Researchers, meanwhile, have identified serious weaknesses in DeepSeek’s purported security controls and model safeguards. To address these risks, a growing number of states, including New York, Texas, and Virginia have banned DeepSeek on government devices, with states attorneys-general calling for a broader ban.” Background: On January 20, 2025, DeepSeek launched its open-source AI chatbot. On February 18, 2025, DeepSeek was accused of sharing user data with ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok. On March 6, 2025, 21 state attorneys-general urged Congressional leadership to prohibit government devices from “downloading and using the Chinese Communist Party’s DeepSeek AI Software.” On April 16, 2025, the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party published a report on DeepSeek funneling American data to the CCP and manipulating results to align with CCP propaganda. The Committee members requested answers to the following questions: Provide a detailed description of the types and sources of data used to train your AI models, including any U.S. personal or proprietary information. Confirm whether information entered into your AI applications or chatbots by American consumers or businesses is used to train your AI models. If yes, identify where this information is stored and accessed from, and whether it is shared with any state entity of the People’s Republic of China or other Chinese companies. Describe the technical, administrative, and physical controls used to secure personal and proprietary information associated with your AI offerings, as well as your process for evaluating the security of third-party service providers. Provide a detailed description of any U.S. technology products or services used to develop, integrate, or bring to market your AI offerings. This includes the use of open and closed source AI models developed by U.S. companies and the unauthorized “distillation” of American models. Provide a detailed description of how your AI models are developed and trained, including any steps taken to influence system outputs for alignment with Chinese Communist Party ideology or political goals. Provide a detailed description of any direct or indirect subsidies you receive from the People’s Republic of China, or its political subdivisions, related to AI development. Confirm whether your company has received a request from the People’s Republic of China, or its political subdivisions, for data related to your company’s AI offerings. This includes personal and proprietary data used to train or finetune an AI model and data ingested by your AI services. CLICK HERE to read the full letter. CLICK HERE to read the story from Fox News. ###

Mar 25, 2025
Press Release

Subcommittee on Energy Holds Hearing on Grid Reliability

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Bob Latta (OH-05), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy, led a hearing titled Keeping the Lights On: Examining the State of Regional Grid Reliability . “Today’s grid operators made it clear that America needs more energy to be produced to keep up with our growing needs not just for consumers, but for the many small businesses, manufacturers, agriculture industry, and medical facilities that employ them,” said Chairman Latta. “Too many electric-generating facilities have been retired in recent years while new and emerging technologies are increasing the need. It is critical that we meet the growing demand for power, the need to secure it, and address the reliability challenges confronting our electric industry.” Watch the full hearing here . Below are key excerpts from today’s hearing : Congressman Troy Balderson (OH-12): “ Last year, PJM, ERCOT, SPP, and MISO jointly filed an amicus brief with the DC Circuit Court against the Biden EPA’s Clean Power Plan 2.0. I’m extremely grateful that just a few weeks ago, Administrator Zeldin announced the EPA will be reconsidering the Clean Power Plan 2.0, along with dozens of other Biden era rules and regulations. If the Clean Power Plan 2.0 were to remain in effect, would your service territory see an increased risk of rolling brownouts and blackouts?” Mr. Pablo Vegas: “ Yes, that plan had risked more than 14,000 megawatts of existing coal plants that are serving the grid today, they would be at risk and that would be a significant reliability concern.” Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks (IA-01): “In the 2024 long-term reliability assessment report, NERC recommends that to maintain demand and supply balance, dispatchable generators including carbon-based fuel generators must be available and capable of following changing electricity demand. And for the past two years when I was on this committee, we’ve hammered on this to ensure reliability. What measures are you taking to discourage premature retirement of carbon-based fuels, fuel generators such as the Clean Power Plan 2.0 rule? How are we able to maintain dispatchable or energy uh when we’re retiring, uh, carbon-based, uh, fuel generators prematurely?” Mr. Manu Asthana: “Part of it is sending the right market price signal to induce them to stay. Part of it is through, is working with our states and federal regulators to try to ensure that we don’t have rules that force these generators offline prematurely.” Congresswoman Diana Harshbarger (TN-01): “ In this scenario, let’s say that you experienced a wind drought that lasts 40 consecutive hours. How do you make up for that?” Ms. Jennifer Curran: “Thank you. Another familiar scenario that did happen to us. The way you make up for it is with resources that do have fuels that are available on demand. So, in MISO, that would be coal and gas generation that is able to run for that duration.” ###

Letters

Dec 19, 2024
Press Release

E&C Republicans Request HHS Watchdog Investigate Promotion of Gender Transition Procedures for Children

Washington, D.C. — In a new letter to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Inspector General Christi Grimm, House Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans requested an investigation into the strength, quality, and types of evidence-based scientific and pediatric medical literature relied on by the department to promote gender transition procedures for children.  KEY LETTER EXCERPT:  “As the agency responsible for safeguarding the health and well-being of Americans, all of HHS’s medical treatment recommendations, especially medical treatment recommendations for children, should be based on rigorous and well-established research, such as randomized controlled trials, that have definitively illustrated the long-term benefits of gender affirming care treatments.”  BACKGROUND:  Under the Biden administration, HHS has advocated for sex reassignment procedures on minors, including the use of serum puberty blockers, which have historically been used to treat children with precocious puberty (i.e., early onset puberty affecting about one percent of U.S. children) and sex offenders.   Puberty blockers, however, are known to stunt normal childhood development in children unaffected by precocious puberty.  HHS officials contend that sex reassignment procedures on minors are an unanimously accepted medical practice.  HHS Secretary Becerra testified before Congress that “every major medical association,” “medical journals,” and “scientific and medical evidence” has demonstrated the benefits of transitioning children’s biological sex.  When asked, via a Freedom of Information Act request, for the underlying scientific or medical basis for its position, HHS was only able to produce a two-page brochure that was already publicly available.  In contrast to HHS, a growing body of literature from medical experts and authorities around the world, including those in Europe, caution against performing such procedures on minors.   Courts and government health agencies responsible for determining child welfare have sought to limit child sex reassignment procedures.   Other countries have banned these interventions and surgeries on minors altogether.  An article published in the British Journal of Medicine found “there is great uncertainty about the effects of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries in young people.”   A court in the United Kingdom noted the obvious about administering puberty blocking chemicals onto children: “[i]t is highly unlikely that a child aged 13 or under would be competent to give consent to the administration of puberty blockers. It is doubtful that a child aged 14 or 15 could understand and weigh the long-term risks and consequences of the administration of puberty blockers.”  In April 2024, the Cass Review , an independent review of gender identity services for children and young people, commissioned by the National Health Service England, found “[w]hile a considerable amount of research has been published in this field, systematic evidence reviews demonstrated the poor quality of the published studies, meaning there is not a reliable evidence base upon which to make clinical decisions, or for children and their families to make informed choices.”   The Cass Review also found that “[t]he rationale for early puberty suppression remains unclear, with weak evidence regarding the impact on gender dysphoria, mental or psychosocial health,” as well as unknown effects on cognitive and psychosexual development.  In August 2024, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) became the first major U.S. medical association to express caution on the use of gender surgery for gender dysphoria in adolescents. In its formal statement, the association stated: “ASPS currently understands that there is considerable uncertainty as to the long-term efficacy for the use of chest and genital surgical interventions for the treatment of adolescents with gender dysphoria, and the existing evidence base is viewed as low quality/low certainty. This patient population requires specific considerations.”   The letter was signed by Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Subcommittee on Health Chair Brett Guthrie (R-KY), Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chair Morgan Griffith (R-VA), Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA), Rep. Gary Palmer (R-AL), Rep. Neal Dunn (R-FL), Rep. Randy Weber (R-TX), Rep. Troy Balderson (R-OH), Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX), Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R-TN), and Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL).  CLICK HERE to read the letter.

Oct 7, 2024
Letter

Chair Rodgers Leads House GOP in Demanding Answers Over FCC Fast-Tracking Democrat Mega-Donor’s Media Takeover Weeks Before Election

Soros-linked fund to acquire more than 200 local radio stations weeks before election Washington, D.C. — House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) led 40 of her Republican colleagues in demanding answers from the Chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding her recent decision to fast-track a media deal allowing the Fund for Policy Reform, a group aligned with Democratic mega-donor George Soros, to buy over 200 radio stations just weeks before the 2024 election. With a party line vote of 3-2, the decision at the Commission level by the Democratic members of the FCC to temporarily waive the required national security review and allow excessive foreign ownership of American radio stations is deeply disturbing. KEY LETTER EXCERPT: “It is highly concerning that the FCC did not follow regular order for a transaction of this magnitude. Licensees and investors need certainty that the FCC will follow its rules and procedures when approving transactions so that the broadcast industry can have the resources it needs to continue serving the public.”  BACKGROUND: Audacy, Inc., a radio broadcasting group, which owns more than 200 radio-station licenses, filed for bankruptcy earlier this year.  Audacy’s filings revealed that a George Soros-backed group known as the Fund for Policy Reform had acquired at least 40 percent of Audacy’s debt.   Audacy estimated that, upon emerging from bankruptcy, 25 percent or more of its stock would be indirectly foreign owned, which triggers FCC review.   This review process requires national security agencies to review the transaction and offer any policy or national security concerns.   On September 30, 2024, the FCC released an Order granting a temporary waiver of this review process, delaying a national security review until after the bankruptcy process is complete and allowing foreign control of a significant number of radio stations across the entire United States, weeks before a national election. CLICK HERE to read Breitbart's exclusive coverage. CLICK HERE to read the full letter.

Apr 30, 2024
Press Release

E&C Republicans Press NIH to Confirm Agency Isn’t Funding Russian Research

Washington, D.C. — House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Subcommittee on Health Chair Brett Guthrie (R-KY), and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chair Morgan Griffith (R-VA), on behalf of the Health and Oversight Subcommittee Republicans, wrote to National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Monica Bertagnolli. In the letter, the Chairs ask the NIH to confirm by May 14, 2024, whether the agency has complied with White House guidance to stop funding projects led by researchers and entities in Russia.  BACKGROUND :  On June 11, 2022, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) issued guidance stating such projects and programs that commenced and/or were funded prior to Russia’s further invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 may be concluded, but new projects in affected subject areas will not be initiated.   The OSTP advised applicable departments and agencies to curtail interaction with the leadership of Russian government-affiliated universities and research institutions, as well as those who have publicly expressed support for the invasion of Ukraine.  In a statement in an April 9, 2023, article in The Washington Times , the NIH’s Office of Extramural Research claimed that “NIH currently does not fund any research in Russia.”  However, the Data Abyss tracker for the OSTP Russia guidance on federal funding agencies indicates that, as of April 5, 2024, the NIH has potentially 240 instances of problematic research collaborations since June 2022 that do not comply with the guidance. CLICK HERE to read the letter.