Growing up, my Dad always used to tell me to “Dream big, work hard, achieve much.” Today I hosted my 6th annual Youth Leadership Summit in Dalton. More than 500 local high school students and teachers attended and heard from powerful speakers about the importance of dreaming big.

Check out some of the local coverage below!

500 NORTH GEORGIA STUDENTS ATTEND TOM GRAVES YOUTH LEADERSHIP SUMMIT

The Tom Graves Youth Leadership Summit focuses on three things, Dream Big, Work Hard and Achieve Much.

In its sixth year, Representative Tom Graves says he wants this summit to help shape today’s leaders.

“Spark their interest and to let them know that they can live outside of what they know. Today there are bigger opportunities and bigger future, and it’s only contained by the limitations of their dreams and their hopes.”

The Tom Graves Youth Leadership Summit had a total of 10 county schools participating.

Read more from WDEF here. 

18 years ago today, our world changed forever. We will never forget the thousands of Americans we lost, and we honor those who showed bravery and strength in the face of unspeakable evil.

God bless America. We will never forget. 

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
– The Declaration of Independence
July 4, 1776

For 243 years America has been a beacon of hope and opportunity.

As we gather this week to enjoy fireworks with friends and family, we also celebrate our founding fathers and their vision for a country built on freedom and personal liberties.

I am grateful every day for our great nation.

Wishing you a Happy Independence Day! God Bless America.

I can’t believe it.

During this week’s Democratic debates, we heard the candidates double down on one extreme policy after the next.

An open-border policy. Eliminating private health insurance. Providing health care for illegal immigrants. And they’re just getting started.

Hard-working Americans can’t afford an extreme liberal agenda. We need to stand together and deliver conservative victory in 2020.

President Trump has delivered a booming economy, the lowest unemployment rate in nearly 50 years, and 6 million new jobs have been added to our job market.

With your support, we can keep the record of success going and WIN in 2020.

Thanks to President Trump’s strong, America-first leadership, our economy is booming.

It’s critical that we continue to build on the Trump Administration’s successes, and that means supporting conservative policies in Congress that cut back on spending, reduce regulation, and build on our strong national defense.

That’s why I support President Trump’s plan to build the wall.

Democrats in Congress continue to push back against these efforts and refuse to accept the security crisis at our southern border.

132,000 individuals were apprehended by Customs and Border Patrol.

May marked the third month in a row where the number of people caught illegally crossing our southern border topped 100,000.

Even the former Department of Homeland Security Secretary under President Obama agreed that action must be taken, saying recently that “this is a crisis by any measure.”

Until the Democrats get real about this crisis we’re facing, the numbers at the border will continue to climb.

We need strong, conservative leadership to support President Trump’s plan to build the wall and keep our border secure.

You can count on me to keep fighting for you and our conservative values in Congress.

After $25 million in taxpayer dollars spent, the outcome of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election is clear:

No collusion.

No obstruction.

This week I had the opportunity to question Attorney General William Barr during an Appropriations Committee hearing about his conclusions from the Special Counsel’s report, which were shared in a letter to Congress last month.

GRAVES: “Is there anything new you’ve seen since the review of the entirety of the report that would change your conclusions?”

BARR: “No…my March 24th letter was meant to state the bottom-line conclusions of the report. There’s nothing to suggest to me that those weren’t a fair statement of the conclusions.”

GRAVES: “No collusion. No obstruction. It’s over. It’s done.”

BARR: “Well the letter speaks for itself.”

It couldn’t be much clearer than that.

There was no collusion. There was no obstruction. It’s over. It’s done.

But the Democrats in Washington just can’t accept the truth.

Senior Democrats continue to allege collusion at the highest levels of our government, even though Department of Justice officials have proven otherwise.

Now more than ever, we need to push back against the liberal establishment.

You can count on me to defend conservatives in Washington.

Thank you for your support in my re-election campaign! It’s an honor to continue serving Northwest Georgia in the U.S. House.

Over the next two years, I’m excited to work with President Trump to lock in and build on the success of the last two years. By continuing our work and enacting more free-market reforms, families like yours will continue to see better job options, higher wages and greater opportunities.

Additionally, I’ll continue fighting to balance the budget and pay down our national debt – one of the most important challenges we face. In July, the House took a first step by passing my bill to create the Fund for America’s Kids and Grandkids, which functions like a savings account for future generations. It’s named after those who will bear the consequences if we fail to tackle our spending problem. I will fight hard to see this legislation become law. Our kids and grandkids are depending on us to take action now.

I will also work tirelessly to keep our military strong and get President Trump the resources necessary to secure the border, including completion of the border wall.

It’s a joy to serve Northwest Georgia in Congress. I will continue fighting for Georgia values each and every day, always putting my constituents first.

• locking in and building on the progress we made under President Trump and Governors Deal and Perdue or going back to the Obama / Pelosi economy of high unemployment and stagnant wages
• a free market healthcare system that prioritizes the doctor / patient relationship or government run healthcare where Washington bureaucrats make the decisions for you
• respecting your Second Amendment rights or taking them away
• addressing the growing national debt and deficit or exploding it
• And much more.

I’m running for re-election so I can continue fighting for Georgia’s conservative values in Washington, D.C. 

Over the last two years, working alongside President Trump, we made real progress on the issues that matter most to Georgia families.

We cut and reformed the tax code for the first time in three decades, including doubling the child tax credit.

We slashed regulations, freeing businesses to grow and thrive.

We repealed Obamacare’s harmful individual mandate. No longer will Georgia families be forced to buy insurance they don’t want or can’t afford.

We made historic investments in our military, including a 2.6 percent pay raise for our troops. And we made a down payment on President Trump’s border wall.

Our country is safer, more secure and the economy is finally booming again. In fact, here are some of the results:

• More than 3.8 million new jobs were created since President Trump took office.
• Unemployment is at a 49-year low.
• The number of people employed in Northwest Georgia hit an all-time high in June.
• The number of job openings surpassed the number of job seekers for the first time on record.
• Middle-class wages are at an all-time high.
• Small business optimism is at an all-time high.

The list could go on and on. But it’s important to realize, these things didn’t happen by accident. They are the result of the right policies.

I’m running for re-election to lock in and build on these results. By continuing our work, enacting more free-market reforms, families like yours will continue to see better job options, higher wages and greater opportunities.

I’ll also continue fighting to balance the budget and pay down our national debt. In July, the House passed my bill to create the Fund for America’s Kids and Grandkids, which functions like a savings account for future generations. It’s named after those who will bear the consequences if we fail to tackle our spending problem. I will fight hard to see this legislation become law.

I will also work tirelessly to keep our military strong and get President Trump the resources necessary to secure the border, including completion of the border wall.

It’s an honor to serve Northwest Georgia in Congress. If you live in District 14, I’m asking for your vote on November 6 so I can keep fighting for you!

Click HERE to find your polling location and voting hours (remember, early voting started October 15).

I was honored to join my friend Brian Kemp last Monday and Tuesday as he campaigned for governor across Northwest Georgia as part of his “Putting Georgians First” bus tour. Everywhere we went, you could feel the energy and enthusiasm for Brian. His message of lower taxes, safer communities and personal responsibility is clearly resonating. He’s choppin wood in every corner of the state and voters are fired up!

Here are some highlights from the road.

(I was proud to introduce Brian in Chatsworth. There’s no doubt: Murray County is Brian Kemp Country!)

(There was a big crowd waiting to greet Brian in Rome first thing Tuesday morning.)

(Bartow County packed a giant tent for the Kemp family in Cartersville.)

(There was a packed house for Brian in Bremen choppin’ wood to ensure Brian Kemp carries Haralson County by a landslide!)

You can read more about the Putting Georgians First bus tour in the Dalton Daily Citizen HERE and the Chattanooga Times Free Press HERE.

I hope you will vote for my friend Brian Kemp on November 6 because we need a conservative fighter in Atlanta.