Eric Burlison

“So, look. All we have to do as Republicans is look in the mirror and say where's the problem? It's me, it's us…I'm one of these almost going extinct members of the Republican Party that still believes in fiscal prudence, still believes and in cutting spendings this small government free market conservative. But unfortunately, that's not how all of my colleagues feel.”

Eric Burlison · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-21

Burlison said Republicans should look in the mirror and described himself as a nearly extinct member who still believes in fiscal prudence and small government.

“Most of my colleagues like to spend money…they like to spend other people's money. They're drunk on spending other people's money, even Republicans, unfortunately, and there's few people up here like myself who were willing to make significant spending reductions.”

Eric Burlison · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-21

Burlison accused Washington lawmakers of being drunk on spending and said few colleagues were willing to make significant spending reductions.

“Well, conservatives, we love cutting taxes and I think that we should be cutting the fuel taxes during this period of time. I would love to eliminate the taxes altogether, but at least it would make sense that during this conflict that we should cut taxes on both gas and diesel until this war is resolved.”

Eric Burlison · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-21

Burlison proposed cutting fuel taxes on gas and diesel during the conflict with Iran until the war is resolved.

“So three times normal inflation for the healthcare premiums, health insurance premiums. It's not sustainable and it's crowded out everything else and it is the reason why young people cannot afford to buy a home. It's the reason why people have a hard time going out to eat. It's a reason why people aren't going on vacation as much. People are having to make very difficult choices and it's not the same choices that people had to make 20 years ago.”

Eric Burlison · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-21

Burlison said healthcare premiums rising at three times normal inflation are unsustainable and prevent young people from affording homes and other expenses.

“So, in my opinion, it's not enough to run against a platform. If you have to provide a vision to the American people, and if you ask the American voter today, what will the Republican Party do if they're reelected…I don't think that they would know. And so to me, the vision that I would provide is to say, 'we're going to fix healthcare. We're going to make healthcare affordable. We're gonna to make it a free market. The prices are going to be transparent, and you're going to know exactly what you're buying'.”

Eric Burlison · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-21

Burlison argued the GOP needs to provide a vision to voters and outlined his proposed vision of fixing healthcare and making it a free market.

“So if you ask the average family of four, would you like to be paying health insurance premiums at $11,000 a year, they would say, heck, yeah, that sounds like a great deal. That is not what they're paying today. They're paying $27,000. So if you think about that, just that alone, that is crowding out everything else that the average American family has to pay. You have to come up with another $16,000 that you didn't have to come up with before, in order to pay for a healthcare system that has exceeded inflation by three-fold.”

Eric Burlison · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-21

Burlison contrasted what families would pay under normal inflation with current premium costs, arguing healthcare spending crowds out other expenses.

“Healthcare cost is eating away everyone's discretionary dollars…In the year 2000, the average American family was paying $6,000 a year for insurance premiums for a family of four. Today, that's $27,000 a year. If that had followed normal inflation, that would only be $11,000 per year.”

Eric Burlison · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-21

Burlison cited rising healthcare costs, noting insurance premiums for a family of four rose from $6,000 in 2000 to $27,000 today.

“This office has been doing everything we can to try to fix the affordability issue and have been putting these ideas and solutions in the faces of leadership for at least two years. It's just unfortunate that we can't get people to do the difficult things. And sadly that's because Washington DC doesn't like to do difficult things and fixing healthcare is the number one thing that we should be looking to do.”

Eric Burlison · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-21

Burlison said his office has pressed leadership on affordability solutions for at least two years and that fixing healthcare should be the top priority.

“DOGE was the most exciting thing I've ever seen in politics. And I was super excited about it. But I also was skeptical. I watched Elon come give speeches to my colleagues. And what was ironic is that some of the most swampy members of Congress were rushing to the microphones to embrace Elon to talk to him to tell him where he should go to look for spending reductions.”

Eric Burlison · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-21

Burlison described his initial excitement about DOGE and noted that swampy members of Congress rushed to embrace Elon Musk despite voting against spending cuts.

“And so we had to fight tooth and nail to get any spending reductions in the Big, Beautiful Bill. And we were demonized by the left, obviously, but we had to fight members even on our own side of the aisle to make those spending reductions.”

Eric Burlison · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-21

Burlison described fighting to get spending reductions in the Big, Beautiful Bill against both the left and members of his own party.

“All of these sins of overspending are haunting us. And now we're seeing…inflation that we can't control. We're seeing the interest rates go through the roof. At some point, you can't keep borrowing money…Sadly, my colleagues that weren't willing to cut spending are going to be forced to cut spending.”

Eric Burlison · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-21

Burlison said overspending has led to uncontrollable inflation and rising interest rates, and that colleagues will eventually be forced to cut spending.

“And yet those very people were the ones that were voting against every spending reduction that you would ever bring to the floor. We've had hundreds and hundreds of opportunities to cut spending… We submitted hundreds of amendments to the appropriations committees to cut spending and yet each and every time, anytime there's ever a vote to cut spending, they fail.”

Eric Burlison · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-21

Burlison said hundreds of spending-cut amendments were submitted to appropriations committees but votes to cut spending consistently fail.

“I think that that would have a pretty good impact on people's pocketbooks. I mean you're talking for diesel that would be 40 cents a gallon. That's, that's pretty significant.”

Eric Burlison · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-21

Burlison said cutting diesel taxes would save about 40 cents a gallon and have a significant impact on people's pocketbooks.

“I mean, again, it's really sad. This office has been broadcasting to the leadership every chance that we can that the American people are feeling the crunch, they're feeling the affordability crunch. We put together a solution that we call the Great American healthcare plan. We also have another bill that addresses the housing affordability issue.”

Eric Burlison · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-21

Burlison said his office has been telling leadership that Americans face an affordability crunch and proposed the Great American healthcare plan and a housing affordability bill.

“But, look, at some point the party is going to be over and we are all gonna wake up in a drunken stupor with a hangover and it's going to be painful and we're going to have to figure out how to get our way out of that.”

Eric Burlison · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-21

Burlison warned that the consequences of overspending will eventually be painful for the country.

“I think that part of this problem is that there were some false expectations that are created, and that’s, that’s a political mistake,”

Eric Burlison · said 2025-07-27 · reported 2025-07-27

Rep. Eric Burlison criticized the administration for creating false expectations regarding the release of Epstein files.

“I think that saying that you’re going to be able to deliver when you haven’t even looked at all of the files and what’s available was probably a misstep.”

Eric Burlison · said 2025-07-27 · reported 2025-07-27

Rep. Eric Burlison called promising results before reviewing available Epstein files a misstep.

“It’s the number one phone call that we get. By far. It’s probably 500 to one,”

Eric Burlison · said date not stated · reported 2025-07-24

Rep. Eric Burlison reported that Epstein-related constituent calls overwhelmingly top the inquiries his office receives.

“The American people have felt like this government keeps secrets from them for decades, right? Here we have one big national scandal slash conspiracy that we were this close to getting the details on so that’s why the fact it isn’t happening is just fanning flames of more conspiracy. People are assuming the worst and they are going to until the details get released,”

Eric Burlison · said date not stated · reported 2025-07-24

Rep. Eric Burlison explained how public distrust and lack of transparency regarding Epstein fuel conspiracy theories.

“This is kind of highlighting the frustration the American people have where they feel like … they can’t trust their government,”

Eric Burlison · said date not stated · reported 2025-07-16

Eric Burlison discussed constituent calls to his office regarding the Epstein controversy.

“So I think, at the end of the day, this is a question of: Does this government belong to the people or do the people belong to this government?”

Eric Burlison · said date not stated · reported 2025-07-16

Eric Burlison commented on the public's trust in government regarding the Epstein files.