May 18, 2025
EPA Approves AZ’s Primacy Application for Underground Injection Wells
This week I had the honor of participating in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) announcement ceremony to approve the State of Arizona’s request to oversee Safe Drinking Water Act permitting for all underground injection wells in the state.
Under the Trump Administration, the EPA has moved quickly to review and approve projects long delayed by Joe Biden. The approval of this project in Arizona will provide much-needed certainty to the fast-growing carbon capture industry and will maintain America’s leadership in deploying these technologies. President Trump and EPA Administrator Zeldin are advancing conservation and environmental stewardship while promoting economic growth for families in Arizona and all across America. This approval is yet another example of the Trump Administration’s promise of “Powering the Great American Comeback.”
Click here to read my full statement.
Inflation Falls to Four-Year Low
For the third month in a row, inflation data came in lower than economists expected for April, another sign that President Trump’s tariffs are not pushing prices up, much to the chagrin of Fed Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, the Fake News, leftists and Democrats in Congress. In fact, the 2.3 percent annual rate was the lowest level of inflation since 2021 and close to the Fed’s two percent target. This week’s inflation report shows that the American people are experiencing real economic relief: grocery, gas, and egg prices are down, while real wages are up. President Trump’s America First policies created a historic economy in his first term, and he’s laying the groundwork to repeat the success in his second term.
President Trump Signs Order Lowering Rx Drug Prices
Earlier this week, President Trump signed a sweeping executive order, reviving the “most favored nation” policy, directing drugmakers to match U.S. prices to those paid in lower-cost countries. The order applies to Medicare, Medicaid, and the private market. Price targets must be set within 30 days, and enforcement action will follow if companies fail to show “significant progress” within six months. Prices could drop by up to 90% and groups like the American Association of Retired Persons backed the move, saying high prices force too many seniors to skip life-saving medications.
Did you know that Americans pay more than three times the price other nations pay for prescription drugs? In fact, the United States has less than five percent of the world’s population, yet it funds roughly 75% of global pharmaceutical profits. Why do Americans pay so much, you might ask? Because, when selling to other countries, greedy drug manufacturers discount their drugs to gain access to foreign markets and then subsidize those discounts through high prices charged to Americans. With this executive order, President Trump is preventing pharmaceutical manufacturers from charging Americans high drug prices while giving steep discounts to other wealthy nations.
April Immigration Shows Catch and Release Nearly Extinct
New numbers released this week by the Department of Homeland Security showed that only five illegal aliens were caught and released at the border in April, reducing catch-and-release by 99.99%. What’s the deal with the five that were released, you ask? Well, according to the Department of Homeland Security, those five illegal immigrants were granted release into the U.S., in order to take part in critical court cases. For perspective, that’s down from 68,000 catch-and-releases at the southern border in April 2024, when Joe Biden occupied the White House and allowed nearly 20 million illegals to walk across our southern border.
Did You Get More Money in Your Social Security Payment?
As most of you know, I have been working on solutions to save and improve social security for over a decade. I recall at two of my recent social security round tables in Lake Havasu and Bullhead City many constituents brought up the unfairness of the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO).
I vowed that I would work tirelessly to repeal these unfair provisions that reduced benefits to teachers, firefighters and police officers. I kept my word. My most recent effort was to co-sponsor H.R. 82, the Social Security Fairness Act, which passed the House in November 2024 and was signed into law in January 2025. If you missed my press release about this last year, click here to get quickly caught up.
More good news: the results are starting to come in. The WEP and GPO provisions are now gone, allowing affected retirees to receive full Social Security benefits without reductions due to their public pensions. Currently, the Social Security Administration is issuing retroactive payments covering benefits from January 2024 onward. Over 1.1 million individuals have received more than $7.5 billion in retroactive payments, averaging $6,710 per person.
Additionally, increased monthly benefits are in place and the May benefits should reflect the full amount due under law without offsets. The estimated average monthly increase is $360, with some individuals seeing increases exceeding $1,000.
Arizona has a lot of public sector retirees who have worked hard and deserve all of the benefits they have earned. I could not be happier with this outcome, the result of over a decade of me pushing this issue in Congress.
If you live in my district and you’re having difficulty receiving your retroactive lump sum payment, or have not yet received your new, higher-level benefits, or you simply want to know if you qualify, please contact my office by phoning 623-707-0530. I will do my best to assist!
Tweet of the Week:
Photo of the Week:
📸 Carroll Frison from Litchfield Park shares this wonderful photo of a blooming Ironwood tree. Thanks for sharing, Carroll!
Do you want the chance for your photograph to be featured as our “Picture of the Week?” If so, send your best shots along with a brief description to Anthony.foti@mail.house.gov. Remember to include your name and where you live.
Gosar in the News and Other Must-Read Stories:
📰 Washington Times: Customs and Border Protection slashes catch-and-release by 99.99%
🗞 CNBC – Moody’s downgrades United States credit rating, citing growth in government debt
📰 Reuters: Pentagon hotline to Washington DC airport controllers inoperable since 2022
🗞 The National Pulse: U.S. Officials Find Secret Comms Devices in China-Made Solar Inverters, Batteries.
📰 New York Post: Most obese US states revealed in new report — did yours make the list?
🗞 New York Post: EPA chief Lee Zeldin to kill car feature ‘everyone hates’EPA chief Lee Zeldin to kill car feature ‘everyone hates’
⚠ Warning!! The Gosar Weekly Newsletter is meant for discerning readers with above average intelligence. We link to interesting stories. We get stories a couple different ways: Google alerts, a third-party aggregator and sometimes readers send stuff. We don’t vouch for every publication or every author. If we link to a story, it is because of that story. The views expressed in any of the publications do not represent any promotion, endorsement or reflection of Congressman Gosar’s views. While we try our best, we cannot guarantee every news organization spouting hatred, animosity or divisiveness will be filtered from appearing in the Gosar Weekly Newsletter. We will endeavor to prevent that from happening by never linking to Fake News organizations including CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, Rolling Stone, the Arizona Republic, the Arizona Mirror, Media Matters or the New Republic.
