Al Lawson might have led Democrats in the Florida Senate but the party establishment is showing signs of supporting Gwen Graham over him to take on Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Southerland in 2014.
With family ties to the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers and with three sons who want to play football, Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney is more than a little concerned about concussions and brain injuries. This week, Rooney joined New Jersey Democrat U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell to sponsor a bill requiring children and high school students playing football use helmets meeting safety standards to protect against concussions and other brain injuries. The bill, which has a Senate version by Sen.
A new poll finds Americans generally remain convinced that increased government spending hurts the economy.
Rasmussen Reports unveiled a poll on Thursday which shows 47 percent of likely voters across the nation think more government spending hurts the economy while 31 percent of them believe more government spending helps the economy. A much lower percentage of those surveyed -- 12 percent -- thinks increased government spending has no impact on the economy one way or the other.
Despite leading Democrats in the Florida Senate and having entered the race more than a year ago, Nan Rich has made little progress in her gubernatorial campaign. In recent weeks, though, Rich has started to become more visible in the media and is staking out more liberal positions as she seeks to define herself. There’s some indication that she is making progress even as the likes of Charlie Crist and Alex Sink continue to ponder entering the race. In recent days, Rich won the backing of the National Organization for Women (NOW).
Veteran First Coast Republican U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw teamed up with U.S. Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., this week to launch the GSP Update for Production Diversification and Trade Enhancement Act (GSP UPDATE Act). This bill will help the American travel goods industry by opening new opportunities in Asia, namely in the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand and making some travel goods as duty-free.
Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin is already a folk hero to Republicans for standing up to government employees on collective bargaining and becoming the first governor in American history to defeat a recall effort. Walker won the recall effort by a larger margin than that which propelled him to victory in 2010.
This week, Florida closed the books on paying back the federal government $3.5 billion which went to the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund. Besides Florida, 13 other states have fully repaid the federal government for these funds but 22 other states are still repaying the borrowed money. The money was borrowed from August 2009 until earlier this month to help with unemployment compensation.
A new poll finds Americans aren’t buying the Obama administration’s line that Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees in Cincinnati acted alone in targeting conservative and tea party groups.
From her perch as chairwoman of the Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee (MENA), on Thursday, South Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen offered her thoughts on the State Department’s International Religious Freedom Report for 2012 -- and warned that anti-Semitism was on the rise across the globe.
