On Thursday, U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., announced he was co-sponsoring U.S. Rep. Sam Johnsons, R-Texas, bill to deny Social Security benefits to Nazi war criminals. Johnson unveiled the bill on Wednesday night. The No Social Security for Nazis Act will deny Social Security and other benefits to Nazis who have lost their American citizenship due to their actions in the 1930s and 1940s.

At a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., pressed Antony Blinken on U.S. policy toward Venezuela, Colombia and Cuba. Blinken is President Barack Obamas nominee to be deputy secretary of state. On Wednesday, Blinken said the administration backed Rubios Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act of 2014 which would impose sanctions on leaders of the Maduro regime. But Rubio was less than happy with Blinkens responses on Cuba and Colombia.

U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla., will stay as the ranking Democrat on the House Committee of Veterans Affairs despite drawing fire from veterans groups. With the support of U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Brown dispatched a challenge from U.S. Rep. Tim Waltz, D-Minn.

U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Fla., part of the Republican leadership as senior deputy majority whip, came out swinging on Thursday morning against President Barack Obamas plan to use executive power to grant amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants.

A lone gunman made his way through a crowded library at Florida State University early Thursday morning, injuring three people before being shot and killed by campus police. The gunman has not been identified. According to Tallahassee Police Department spokesperson David Northway, the shooter walked inside the entrance to FSUs crowded Strozier Library around 12:30 a.m. and opened fireon people in the library. Three victims injured in the incident were all students.

Some 20-plus communities in the nation, including the Seminole Tribe of Florida, will share out $600,000 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency money for training and technical assistance to help water utilities bolster their climate change resilience and readiness. The EPA made its assistance announcement Wednesday.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., continues to go to bat for U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-La., as he looks to take down U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La. In Louisiana, Bill Cassidy is in a runoff with liberal Senator Mary Landrieu, Rubio wrote supporters of his Reclaim America PAC on Wednesday. National Democrats need Landrieu to win, or their hopes to stop our plan to repeal and replace Obamacare will take a huge hit. So I'm hitting the ground this week with Bill Cassidy. I'll be in Louisiana helping him get out the early vote and making sure we win this runoff.

The House Republican Steering Committee announced its recommended committee chairmen for the 114th Congress on Wednesday and U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., will continue to preside over the Veterans Affairs Committee. Miller had been angling to lead the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence but that post went to U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif.

On Wednesday, after two Palestinian terrorists attacked a synagogue in Jerusalem, killing four rabbis, U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., the chairwoman of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa, took to the House floor. In her speech, Ros-Lehtinen called for ending federal taxpayer dollars going to the Palestinian Authority and groups with ties to Hamas.

Former St. Johns County Commissioner Ron Sanchez filed his paperwork on Tuesday to run in the special election for the Florida House seat vacated when Rep. Travis Hutson, R-Palm Coast, decided to run in the special election for an open Florida Senate seat. Sanchez, who was nominated by Gov. Rick Scott to serve on the federal Selective Service System Local Board in Florida, is running as a Republican. Sanchez was first elected to the County Commission in 2006 but lost his bid for another term to Jeb Smith this year.

U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Fla., part of the House leadership as senior deputy majority whip, pointed to numbers from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services which found health-care costs on the rise in Central Florida. Blaming President Barack Obamas health-care law for the rise, Ross noted premiums went up 14.9 percent in his home base of Polk County and 19.2 percent in Hillsborough County.

Count former Gov. Mike Dukakis, D-Mass., as underwhelmed by former Gov. Jeb Bush, R-Fla., but insisted he was fundamentally conservative. Dukakis, who lost to Bushs father in the 1988 presidential race, talked to U.S. News and World Report on the 2014 elections and the 2016 presidential contest: Q: Who do you think on the Republican side is a legitimate messenger?

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam endorsed former Rep. Travis Hutson over former Rep. Doc Renuart in the Jan. 27 Republican primary in the special election for the Florida Senate seat vacated by former Sen. John Thrasher. Travis Hutson is a committed conservative who is devoted to helping Northeast Florida thrive, said Putnam on Tuesday. I know he will work tirelessly to grow the Northeast Florida jobs base and improve the economy and education system. Travis Hutson is a true leader, and I am proud to support him.

With four rabbis killed by Palestinian terrorists in Jerusalem this week, U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., called for freezing federal aid to the Palestinian Authority. This act of cold-blooded violence is an abomination, said Buchanan. Releasing millions of hard-earned taxpayer dollars to the Palestinian Authority is outrageous. How can we justify this? We need to send an undeniable message to the world that actions do indeed have consequences. Buchanan is the only member of the Florida delegation on the Ways and Means Committee.

Noting that newly elected Gwen Graham, the Democrat who beat U.S. Rep. Steve Southerland, R-Fla., earlier this month, said she would not vote for U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to lead her partys caucus, conservative group Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF) took her to task. On Tuesday, the CLF pointed to reports showing Pelosi had been elected to lead Democrats without any opposition.