Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis took to the House floor on Thursday to weigh in on the continuing high unemployment rate plaguing the state and nation. Bilirakis called on the federal government to get out of the way of business and ease off on burdensome regulations.

With the bicameral Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction meeting for the first time on Thursday, Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan repeated his call for greater transparency in the supercommittee, which is entrusted to cut $1.2 trillion in federal spending over the next 10 years.

Dave Bitner, chairman of the Republican Party of Florida since January and due to resign for health reasons Sept. 23, died Thursday due to Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

The team behind Republican presidential hopeful former Gov. Jon Huntsman of Utah slammed the two favorites for the GOP nomination -- Gov. Rick Perry of Texas and former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts -- on Social Security.

Following the debate among the Republican presidential candidates on Wednesday night, the team behind Congressman Ron Paul took aim at primary rival and fellow Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry. Jesse Benton, a spokesman for Paul and the chairman of his presidential campaign, sent a letter to Perry continuing the attacks on the Texas governor.

There is a new public policy organization in the Sunshine State pushing for free-market solutions -- the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) which is based in Naples.

Former Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico arrived in Cuba on Wednesday to negotiate with that nations communist regime over Alan Gross, an American the Castro regime accuses of spying while his defenders maintain he was helping with setting up communications technology for that nations Jewish community. Florida Republican U.S. Rep. David Rivera, a freshman on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, came out firing away at the Obama administration for sending Richardson, who does have experience in international negotiations, to meet with the Castro government.

Fresh from beating primary rival Senate Majority Leader Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, in a straw poll held on Saturday, Central Florida businessman Ron Rushing pledged on Wednesday to make abolishing Internet cafes one of his chief priorities if elected. When I first looked into this issue, I immediately questioned the legality of these Internet cafes, since unregulated gambling is illegal in Florida, said Rushing. "However, due (to) the 1971 Florida sweepstakes provision of the law, these gambling locations are allowed to conduct business.

The American Conservative Union (ACU) will be featuring some prominent Florida Republicans at its panel on health care at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) meeting in Orlando later in the month. The panel of conservatives speaking at the Health Care Freedom and Constitutionalism: Reining in the Rogue Federal Government discussion includes current state Attorney General Pam Bondi and her predecessor Bill McCollum, who have led a constitutional challenge on behalf of 26 states against the federal health-care law backed by the Obama administration.

Conservative leader Gary Bauer, best known for leading the Family Research Council and making a bid for the Republican presidential nomination, slammed Republican presidential candidate U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas on Wednesday, arguing that the congressman from the Lone Star State was not a conservative in the mold of Ronald Reagan.

Mitt Romney, Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann can agree on at least one thing: attending the Faith and Freedom Coalition's Kickoff Rally at Florida's Presidency 5 summit in Orlando. Romney and Perry on Wednesday followed Bachmann's lead in committing to appear at the rally, which will be held from 3 p.m.-5 p.m. Sept. 22 at the Rosen Centre. The meet-and-greet event is free and open to the public.

While former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner has garnered several endorsements of Florida legislators for his bid to take on Democrat incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012, former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux announced on Wednesday that five Republicans in the Legislature were backing his bid.

Florida TaxWatch on Wednesday criticized Palm Beach County for "hoarding excessive reserves." TaxWatch's Center for Local Government Studies, in a "Special Report on Palm Beach County," said officials maintained unnecessarily high levels of unreserved funds compared with comparable counties of Broward, Hillsborough, Miami-Dade and Orange. Palm Beach County, the report stated, has consistently maintained unreserved funds at 50 percent or more of its total expenditures over the past six years, despite declines over the past two years.

With the Republican presidential candidates squaring off in a debate sponsored by NBC News and Politico at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., on Wednesday night, one of the candidates will be hitting the airwaves -- and one of his fellow candidates -- with a new commercial. Besides taking part in the debate, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul will run a commercial during the telecast that takes aim at fellow Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry.

As threatened, the ACLU has sued the state of Florida in a bid to end drug testing of welfare recipients. The screening program, which went into effect July 1, was branded by the ACLU as a violation of Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure. Filing the case as a class action in U.S. District Court in Orlando, the ACLU listed Luis Lebron as the plaintiff. Lebron is described as an Orlando-area Navy veteran who applied for benefits from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.