Florida Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio sent a letter to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., on Wednesday, asking for the Senate to take up a measure calling for the removal of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and backing President Barack Obamas military actions against the government of that African nation.

Expressing "serious concerns" about Senate Judiciary Committee Chairwoman Anitere Flores' handling of proposed E-Verify legislation, a Florida immigration group promises that "all hell will break loose" if the bill's original language isn't reinstated on Monday. In a letter to Senate President Mike Haridopolos, Floridians for Immigration Enforcement said Flores' "past comments that states should not enact illegal immigration legislation and her affiliation with a group that labeled previous illegal immigration bills as 'draconian' is troublesome."

A Palm Beach County circuit judge who signed a controversial e-mail claiming that the Florida Bar had prevailed in closed-door negotiations on judicial reform is now the target of an official complaint regarding her job. Lisa Small, who joined three other attorneys in distributing the e-mail, also sits on the Bar's 52-member board of governors.

Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan introduced a federal balanced-budget amendment in the U.S. House on Wednesday, very similar to a measure being proposed by U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa. The measure would also limit federal spending to 18 percent of the GDP and mandate that any measure to raise federal taxes be passed by supermajorities of both wings of Congress. "We cant wait any longer," said Buchanan. "The time is now for Washington to make the tough choices necessary to balance the budget for taxpayers today and for future generations.

While President Barack Obama's rating sank to all-time lows in one poll, the tea party movement didn't fare much better in another. On the same day a Quinnipiac University survey found that fully 50 percent of respondents believe Obama does not deserve to be re-elected, a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll reported Wednesday that nearly half of its respondents had an unfavorable view of tea parties, in the same league as the Democratic and Republican parties.

Howard Dean, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and erstwhile presidential candidate, sees a political upside to shutting down the federal government. If I was head of DNC, I would be quietly rooting for it, said Dean, speaking on a National Journal Insiders Conference panel this week. I know whos going to get blamed -- weve been down this road before.

The House Appropriations Committee approved a measure reforming pension plans for state employees, backing a bill that requires government workers to contribute part of their annual salaries to the Florida Retirement System (FRS). The measure passed on a party linesvote with Republicans backing the reform and Democrats opposing it.

A new poll from Public Policy Polling (PPP), a firm with connections to Democrats, released a poll on Wednesday that showed that Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson is in solid shape to win a third term in 2012.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio has chosen to high-profile affirmation of his strong policy positions, and not only did the Miami Republican give an in-depth nationally televised interview to ABC News this week, but he delivered a no-nonsense oped column in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal. Here are excerpts from the column he titles, "Why I Won't Vote to Raise the Debt Limit":

The 2011 Major League Baseball season kicks off on Thursday -- but fans of the two teams in the Sunshine State have to wait until Friday. While there are six games on Thursday, neither the Florida Marlins (who will be renamed the Miami Marlins after the season) and the Tampa Bay Rays will be playing ball on opening day.

Taking up the mantra of oil-drilling advocates, President Barack Obama on Wednesday said the petroleum industry needs to get to work. While professing that there are "no quick fixes," the same president who ordered an offshore drilling moratorium and constantly criticizes America's dependence on carbon-based fuels now wants federal officials to investigate why oil companies aren't drilling more.

As the state continues to face a $3.75 billion shortfall, the House Appropriations Committee kicked off a marathon session on Wednesday as they grappled with the budget and passed the General Appropriations Act on a party lines vote to send it to the House floor. Rep. Denise Grimsley, R-Sebring, carved out 10 hours for the committee to meet as they readied their proposed $66.5 billion budget. That may seem like a lot of time but we have a lot of bills to take up today, said Grimsley at the start of the session.

Senate President Mike Haridopolos says he's prepared to make tough decisions to cut the state's budget and fill Florida's $3.8 billion deficit hole, including finding savings in the Medicaid program and in the benefits for state workers. "The alternative is what you're seeing in Washington, D.C., where they don't cut anything," Haridopolos said when asked about other increases in costs like property insurance rates and tuition hikes.

A host of potential candidates for the Republican presidential nomination headed down to Florida to back Marco Rubio during last years Senate race -- but dont expect Rubio to return the favor. Politico is reporting that Rubio, who backed Mike Huckabee in 2008, has said that he does not expect to endorse any of the candidates looking to take Barack Obama on come 2012.

Senators cleared the way for 18 bills deemed "uncontroversial" to make their way swiftly through their final committee stop on the way to the floor Wednesday. Each bill hadbeen scheduled for a full hearing in the Budget Committee Friday, but senators voted to clump the bills into a consent agenda that could be voted on as a whole. Senate Rules Committee Chairman John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, said the bills had not received a single negative vote in previous committees. The move is expected to clear time for the Budget Committee to hash out its budget talks.