U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., will be focused on the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs (VA) budget as the House Veterans Affairs Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on Thursday. Miller chairs the committee. 

U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., showcased his support for repealing Medicare’s Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) which was set up by President Barack Obama’s federal health-care law.

Dark horse Republican presidential candidate Mark Everson, the former commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), came out firing at businessman Donald Trump’s presidential campaign kickoff, comparing him to Charleston gunman Dylann Roof. Everson has been a supporter of immigration reform though he opposes President Barack Obama’s use of executive action to change the laws. 

The Florida Retail Federation (FRF) announced on Tuesday that its Grocery Council will be renamed the Florida Grocers Association to help focus on the more than 2,300 grocery stores across the Sunshine State, a $45 billion annual industry. The Florida Grocers Association will be a division of the FRF. 

Florida Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, fired away at fellow Republican Gov. Rick Scott for vetoing more than $460 million from the state budget on Tuesday. Gardiner accused him of putting his “political agenda” over the need of Floridians. Scott and Gardiner stood on opposing sides in the debate over Medicaid expansion. 

 Americans for Prosperity’s (AFP) Florida chapter cheered Gov. Rick Scott for using the line-item veto and cutting more than $460 million out of the final budget on Tuesday. 

The Liberty First Network, a Tallahassee-based lobbying firm which includes some of the leading Libertarian Party members in Florida,  expressed disappointment at Earthjustice suing the Florida Legislature over how it spent money for environmental projects as directed by Amendment 1, which voters added to the state Constitution last year. 

Former U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., returned to Washington last week as the Guardian Fund PAC held a “victory event.” West turned over the Guardian Fund to U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., who currently chairs the PAC. West left his position as chairman when he went to work as CEO for the National Center for Policy Analysis. 

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., the chairwoman  of the U.S. House  Middle East Subcommittee, ripped into the State Department's “Country Reports on Terrorism for 2014” on Monday, saying the Obama administration made a “political calculation to whitewash” Iran’s and Cuba’s “support for terror."

Radio show host and hypnotist Robert Saviola is challenging state Rep. Kathleen Peters, R-St. Petersburg, on the Libertarian line. 

As the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) kicked off in Washington, D.C., on Monday, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a Republican presidential hopeful, called on President Barack Obama to stand up to that Asian nation. 

Republican pollster Vox Populi Polling released a poll on Friday looking at the Democratic primary to replace U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in 2016. Currently running for the Republican presidential nomination, Rubio has said he will not run for a second Senate term. 

Gov. Rick Scott is looking to lure jobs from Connecticut after that state raised taxes by $1.2 billion. Earlier this month, reports emerged that General Electric (GE) was looking at getting out of the Constitution State after the latest tax hikes from Hartford.

On Friday night, Chris Hudson, the director of the Florida chapter of Americans for Prosperity (AFP), offered his take on the completed special session in Tallahassee, including the $79 billion budget passed by the Legislature and ensuring Medicaid expansion did not go through. 

With the special legislative session ending, Gov. Rick Scott will be hitting cities across the Sunshine State to promote the more than $400 million in tax cuts passed this year.