From his perch on the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., went to bat for U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy’s, R-Penn., “Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act” on Tuesday. Bilirakis noted at a roundtable event on Tuesday that 10 million Americans are suffering from severe mental illness and pointed to reports s from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) that around 40 percent of them do not get treatment. 

On Tuesday, the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing on the  data breach at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management in which more than 4 million federal employees had their data stolen with many signs pointing to China as the culprit.

Florida TaxWatch insisted on Tuesday that the Legislature could have done more to cut taxes this year. On Monday, the Legislature passed $400 million in tax cuts and Gov. Rick Scott signed them into law on Tuesday. 

Over the five years I’ve written for Sunshine State News, I rarely get personal but a recent honor from the Florida Wildlife Federation (FWF)  makes me forego my usual policy. 

Donald Trump continued pounding former Gov. Jeb Bush in the launch of his presidential bid. Calling Common Core a “disaster,” Trump ripped into Bush for supporting it. 

Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he is running for the Republican presidential nomination and called for the “right people” to lead the nation. 

From his perch as the chairman of the U.S. Senate Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, presidential hopeful U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., fired away at President Barack Obama after administration members met with Diosdado Cabello, who leads Venezuela’s National Assembly, over the weekend. Cabello is being investigated by the U.S. government for drug trafficking.

Moments before former Gov. Jeb Bush launched his presidential bid, U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw, R-Fla., explained whey he was backing the former Florida governor for the Republican nomination. Bush beat out Crenshaw in the Republican gubernatorial primary back in 1994. 

Florida Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, running in 2016 for an open Florida Senate seat, will help kick off a new Republican group in North Central Florida. 

Space Florida will be taking over the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center, Gov. Rick Scott announced on Monday. 

President Barack Obama signed the “Girls Count Act" into law on Friday. The bill from Republican presidential hopeful U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.,  carves out funds from current foreign aid programs to create birth registries in underdeveloped countries.

Former Jacksonville City Council President Matt Carlucci is staying on the Florida Commission on Ethics.

Daniel Diaz Leyva came up short against Rep. Jose Javier Rodriguez, D-Miami, in the 2014 elections but the Republican attorney landed on  the Miami Dade College District Board of Trustees.

With the Castro regime threatening to charge democracy activist Gustavo Pérez Silverio as a terrorist, U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., one of the leading congressional Republican voices on foreign affairs, took to the House floor on Thursday. 

This week, news broke that U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., the chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.