The already large field of Republican presidential candidates will expand on Thursday as former Gov. George Pataki, R-N.Y., prepares to enter the contest.

On Sunday, U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart kicked off National Hurricane Preparedness Week as the hurricane season starts next Monday.With the 2015 hurricane season quickly approaching, I encourage Floridians to prepare their homes and families. Southern Florida has been fortunate to have been out of Mother Natures path in recent years, but we must be ready for whatever may happen, Diaz-Balart said on Sunday. If the right steps are taken, we can better prepare our homes and communities to be more resilient against the effects of these natural disasters.

On Friday, Gov. Rick Scott announced the state unemployment rate stood at 5.6 percent in April as 25,800 new jobs were created. The rate had been at 5.6 percent in February before moving up to 5.7 percent in March.

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., a leading congressional Republican on foreign policy and the chairwoman of the U.S. House Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, thinks the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) should release documents seized during the raid when American forces killed terrorist leader Osama bin Laden.

While Medicaid expansion will be front and center in the special legislative session next month, the Florida Chamber of Commerce offered a reminder on Thursday that legislators should also cut taxes.

U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., who sits on the House Agriculture Committee, backed a bill on Wednesday to end mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) requirements on meat products. The World Trade Organization (WTO) noted earlier this week that COOL requirements violate trade agreements and Canada and Mexico have threatened to retaliate against the U.S., leading to a possible trade war. The House Agriculture Committee passed the bill on a 38-6 vote on Wednesday and Yoho weighed in afterward.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., brought out the Florida Fisheries Improvement Act on Wednesday. As Congress plans to amend the Magnuson-Stevens Act on marine fishing, Rubios proposal gives the Regional Fishery Management Councils more flexibility, will ensure the Commerce Department reports to Congress on collecting data and speeds up declaring fishery disasters and provides more transparency.

After reports emerged that ABC News personality George Stephanopoulos donated to the Clinton Foundation, a new poll shows most voters are not trusting the political news. Rasmussen Reports released a poll on Thursday which finds 61 percent of likely voters do not trust the political news while only 21 percent trust it. A Rasmussen poll from October found 45 percent did not trust the political news while 33 percent did.

On Thursday, Florida TaxWatch released a look at the Sunshine States citrus industry and how citrus greening and other diseases were impacting it. The report finds diseases have led to a loss of more than $3.6 billion in revenue and more than 6,600 jobs in Florida.

Republicans in the Florida delegation -- U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, U.S. Reps. Gus Bilirakis, Vern Buchanan, Carlos Curbelo, Ron DeSanits, Mario Diaz-Balart, John Mica, Jeff Miller, Rich Nugent, Tom Rooney, Dennis Ross and Ted Yoho -- waded into the fight over Medicaid expansion on Wednesday, sending a letter to President Barack Obama urging him not to stop the Low Income Pool (LIP) program in Florida. Sources in the Obama administration tell Sunshine State News that HHS has not pulled the plug on LIP funding for Florida even as LIP will not be renewed in its current form.

From his perch on the U.S. House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Fla., announced he was co-sponsoring a bill to ending mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) requirements on meat products. The World Trade Organization (WTO) noted earlier this week that COOL requirements violate trade agreements and Canada and Mexico have threatened to retaliate against the U.S., leading to a possible trade war.

Honoring Cuban Independence Day on Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., slammed the Obama administration for trying to normalize relations with the Castro regime.

On Monday, U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw, R-Fla., a co-chair of the Congressional Nepal Caucus, included a tribute to the six Marines and two Nepali soldiers killed on May 12 in a helicopter crash as they were helping out in the aftermath of the April 25 earthquake that impacted Nepal, killing more than 8,000.

Former Florida Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, a potential candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2016 and a possible contender for the U.S. House if U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., opts for a Senate bid, offered his take on the stalemate over Medicaid expansion in the Florida Legislature. On Monday, Gaetz sent out a message to his constituents and he jabbed Gov. Rick Scott on the matter.

Florida TaxWatch thinks Central Florida could see a boom in advanced manufacturing jobs and opportunities. On Tuesday, Florida TaxWatch showcased the Florida Advanced Manufacturing Research Center (FAMRC) which will open in Orlando come 2017 and praised the International Consortium for Advanced Manufacturing Research (ICAMR), a private-public partnership focused on changes in the industry.