Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, kicked off the budget debate in the Senate Wednesday by demanding that amendments offered by other senators, that include pet spending projects, also ask for tax increases in order to pay for them.

On Tuesday, the Ecuadorian government expelled American Ambassador Heather Hodges due to comments she made attacking police in that Latin American nation over corruption. Hodges comments were revealed as part of the mine of sensitive information released by Wikileaks.

A poll conducted by Quinnipiac University and released on Wednesday found Florida voters souring on Gov. Rick Scott, with 48 percent disapproving of his performance in office and 35 percent supporting it.

With Tim Kaine announcing that he was stepping down as chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to run for the U.S. Senate in Virginia, President Barack Obama selected U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz to head the DNC as he prepared his bid for another term.

Viewpoint Florida continued to release details on a recent survey they conducted of the state. On Tuesday, they announced that they had conducted a poll that found Floridians giving Gov. Rick Scott mixed marks with his disapproval numbers over his approval rate by the slimmest of margins. The poll found that 48 percent of those surveyed disapproved of Scott while 47 percent approved. The poll also found that the governor was provoking strong feelings on both sides, with 33 percent strongly disapproving of his job as governor while 24 percent strongly approved of it.

On Tuesday, Florida Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio continued his criticism of the federal health-care law backed by President Barack Obama. Rubio, who is backing the efforts of U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., to repeal the law, weighed in on efforts to wipe out the 1099 provision in the law which makes organizations file IRS 1099 forms if they buy $600 from businesses during the year.

Weeks after a bill allowing destination casino resorts was pulled, a similar bill has been approved by the Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee, the same committee that failed to find favor with the original bill.

Two Republican congressmen from Northwest Florida joined forces on Tuesday to back a bill mandating that part of the fines that BP must pay resulting from last years oil spill go toward economic development along the Gulf Coast. The measure, introduced by U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller and freshman U.S. Rep. Steve Southerland, would have 40 percent of the fines go to local communities and states to be used for development and tourism. BP is expected to pay anywhere between $5 billion and $21 billion in fines.

This could be a good omen for former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux who kicked off his bid to take on Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson on Tuesday. A headline reads Rubio ready for Lemieux. While the headline would indicate that Marco Rubio isready to welcome LeMieux as his colleague representing Florida in the U.S. Senate, the article is from Fightnews.com and is on the upcoming showdown between Mexican middleweight boxer Marco Antonio Rubio and undefeated Canadian David Lemieux on Friday up in Quebec.

Senate Bill 408, which eliminates requirements for private insurance companies to carry sinkhole insurance, cleared its final committee hurdle in the Senate Tuesday, and will now head to the floor. An amendment was also tacked on in the Rules Committee preventing Citizens Property Insurance, the state-run homeowners' insurer, from paying sinkhole claims for anything other than repairs of the related damages.