The White House interjected itself in Florida’s battle over Medicaid expansion, releasing a new report Thursday morning detailing both the projected economic and health impacts Medicaid expansion would have on the state.

Despite continued lobbying and statewide rallies, lawmakers with control over a water-and-land funding package don't appear to be open to pleas to increase spending on environmental lands.

But as budget talks likely begin this weekend, with the Legislature focused more on deciding whether to expand health-care coverage and how much to earmark for education, proponents of a 2014 environmental ballot initiative say they will continue to push for an increase in spending on land and water projects.

The Florida Senate continued to truck along with its Federal Health Insurance Exchange program proposal on Wednesday, passing the bill by a vote of 33-3.

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., a rising figure on the national scene for his party, announced on Wednesday that he is backing U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Fla., in the race to replace U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in the Senate while Republicans tried to pin President Barack Obama’s federal health-care law on the Florida Democrat. Rubio is running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 and has said he will not run for a second Senate term. 

From his perch as chairman of the U.S. Senate Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination and an opponent of normalizing relations with the Castro regime, introduced the “Cuban Military Transparency Act” on Wednesday. 

This week, Florida congressmen left their marks on the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act which is moving through the U.S. House.

On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Curt Clawson, R-Fla., introduced an amendment “to increase funding for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Operations, Research and Facilities by $2 million and reduce funding for Legal Services Expenses of the U.S. Parole Commission by a similar amount which passed on a voice vote.

A Florida congresswoman who co-chairs the Congressional Soccer Caucus is calling for major reforms to international soccer, even as FIFA President Sepp Blatter announced his resignation on Tuesday.

Blatter’s resignation will take effect when FIFA chooses his replacement, which will happen in a meeting that is expected to be no earlier than December. In recent days, Interpol and the U.S. authorities have indicted FIFA officials on corruption charges, including accusations that South African officials sent $10 million to FIFA as a bribe to hold the World Cup.

A House committee, voting mostly along party lines, advanced a less robust tax-cut package Tuesday that drastically trims Gov. Rick Scott's call to reduce taxes on pay-TV and cellphone bills.

Claiming a need to raise money for health care, the Republican-dominated House Finance and Tax Committee, in a 12-5 vote, approved a $273.2 million tax-cut package (HB 33A) for the coming fiscal year that maintains many features of a $690 million plan (HB 7141) that the House proposed during this spring's regular legislative session.

While Florida legislators were debating federally mandated Medicaid  expansion, some 1,000 miles to the north the House Ways and Means Committee Tuesday opted to repeal two pieces of the president's signature health-care act.

The committee advanced measures that would unload Obamacare of the medical device tax and a cost-cutting panel known as the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). Both bills are scheduled to go to the House floor the week of June 15.

Surprisingly, the vote on these bills wasn't a party-line affair -- a rarity these days inside the Beltway.

It was his show, his name appeared big, so it was a surprise to no one when Gov. Rick Scott blew his own horn Tuesday in front of an audience of mostly Scott's invited guests, media, party and national leaders at the "Economic Growth Summit" in Orlando.

Scott pointed to his record on the economy as a model for whoever wins the 2016 presidential election.