Florida Congressman Vern Buchanan on Thursday called for the activities of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to be kept wide open to public scrutiny -- and said he intends to propose legislation to ensure all of that bicameral bodys meetings will stay in the sunshine.

The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction was set up as part of the deal to break up the stalemate in Washington over raising the federal debt ceiling. The new committee will consist of six members of each party, divided equally between senators and congressmen.

With little more than a week to go until the Iowa straw poll in Ames, some of the Republican presidential candidates continued to beef up their operations in the Hawkeye State, which holds the first presidential caucus.

Having won a number of straw polls -- including two held at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in 2010 and earlier this year -- U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas looked to continue his success in the events.

With the Obama administration pulling the plug on the space shuttle program, Florida Republican Congresswoman Sandy Adams is hoping to keep NASA workers on the Space Coast. Adams, a freshman who representsparts of Brevard,Orange, Seminole and Volusia counties, introduced legislation Wednesday which she labeled theShuttle Workforce Revitalization Act of 2011.

It's a bill to keep NASA workers in the area by launching a historically underutilized business zone (HUBZone) inBrevard County.

The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) is set to make its debut outside of the Beltway in Orlando on Sept. 23 -- and its bringing a host of Republican presidential candidates and conservative leaders to the Sunshine State.

The event, which is backed by the American Conservative Union (ACU) will be held concurrently with the Republican Party of Floridas (RPOF) Presidency 5 event, which will feature a debate between the various hopefuls for the partys presidential nomination. The RPOF plans to hold a straw poll on Saturday, Sept. 24.

While the Republican primary to take on Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012 is more than a year away, on Monday the camps of the two leading GOP hopefuls -- former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux and former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner -- came out swinging at each other.

On Monday, the team behind former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, now running in the Republican primary to take on Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, came out firing at former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, their chief GOP rival. The LeMieux team took exception to Hasners claims that he is a conservative.

Former Ruth's Chris CEO Craig Miller might have entered the Republican primary field to take on Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson a bit late, but he has shown in recent days that he's trying to make up for it.

Miller has had a busy few days as he tries to catch up with his chief Republican rivals -- former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner and businessman and retired Army officer Mike McCalister.