Medicaid expansion once again took center stage in the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday when the committee took up several amendments sponsored by Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, to the Senate’s health care proposal.
The Florida House may have adjourned three days early during the 2015 regular legislative session nearly a month ago, but "nonpartisan" group Florida Strong released a new online ad Tuesday letting House Republicans know they haven't forgotten about the early adjournment.
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With the Florida Legislature currently in special session to pass a budget and debate Medicaid expansion, an expert on state affairs offered his take on what will happen in Tallahassee.
Barney Bishop, now the president and CEO of Barney Bishop Consulting and formerly the president and CEO of the Associated Industries of Florida (AIF) and the executive director of the Florida Democratic Party, was in Orlando on Tuesday to attend Gov. Rick Scott’s “Economic Growth Summit” and shared his thoughts about the special session with Sunshine State News.
On Tuesday, former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, R-Fla., took his name out of consideration for a return to the U.S. Senate in 2016. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is running for the Republican presidential nomination and has said he will not run for a second term in the Senate.
LeMieux, who turned 46 last month, was in Orlando on Tuesday at Gov. Rick Scott’s “Economic Growth Summit." Talking to Sunshine State News, LeMieux said he would not run in 2016 saying he wanted to spend time with his young family. LeMieux had garnered some buzz as a possible Senate candidate in 2016.
Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera told Sunshine State News on Tuesday he is “strongly considering” running for the U.S. Senate in 2016 even as he draws fire from Democrats and conservatives.
At Gov. Rick Scott’s “Economic Growth Summit” at Walt Disney World, Lopez-Cantera said he was not in the race yet and did not offer a timeline for his decision but he did express interest in jumping in the contest to replace U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. Currently running for the Republican presidential nomination, Rubio has said he will not run for a second term in the Senate.
National Democrats are starting to take Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera seriously as a potential U.S. Senate candidate in 2016. On Tuesday, the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee (DSCC) hit Lopez-Cantera for bringing in Washington lawyer Charlie Spies to set up his super-PAC. Spies had set up former Gov. Jeb Bush’s Right to Rise PAC.
Sadie Weiner, the national press secretary for the DSCC, tried to tie Lopez-Cantera to questions about how Bush has used Right to Rise.
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The U.S. House reauthorized the National Estuary Program (NEP) on Monday with two of the four main sponsors of the bill coming from Florida: Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Posey and Democrat U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy. Both Posey and Murphy noted how the legislation will help improve Indian River Lagoon.
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A self-identified “nonpartisan” political group has it in for House Republicans opposed to Medicaid expansion, but the group has deep ties to Democratic heavy-hitters despite saying it’s not affiliated with any specific political ideology.
Floridians could still get a reduction in their cable-TV and cellphone bills as part of a new House tax-cut package, but the overall plan likely will fall short of the tax cuts sought by Gov. Rick Scott.
Also, Scott's call to permanently lift the sales tax on the purchase of college textbooks may be altered, as the House is repackaging a tax-cut package (HB 7141) from the regular legislative session to help develop a budget that lawmakers say will include higher health-care costs.
It seems like just yesterday we recovered from the deluge of political ads to hit the airwaves and our mailboxes. If you have paid attention to the news, you know that the cycle never really stops and it will soon be back in our faces with presidential and congressional seats open in 2016.
