“It is an honor to recognize the Richards family as September’s MVPs for Florida’s 17th Congressional District. Howard, Zachary, and Sarah all answered the call to serve our great nation in the United States Army, and they have all set a shining example of dedication, patriotism, and service to our community here in Hardee County.”

“Mayor Watford has taken his personal level of service well above and beyond the expectations of his public office both during the pandemic and beyond. His willingness to step up for our seniors, families, farmers and small businesses has made him invaluable to our community and exemplifies the true essence of public service. We are grateful for his commitment.”

“Joe Biden’s lack of a plan to evacuate the remaining Americans trapped in Afghanistan is a reprehensible dereliction of duty. After causing one of the worst foreign policy blunders in history, he and Vice President Harris must take responsibility for their failures and take steps to prioritize the safe return of American citizens as they face serious threats from the Taliban.”

“It is clear that the Chinese Communist Party is complicit in the coverup of the COVID-19 virus after it was released from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Millions of deaths across the globe are the consequence of their malfeasance and corruption but the Biden Administration has responded with nothing but silence and inaction. Why is Joe Biden so afraid of China?”

“Rather than sending officers to outside jurisdictions to waste time and resources on politicized investigations, USCP leadership should focus on their sole responsibility of protecting the U.S. Capitol in D.C. Operating field offices outside of their jurisdiction is an unnecessary overreach that would only add to the mismanagement of the USCP and leadership shortcomings that we’ve seen over the past year.”

Our farmers, ranchers, and producers typically face economic challenges from many things like commodity prices, weather, spikes in production costs, and crop diseases. Congress should take positive action to protect our domestic agricultural businesses instead of creating new burdens, like unfair tax policy of discriminatory debt relief measures.”

“The unified voice of the Administration must be clear: the current protests are the result of sixty-two years of oppression and not the result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The situation is dire, and the Cuban people deserve our support in their struggle for freedom. It would be a severe mistake to lift sanctions on the Cuban regime which would only give the brutal dictatorship more resources to use in its crackdown against protestors. Do not let a springtime of the Cuban people turn into a winter of oppression.”

“More than 7 million Floridians and thousands of businesses tied to tourism, agriculture, healthcare and construction depend on water supply from Lake Okeechobee, and expected that LOSOM would result in a plan that meets the water supply purpose by restoring the water supply purpose by restoring the water supply performance that existed prior to the current schedule. In addition to seeking assurances from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that the Preliminary Preferred Plan CC can be optimized to meet the lake’s project purposes, we are also concerned that without such changes, Plan CC will result in significantly higher volumes of harmful Lake Okeechobee discharges to the Caloosahatchee River.”

“As a former Airborne Infantry Officer and a JAG Corps Officer, I witnessed firsthand the negative consequences of mandating vaccines in our military with the Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program. Forced COVID-19 vaccinations would threaten our military readiness and would even cause military members to exit service, all while taking away rights from troops who are risking their lives to protect our freedoms.”

“Protecting Lake Okeechobee is vital to ensuring that people who depend on the Lake have access to safe and reliable drinking water and that our agriculture industries around the Lake have the adequate water for their crops to feed our state and our nation. Agriculture is one of the three largest drivers to Florida’s economy and any negative impact to agriculture will affect the entire state’s economy. Many of those families have farmed for generations and a Lake regulation schedule that does not take into account their legitimate needs would harm Floridians.”

“Florida and many Cuban-Americans in our state have had a front row seat to the human tragedy and political dangers from the communist Castro dictatorship and generations of oppression. It is completely insane that so many of our Democrat colleagues are practically silent in condemning this humanitarian catastrophe and destabilizing political threat at our very doorstep. We must demand the Biden Administration support the Cuban people’s fight for freedom and clearly and unequivocally condemn communism.”

“Our country’s small businesses faced unprecedented challenges during COVID-19 and are still recovering. Other FDA user fees have small business provisions, and this legislation would bring this fee in line with other FDA user fee programs to ensure small businesses aren’t excessively burdened.”