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Today is National Teacher Appreciation Day and I want to highlight Ms. Christine Campbell from Van Buren Middle School. Ms. Campbell is a veteran of the United States Army who now serves as a social worker. She received the 2018 Ida S. Baker Diversity Educator of the Year Award for her devotion to meeting the needs of her students and community. She makes sure students have school supplies, clothing and food and has been a champion of increasing district-wide attendance and graduation rate. Educators like Ms. Campbell are a true inspiration!
Check out what else is happening this week in the U.S. House of Representatives 
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Our bipartisan Energy & Commerce committee investigation uncovered that drug wholesalers and distributors flooded West Virginia and other areas with massive amounts of opioids even after warnings from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). Today I questioned CEOs of five drug wholesaler corporations that distributed mind-boggling amounts of opioids to small towns and cities for many years. Drug distributors chose to embrace profits and high salaries over their responsibility to the American people under the law that requires them to report and stop suspicious orders. They need greater accountability.
Nonpartisan experts are warning consumers that the actions of the Trump Administration and Republican Congress will increase premiums on millions of Americans. CBO predicts a 20% average premium hike in ACA Marketplaces in 2018 and 10% average premium hike in 2019. Thirteen million Americans will become uninsured Americans beginning in 2019 to help pay for the GOP tax scam. The Urban Institute also predicts a 16% premium hike in ACA Marketplaces in 2019 from the Trump Admini...stration’s proposed short-term “junk plans” and repeal of the individual mandate. Middle-class families who do not quality for tax credits will bear some of the heaviest impacts of the GOP’s sabotage. To keep costs down, Democrats are working to lower Americans’ premiums and out of pocket health care costs, including the cost of prescription drugs. 60 Minutes told the story of high drug costs last night that you can see here. The GOP Congress continues to block action on allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices and other ways to lower costs and it is taking its toll on pocketbooks.
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Small businesses are the backbone of the Tampa Bay economy. Today I had the opportunity to celebrate #NationalSmallBusinessWeek with Florida SBDC at USF at its annual conference to connect local contractors in IT, construction, trades and transportation with federal agencies. Local companies are supplying federal partners with goods and services to the tune of millions of dollars in contracts. So, actually, every week is Small Business Week in Tampa. When our small business owners succeed, we all succeed because they can hire, give raises and grow.
Lowering the costs of prescription drugs, strengthening health care under Medicare and Medicaid and a healthy and clean environment were top issues on the minds of neighbors at Port Tampa City Library one-on-one session. I met with neighbors individually and during an open question & answer session on the everyday issues that matter to them. While the Tampa Bay area is thriving, many neighbors are feeling squeezed due to costs of housing, prescriptions and making it in retirement. We love to help cut the red tape if you are having any difficulty with a federal agency and connect you with other community services, so please call my Tampa office at 813-871-2817 if I can ever be of assistance.
Thank you to the Tampa Bay members of the National Association of Social Workers - Florida Chapter for the 2018 Elected Official of the Year recognition. Our social workers improve and save lives every day. Your advice and guidance on how to improve comprehensive mental health treatment, support our veterans, address the opioid public health epidemic and support families is appreciated.
U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor added 27 new photos to the album: 2018 Congressional Art Competition — at Tampa Museum of Art.
Every year I am proud to host this event to showcase artwork of numerous mediums – watercolors, drawings, oil on canvass, photography, and sculptures – by young artists who show great promise of a bright future. I invite our neighbors to support these creative students and the economic impact that the culture and arts industry makes right here in our community.
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s ethical lapses and wasteful spending are well known, but his rollbacks of our clean water, clean air and toxic chemical protections are much more costly. He sides with polluters over the public interest every time and puts the health of children and older Americans – all of us – at risk. Today I pressed #PollutingPruitt for turning a blind eye to the health and well-being of American families and I asked him why he sides with corporate pollute...rs over the health of families. More than 190 members of Congress have joined my resolution seeking his resignation and environment advocates like the League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club, Moms Clean Air Force and Public Citizen rallied with me in front of the U.S. Capitol to call for Pruitt’s resignation before the committee hearing today. Here’s my question during the hearing:
WATCH: https://youtu.be/qgHfmSd_lys
This week, the bipartisan Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act is up for a vote. While there are many positive provisions included in the bill relating to safety in the skies, I have pressed to add a provision to end the hidden and ever-increasing baggage fees. I am also continuing to press EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt in an oversight hearing today for his wasteful ways with taxpayer money, and even worse, his assault on our landmark clean water and clean air laws.
Read more on what is happening in the U.S. House this week:
https://castor.house.gov/news/email/show.aspx…
Thank you to AARP for presenting me with AARP’s Congressional Award for working to improve the lives of family caregivers. AARP volunteers, members and advocates are true partners for a better quality of life for our older neighbors. Together we will continue to defend and strengthen Medicare, Medicaid, and access to affordable health care. This year AARP worked closely with me to pass my bipartisan RAISE Family Caregivers Act into law and chart a path forward to support caregivers and provide the resources and recognition they deserve.
Travelers deserve info & control over hidden, exorbitant airline baggage fees! Read about my new effort informed by many families and biz travelers with sticker shock and inconveniences -- I am urging Congress to protect consumers against excessive baggage fees, which made U.S. airlines $4B+ in profits in 2016. Tell me your stories about surprise charges and repacking ...
My amendment to the five-year FAA reauthorization bill scheduled for a U.S. House vote this week would protect consumers against increasingly exorbitant baggage fees. For more than a decade, airlines have dramatically hiked the cost of baggage fees – forcing consumers to pay higher fees, while U.S. airlines have profited to the tune of billions of dollars - $4 billion in baggage fees alone in 2016. My amendment will rein in these exorbitant baggage fees and make travel more affordable for everyone, while helping to keep our airports competitive.
The horrific images and damage from the BP Deepwater Horizon blowout are still fresh in our minds on the eighth anniversary of the worst oil disaster in U.S. history. Everyone who loves Florida’s clean beaches, fishing, beautiful sunsets and our way of life will never take for granted a healthy and clean Gulf of Mexico. Tourism and fishing are our life’s blood in the Sunshine State, and we welcome visitors from across America and the world to share the Florida experience. Nevertheless, oil companies and polluters continue to stalk Florida’s offshore waters for drilling while environmental protections are being eroded at the federal and state level.
Earlier this week it was reported that Puerto Rican families who relocated to Florida communities after Hurricane Maria and receiving Transitional Shelter Assistance (TSA) were now unduly subject to much more stringent eligibility requirements, causing some two-thirds of thousands of families to be evicted by today and left out in the cold. I worked with a strong bipartisan group in the Florida delegation (Sens. Nelson and Rubio, and Reps. Soto, Curbelo, Murphy and Ross) to p...ress FEMA and Gov. Rosselló of Puerto Rico to change their harsh decision to halt assistance.
UPDATE – Today FEMA has made the decision to unconditionally extend TSA for families until May 14, allowing them to continue to address their housing needs. My colleagues and I urge FEMA to go even further and extend the TSA program until the end of the school year for mainland states to avoid needlessly uprooting students away from their educational experience and giving them the opportunity to complete the school year. Our united bipartisan effort has been successful and we will keep pressing to help our neighbors from Puerto Rico.
My hope for the future in #Cuba & #US is for governments to listen to the people of both nations who want change, engagement & greater freedom. Support families & entrepreneurs! It’s vital for both sides to engage & talk in complicated, modern world. We are neighbors after all.
Mi esperanza para el futuro en #Cuba y #EEUU es para que los gobiernos escuchen as los pueblos de las dos naciones quienes quieren cambio, mayor entendimiento y mayor libertad. Apoyen a nuestras familias y emprendedores! Es vital para que ambos lados dialoguen en este mundo moderno y complicado. Ya que al fin somos vecinos.
TBT to 2007 – The top award for my first Congressional Art Competition went to Irma Diaz from Freedom High School. Every year I am proud to host this event to showcase artwork of numerous mediums by young artists who show great promise of a bright future. I invite all of our neighbors to celebrate the art and talent across the Tampa Bay area for enriching our lives and for the economic impact arts have in Hillsborough County as an industry worth millions - creating and supporting thousands of jobs within our community.
