Florida and coastal states across the country declared a victory today with the passage of H.R. 205, the Protecting and Securing Florida's Coastline Act. Protecting Florida’s beaches and coastal resources has been a part of U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor’s (D-Tampa, Fla.) life work and she sponsored the bipartisan bill with U.S. Rep. Francis Rooney (R-Naples, Fla). The landmark bill protects Florida’s way of life and America’s national security by making the moratorium on oil drilling in federal waters off Florida coasts permanent. The moratorium is set expire in 2022. While the Trump administration has worked to open areas in the Gulf of Mexico and coastal areas to drilling, the Democratic-led House of Representatives acted to stop the unneeded and unwanted expansion. Read more »
Today U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (FL14) urged Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet, in their role as the Power Plant Siting Board, to make a thorough review of Tampa Electric Company’s (TECO) Big Bend project as required by Florida’s Power Plant Siting Act. Read more »
U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (FL14) released the following statement after a federal judge ruled in favor of the Trump administration’s expansion of the sale of short-term junk health insurance plans that do not meet standards set in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), could leave Americans on the hook for costly medical bills and discriminate against neighbors with preexisting conditions: Read more »
Today, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (FL14) led her colleagues in passing the Raise the Wage Act, landmark legislation to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025. According to independent economic analysis, the bill would increase pay for up to 33 million American workers including 129,600 neighbors in Tampa and Hillsborough County. Read more »
Today, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (FL14) helped lead the U.S. House of Representatives in passing the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The NDAA provides for a 3.1 percent pay raise for military service members and a strong and a smart national defense strategy. U.S. Rep. Castor championed several important provisions in the bill that directly help MacDill Air Force Base service members and families, including tackling the mold problem in base housing and a new Tenants’ Bill of Rights. Read more »
Today Republicans, with the unfortunate support of our own State of Florida, pressed in court to destroy affordable health care coverage for millions of Floridians and Americans. If the GOP and President Trump prevail in Texas v. U.S. in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, coverage for preexisting conditions and other consumer protections will end. Read more »
As the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team continues to score big on the global stage in the Women’s World Cup, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (FL14) once again urged the U.S. Soccer Federation to remedy the pay inequity and treatment experienced by the women’s team. Despite continuing to break attendance and viewership records, and many times generating more revenue than the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team, the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team has faced an outsized wage gap compared to their male counterparts. U.S. Rep. Castor’s letter to Carlos Cordeiro, U.S. Soccer Federation president, includes the numbers backing these unprecedented revenue and viewership records. Read more »
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (FL14) released the following statement on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision today in Department of Commerce v. New York regarding the Trump administration’s addition of a question about citizenship on the 2020 Census. Since last year, U.S. Rep. Castor has urged the Trump administration to reject adding this citizenship question to the… Read more »
U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (FL14) announced passage of robust appropriations bills to fund America’s national defense and support military families at MacDill Air Force Base and across the country. H.R. 2740 and H.R. 3550 passed this week and include a boost in pay for our service members as well as provisions to correct substandard on-base housing and strengthen the care our veterans have earned and deserve. U.S. Rep. Castor also insisted that funds meant for investments in our troops and national security are not diverted to the President’s border wall. Read more »
U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (FL14) is sounding the alarm that online privacy, especially the privacy of children, is at risk due to lack of resources at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and to the growing number of companies that mine our personal information even from children’s apps and toys. The U.S. House of Representatives adopted a Castor amendment today to an important appropriations bill that will help the FTC target bad actors. Read more »
