Valerie Roberts, a senior from Brooks DeBartolo Collegiate High School, was awarded the top prize at U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor’s 2019 Congressional Art Competition with her interpretive portrait drawing titled, “Gloss.” She is the first student from Brooks DeBartolo Collegiate High School to win the Congressional Award in U.S. Rep. Castor’s annual art competition. Valerie previously competed in U.S. Rep. Castor’s 2018 Congressional Art Competition and was awarded 1st place in the Water Media portion of the competition for her piece titled, “Woman from Hawaii”. An awards ceremony for the annual competition took place Sunday at the Tampa Museum of Art Read more »

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the living legacy of Dr. Juel Smith. Her story starts in Sapulpa, Oklahoma, where she was born and graduated from Sapulpa High School in 1960. She married and became a mother of five children. Tragedy struck her and her family when her husband suddenly passed away, and Dr. Smith became a widow. She realized that pursuing higher education was her best… Read more »

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor beloved community leader, Florida State Representative Betty Reed. She was raised in Thomasville, Georgia, in a close-knit family of hardworking sharecroppers and with 12 other siblings. Representative Reed and her husband, James, moved to Tampa after he was discharged from the military to raise a family of their own. Representative Reed was an active… Read more »

Madam Speaker, I rise to honor a third-generation servant leader from my community of Tampa, Florida, Harold A. Jackson, Jr. who was born at Tampa Negro Hospital to the late Jacqueline Haynes Jackson and the late Harold A. Jackson, Sr. Jackson learned about service at a young age as his father served in the U.S. Army during World War II and returned to Tampa to become one of our… Read more »

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, Chair of the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, released the following statement in response to the Trump administration’s proposed fiscal year 2020 budget, which would slash funding for the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and eliminate ARPA-E: Read more »

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (FL14) championed the historic reform package, H.R. 1, the “For The People Act” today. The bill passed overwhelmingly 234-193 and is focused on reforms that U.S. Rep. Castor and House Democrats have been working on for years – ensuring fair elections by fighting voter suppression and reaffirming commitment to the Voting Rights Act, standing against big money’s influence in politics and cleaning up the culture of corruption – all to return power back to the American people. Importantly, the bill included the Castor amendment to bury the “Zombie Campaign” abuses which allowed former Members and special interests to influence elections long after the Member left office. Read more »

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (FL14) released the following statement after the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against the United States Soccer Federation on International Women’s Day: Read more »

Washington – Today the independent, nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) released its 2019 High-Risk List – once again and since 2013, the GAO has included the federal government’s fiscal exposure to climate change risks. U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (FL14), Chair of the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, released the following statement: Read more »

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (FL14) is continuing her stand against special interests and corruption in Washington by introducing the Honest Elections and Campaigns Act, H.R. 1363, bipartisan legislation to require former lawmakers and others no longer seeking office to close their campaign accounts within two years, instead of having them live on as Zombie Campaigns. The bill is being offered as an amendment to the landmark “For the People Act”, H.R. 1, that is scheduled to be debated and voted on this week. Read more »

U.S. Reps. Kathy Castor (FL14), Francis Rooney (FL19) and the entire Florida congressional delegation today urged Acting Interior Secretary Bernhardt to protect the coasts of Florida from oil and gas development. Unanimous bipartisan support is rare in Washington, but the stakes are high for Florida, it’s economy and natural environment as the Trump Administration moves forward on drilling off the coast. Read more »