VAWA is comprehensive legislation that provides these and communities across the country with vital funding and resources to empower victims and survivors, and gives law enforcement the tools to aggressively combat domestic violence. Read more »

The House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced H.R 9 today, the Climate Action Now Act, a bill from U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (FL14), that would prevent President Trump from withdrawing the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement and also require the Trump administration to report on U.S. progress toward meeting its commitments under the agreement. Read more »

U.S. Rep Kathy Castor, chair of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, will attend Wednesday’s Joint Session of Congress with Sharon Burke, a senior advisor for New America and a former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Operational Energy. Read more »

Today on Equal Pay Day, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (FL14) introduced a resolution to the U.S. House calling for female athletes to be paid on par with their male counterparts. The resolution also calls for organizers of world class competitions to actively take part in combating the wage gap. Read more »

Today, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (FL14) will announce at the Centre for Women’s Waves of Change event in Tampa details about H.R. 7, the landmark Paycheck Fairness Act that passed the U.S. House on Wednesday. The legislation takes a dramatic step forward to ensure that America’s women receive equal pay for equal work. This legislation strengthens and closes loopholes in the Equal Pay Act of 1963 to secure justice for working women in Florida and across the country by providing effective remedies for women subject to unfair and inequitable pay practices. Read more »

Today U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (FL14), Chair of the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, continued her career-spanning fight for a clean and healthy environment, clean energy jobs and promoting environmental justice in Tampa Bay and around the country by leading her colleagues in introducing H.R. 9, the Climate Action Now Act. The legislation demands action on the climate crisis by ensuring America honors its Paris Agreement commitments and laying the groundwork for further action. Read more »

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (FL14) released the following statement after the Trump administration filed a legal memo calling for a complete invalidation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in the Texas v. United States health care lawsuit before the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, endangering the health of Americans across the nation: Read more »

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 »