Dear Friend,

Vietnam War 50th Anniversary Commemoration - On Tuesday, March 27th, I will honor Vietnam War era veterans at a ceremony at the Hillsborough County Veterans Resource Center at 10:00am with Frank Strom, Hillsborough County Veterans Services Director. The 50th Anniversary Commemorations are ongoing throughout the year to honor veterans from the Vietnam era.  Each veteran will receive a commemorative pin and personal thanks for their service. There is still time to register for this very special ceremony.  If you know anyone who served from 1955 through 1975, I would like to honor their service. Please find more details at castor.house.gov or call 813-871-2817. My office is always here to help if you or a veteran you know needs assistance. View flier.

Affordable Care Act – The ACA was signed into law 8 years ago and ushered in important consumer protections – outlawing discrimination for preexisting conditions, allowing children up to age 26 to stay on a parent’s plan, ending lifetime insurance caps, ensuring premiums and copays go mostly to health care not insurance profits, and reducing the cost of prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries.  After President Trump and Congressional Republicans sought to repeal the ACA last year, and lost, my focus has been on lowering costs, and protecting access and consumer protections. The Trump Administration and Congress nevertheless have engaged in efforts to sabotage the ACA.  Experts warn that such sabotage and failure to stabilize insurance markets will lead to premium hikes and higher health care costs. You can count on me to be a leader in Congress in our fight to lower costs, especially related to drug companies and rising drug prices.  

Omnibus – In fact, Republican refusal to stabilize insurance prices is an issue in the latest appropriations bill.  House Republicans oppose the bipartisan Senate proposal by Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) that would help lower out-of-pocket costs.  I had hoped that Congress would be on track for a fairly clean appropriations package, but Republicans keep pressing for $25 billion for a wasteful border wall instead of meaningful border security improvements and concealed carry across the country as a condition to background check improvements.  Inclusion of so many “poison pill” riders is complicating voting on a final bill by Friday. I will fight to see that medical research, education and infrastructure as well as our veterans and military service members and their families receive support.  I also will oppose any “poison pills” that would risk the health or safety of our neighbors throughout Tampa Bay.

The U.S. House of Representatives has scheduled votes on two more bills that roll back vital consumer protections in the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and a hastily unveiled bill that fails to protect patient safety:

H.R.4566 – The original version of this bill would unwisely eliminate the stress test for a nonbank financial company mandated by Wall Street Reform Act. Such tests serve as a valuable early warning system for our nation's economy. This bill as amended would remove any opportunity to identify and correct problems before they could lead to another financial crisis. The Wall Street Reform stress testing process allows regulators like the Federal Reserve, Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) or Securities Exchange Council (SEC) to look beyond banks to better monitor risks and vulnerabilities in other parts of the financial system. Stress testing is vital to risk management procedures that are essential to the stability of the financial market. Fortunately, critical improvements were made to the bill before it was voted on by the full House that restored the authority of the Federal Reserve Board to stress test any non-bank that is not designated as a systemically important financial institution as long as certain conditions are met that the bill originally took away.

H.R.4061 – This bill provides institutions that are known as “too-big-to-fail” with a roadmap to challenge the FSOC indefinitely. This roll-back of Wall Street Reform protections would take the FSOC's already lengthy, two-year process to more than four years. Such delays would allow companies to avoid practical measures intended to diminish threats to our economy for the benefit of their own shareholders. This legislation would simply bog down the FSOC and the process it takes to ensure the stability of financial markets and open them up to continuous litigation.

H.R.5247 – This bill, opposed by over 100 patients groups, including the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the American Lung Association and  the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and four former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Administrators, would completely remove the FDA from the review process of investigational therapies, creating a dangerous precedent that removes vital protections of vulnerable patients. This bill also does not guarantee that patients will receive those therapies from the manufacturers. The FDA’s oversight and approval process is essential to help protect patients and this legislation does not guarantee those protections or, as a last resort, access to investigational therapies.

I hope to see you at March for Our Lives Tampa at 10am on Saturday, March 24 in downtown Tampa.  I am very proud of the student organizers.  This is their march! If you are traveling to Washington, D.C. for the March for Our Lives, feel free to check in with my office about what to expect and a reception at the Florida House.