Gus Bilirakis

If I could have just one moment, I want to mention very briefly our prosecutor from Wayne County in the Detroit area.

It seems that he had a powerful jammer in his SUV, powerful enough to jam local law enforcement radios and calls to 911.

We as a country and more importantly the states have a role to play in insisting that institutions provide positive outcomes for veterans.

However, we still have much work to do.

I want to take a moment to commend my colleagues who introduced and supported the Transparency Act.

I also want to highlight a piece of legislation I recently joined Congressman Lois Frankel and Congressman Gus Bilirakis in introducing, the Veteran Education Empowerment Act.

Patent demand letters reform is an important part of curbing abusive practices that hurt legitimate businesses, as you know.

I want to thank the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter) as well. I also want to thank the ranking member for doing such a great job and working on this piece of legislation. I rise in support of my bill, H.R. 361, the Medical Preparedness…

Traditional Medicare does not have an annual out-of-pocket maximum payment cap to protect seniors from financial hardship or bankruptcy in the event of a major illness.

So, look, if we are going to solve this problem, everybody is going to have to help do it, including the beneficiaries, and this is a way to try to incentivize them----not to stop going to the doctor or the hospital----but to make sure…

Medicare is an important program. I want to make sure whatever we do in Washington, that we protect current beneficiaries and future beneficiaries.

``Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office…

This week is Florida's First Responder Appreciation Week. Every day, law enforcement, firefighters, and EMTs put their lives on the line to keep our communities safe. Sadly, in my district, Tarpon Springs police officer Charles ``Charlie…

I want to also thank the VFW and the other service organizations who have maintained the cemetery up until now.

Florida has been the site of 17 of the incidents that involve Honda vehicles, by far the most of any state and by far our biggest concern.

This is a fundamental issue of safety, and Americans must be able to trust that the cars they drive are safe.

I wanted to see if they received the training and resources available to adequately diagnosis and, of course, treat any infected patients.

My bill, H.R. 4977, the Creating Options for Veterans Expedited Recovery Act (COVER) will help remedy this tragic problem and provide additional therapies to our nation's wounded heroes.

It is unconscionable that more casualties have occurred with our servicemembers here domestically upon their return from active duty as opposed to overseas while serving their country.

We must responsibly ask ourselves--are we doing enough when it comes to addressing mental health in our Veteran population?

So some of our programs are starting to have an impact, but it is not enough.

I urge all of my colleagues to support this important piece of legislation and show our veterans, our true American heroes, with action and not just promises that we have them covered.

Statistics show that 20 percent, around 1 in 5 veterans who serve in Iraq and Afghanistan have been diagnosed with post traumatic stress.

The importance of exploring complementary alternative treatments for veterans with mental health concerns cannot be understated.

I would support an Iraqi issue because there is a political force to at least start talking about how to fix things.