WASHINGTON, DC – To continue the fight to improve benefits and services for our nation’s military veterans, the House of Representatives passed several pieces of legislation with the support of Congressman Bill Posey (R-Rockledge) which will reform construction of new VA facilities, rescue failing ones, and expand access to mental health services.

“Washington needs to put its best foot forward to ensure that veterans get the quality care and customer experience they deserve,” said Congressman Posey.

Among the bills passed by the House is H.R. 3106, the Construction Reform Act of 2016, which authorizes construction of new VA facilities and installs an Inspector General to investigate cost overruns and keep construction projects on schedule.

The House also passed H.R. 3234, the VA Medical Center Recovery Act, to send emergency teams to quickly rescue and turn around failing VA facilities, and H.R. 2915, the Female Veteran Suicide Prevention Act, to provide better mental health care options for female veterans and expand access to mental health services for veterans who served in classified missions or sensitive units.

WASHINGTON, DC – The House of Representatives passed important bipartisan legislation co-sponsored by Congressman Bill Posey (R-Rockledge) to block the Justice Department and financial regulators from abusing their authority to target legal and law-abiding businesses they may not like.

The Financial Institution Customer Protection Act (H.R. 766) is a continued effort to ensure the Administration’s abusive tactics under a program known as “Operation Choke Point” do not happen again.

“It’s unacceptable for the federal government to use its authority to pressure banks and other financial institutions into closing down accounts and blocking access to capital of legal and law abiding businesses that they may not happen to like or agree with,” said Congressman Posey.

“The Justice Department should use their limited resources to investigate and prosecute criminals and businesses that are violating the law, not to pursue a political agenda.”

Through a program called “Operation Choke Point,” the Justice Department and financial regulators teamed up to coerce banks and financial institutions into severing relationships with perfectly legal businesses because the Administration did not like these industries. Gun and ammunition stores, tobacco shops, short-term lenders and payment processors are among some of the businesses that have been targeted by “Operation Choke Point.”

The Financial Institution Customer Protection Act prevents this abuse of power and requires federal banking agencies to provide banks with written justifications for any request to terminate or restrict a customer’s account.

By correcting the abusive tactics in “Operation Choke Point,” the bill refocuses the mission of Justice Department and Washington regulators to investigate fraud and other criminal acts.

“There is a difference between investigating criminal activity and unilaterally shutting down legal businesses and then denying them due process,” said Posey.

“These are tactics you would find in a Third World country and have no place here in the United States.”

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – It’s modern day slavery with an estimated 21 million people in bondage worldwide.

It’s called human trafficking and involves the exploitation of mostly women and children who are forced into prostitution, pornography, involuntary labor and servitude.

Top officials from across the Space Coast took a tough look at the issue Monday during a Human Trafficking Symposium at Eastern Florida State College that was sponsored by U.S. Rep. Bill Posey of Rockledge.

More than 300 people attended the session at the Simpkins Fine Arts Center on the Cocoa campus with law enforcement and social service officials calling trafficking a plague that exists in Florida and Brevard County that must be attacked.

“Human trafficking enables criminals who both traffic and exploit individuals, including many young girls, to make a huge profit,” said Posey.

“Few things are crueler in our society and we have a moral obligation to end it.”

In the past two years, Florida Today has reported these local trafficking incidents:

• A 14-year-old runaway from Cocoa sold for sex in dingy hotel rooms and warned not to tell anyone.
• An Ethiopian woman who told Melbourne police that she escaped from her job as a maid. She said the family that brought her to the U.S. did not pay her nor give her food as promised. She also claimed she was physically abused.
• Twenty-four teens and preteens crammed into a van and sent into communities without food or water to sell cheap goods so their bosses could pocket the profit.

The problem has grown to the point that the international tourism hub of South Florida has been cited as the third-busiest area for sex trafficking in the nation, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

In all, human trafficking is a $32 billion a year illegal industry globally.

“Three or four years ago, we thought this only occurred in Asia. We know now it’s happening here,” said Dr. Anthony Davis, Chairman of the East Coast Human Trafficking Task Force and Vice-Chair of the Greater Orlando Human Trafficking Task Force.

“A girl can be sold 20 to 30 times a day. This is not someone else’s problem. We have to take the blinders off because, unless we fix it, we’re part of it. It’s not possible for a single agency to solve this. We all need to work together.”

Other speakers included Brevard-Seminole State Attorney Phil Archer and Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey who urged members of community groups to become more knowledgeable about the problem.

“For too long, it’s been that little secret no one wants to admit we have. But yes, we have it here,” said Ivey.

Under a law passed by the state Legislature last year, signs raising awareness about human trafficking are now being posted throughout Florida in strip clubs, airports, rest areas and emergency rooms. The signs include phone and text-message numbers to report trafficking.

More law enforcement agencies in Florida are also using specialized task forces to rescue victims and prosecute those who enslave them.

WASHINGTON — Rep. Bill Posey voted against the $1.1 trillion spending bill that cleared Congress on Friday because he viewed it as a combination of excessive debt and bad policy.

It didn’t help that the massive, catch-all measure came up just days before the government was facing a shutdown.

“With our national debt about to reach $19 trillion, it’s past time for Washington to get serious about fixing our broken budget process,” said Posey, R-Rockledge. “Despite the steady funding levels for our space program, the omnibus bill continues the irresponsible trend of rushing to pass another ‘too big to read’ spending bill at the eleventh hour. This must change.”

Posey liked that the bill gives NASA $19.3 billion, or about $1.3 billion more than the administration requested. But he was irked it didn’t include GOP provisions approved earlier this year to block full federal funding for Planned Parenthood and to block President Obama’s plan to resettle thousands of Syrian refugees in the U.S.

Passage of the fiscal 2016 spending bill and package of tax breaks avoided a year-end showdown over the budget.

The House passed the spending bill 316-113, with 150 Republicans in favor and 95 opposed. On Thursday, the House passed the tax package, which includes a provision making permanent the state sales tax deduction for Florida and other states that have no income tax.

The Senate approved both the spending and tax breaks as one bill on Friday, 65-33.

Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson voted for the bill, noting that it included money for home-state priorities including NASA and combating a disease affecting citrus trees.

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio didn’t like the bill, but he was on the presidential campaign trail and was one of only two senators to miss the vote.

Florida GOP Rep. Rooney, who sits on the Appropriations Committee that helped write the bill, said it includes plenty of victories for conservatives, including partial defunding of Planned Parenthood. He also was happy with the tax breaks that were paired with the spending measure when the legislation was sent to the Senate.

Scrapping the bill, Rooney said, would have reopened negotiations with the White House and congressional Democrats, who might have tried to wrest more concessions.

“We’ve had to negotiate with (House Democratic leader Nancy) Pelosi to keep the government funded because we didn’t have enough people on our own side that were happy with the Republican work product,” he said.

Rubio misses vote on spending bill

WASHINGTON – Sen. Marco Rubio would have voted against the catch-all spending bill Congress passed Friday – had he been here.

“Washington’s leadership has created another massive spending bill in secret and rammed it through Congress, hoping that the American people don’t notice or have become numb to this kind of business as usual,” Rubio said in a statement released by his office. “This is what a broken Washington looks like under President Obama and what Congress reverts to without conservative presidential leadership.”

The Florida Republican was on the campaign trail in Iowa Friday and decided not to return to Washington to vote on the spending bill and a package of tax breaks, both of which passed the House and Senate by solid majorities.

As the only Republican to skip the vote, Rubio’s absence was notable. All four other senators running for the White House showed up: Republicans Ted Cruz of Texas, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Rand Paul of Kentucky, and independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Rubio has said his time is usually better spent on the campaign trail, but he’s willing to return for roll call votes where his choice would be meaningful to the outcome.

Paul lampooned Rubio’s absence, tweeting a photo of Rubio on a milk carton with the phrase, “Have you seen me?”

“If you have any information, please contact the American taxpayers,” Paul’s tweet said. “They would like to know why Marco Rubio refuses to show up to oppose reckless spending in Washington.”

The vote on the Senate bill, which included $1.1 trillion in spending with $622 billion in tax breaks, included a Rubio-authored provision that prevents the government from compensating insurance companies that incur large losses on health exchanges created under the Affordable Care Act.

Nelson wants relief for Puerto Rico

Sen. Bill Nelson had hoped a provision allowing Puerto Rico the right to declare Chapter 9 bankruptcy would be included in the catch-all spending and tax bill Congress approved Friday.

It was not, leaving the issue to be litigated in next year’s session.

“It appears that Congress is going to go home without having done the bare minimum for Puerto Rico,” the Florida Democrat said on the Senate floor Thursday. “How in the world can we fail our fellow Americans like this?”

Puerto Rico owes about $70 billion to bondholders, and opponents of allowing the U.S. territory to declare bankruptcy are concerned those bondholders will lose money.

Earlier this year, Nelson and several other senators introduced a bill giving Puerto Rico the right to declare bankruptcy, a right that, Nelson noted, all 50 states enjoy.

He also joined three fellow senators in introducing legislation to improve the treatment of Puerto Rico under Medicare and Medicaid. And earlier this month, he filed a bill to help the island’s low-income seniors afford the cost of their prescription drugs.

Nelson, who met with government officials in Puerto Rico’s capital of San Juan last month, said the problem already is spilling into Florida. Thousands of Puerto Ricans are moving to the Sunshine State to escape an uncertain economy back home.

“In the meantime, Puerto Rico is going to start the New Year on the verge of default, as the governor faces the troubling choice of … paying for essential public services … or that he makes a billion-dollar debt payment to Wall Street creditors.” Nelson said. “Public services — health, fire, police, water, et cetera — versus paying the bonds that are coming due.”

Bipartisan Bob Graham

Over the past two decades, no senator from Florida can claim the mantle of bipartisanship more than Bob Graham.

That’s according to a just-released analysis by the Lugar Center, led by former Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana and the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University.

Graham, a Democrat and popular ex-governor, ranked 35th out of the 227 senators who have served since 1993.

The Bipartisan Index is designed to measure how much senators work across party lines. It gauges how often members co-sponsor bills introduced by the opposite party, and how often their own bills attract co-sponsors from the other party.

Lugar, a Republican know for reaching across the aisle, said the index used bill sponsorships and co-sponsorships for two reasons.

“First, they allowed us to construct a highly objective measure of partisan and bipartisan behavior,” he said. “Second, sponsorship and co-sponsorship behavior is especially revealing of partisan tendencies.

“Members’ voting decisions are often contextual and can be influenced by parliamentary circumstances,” he said. “Sponsorships and co-sponsorships, in contrast, exist as very carefully considered declarations of where a legislator stands on an issue.”

Here are the rankings for the other five senators who represent Florida now or did at one time: Republican George LeMieux (67th), Republican Connie Mack III (82nd), Democrat Bill Nelson (83rd), Republican Mel Martinez (84th), and Republican Marco Rubio (170th).

The $1.1 trillion year-end budget package President Barack Obama signed Friday includes a small boost for a program that helps the Indian River Lagoon.

The budget gives $1.6 million more to the National Estuary Program, created in the 1987 Clean Water Act, to restore water qualities in 28 estuaries nationwide. That elevated the program’s total budget to $26.7 million annually.

U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Orlando, added the increase with a budget amendment that shifted money within the Environmental Protection Agency budget toward the program.

The Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program’s goals for 2015-16 includes restoring finfish and shellfish, providing information on the impact of climate change on the estuary, upgrading stormwater systems to reduce polluted runoff and encouraging the proper use of fertilizers.

Grayson is running against U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter, for the U.S. Senate. Murphy has made the lagoon a platform of his two successful House campaigns. Murphy represents Martin, St. Lucie and northern Palm Beach counties.

The House in June passed a bill by Murphy and Republican Rep. Bill Posey, who represents Indian River County, to create grants within the estuary program for projects that fight ecological threats to waterways, such as jellyfish proliferation and invasive exotic species. The Senate still has to act on it.

Murphy and Grayson voted for the omnibus budget bill, which came out of a bipartisan agreement to keep the government funded until next year. Posey was among 95 Republican who voted against it, saying in a statement it doesn’t address the national debt, continue to fund Planned Parenthood and support the climate deal Obama reached this week.

This week, the U.S. House passed U.S. Rep. Bill Posey’s, R-Fla., bill to ensure insurance policies won’t be used to bail out financial institutions.

Posey’s “Policyholder Protection Act” would make state insurance regulators part of the process when the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) is part of the process when banks are liquidated. The bill would ensure that all the tools are available to state insurance regulators to protect policyholders from undue harm and continue to pay claims regardless of the financial condition of an affiliated institution when banks go under.

Sitting on the House Financial Services Committee, Posey brought out the bill earlier this year with a Democrat who also serves on it — U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman of California. The bill was passed by voice vote on Monday.

“It’s wrong to force middle-class families to put their homeowners’ or life insurance policies at risk because some Wall Street firm made a bad bet,” Posey insisted on Tuesday after the House backed his bill on Monday night. “I want to thank Rep. Brad Sherman for his work on this bipartisan legislation that will safeguard important policies designed to protect insurance consumers and ensure that insurance claims will continue to be paid.”

“The bipartisan support for this bill proves that there is still room for common sense legislation that protects consumers,” said Sherman. “The assets of an insurance company should be walled off from the risky practices of their affiliated financial institutions. The assets of an insurance company are needed to pay claims of their policyholders, and those dollars should not be jeopardized by complex bets, risk taking, or poor management elsewhere within a large financial firm. I want to thank Congressman Posey for his great work and leadership on this bill.”

Posey and Sherman rounded up more than 30 co-sponsors of the bill including Florida Republican U.S. Reps. Dennis Ross and Dan Webster. The bill has the support of some of the leading conservatives in the House including Republican U.S. Reps. John Duncan of Tennessee, Walter Jones of North Carolina and Joe Wilson of South Carolina but there are also Democrats on board including U.S. Reps. John Delaney of Maryland and Denny Heck of Washington.

The Senate version is being backed by two senators who sit on the U.S. Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee: U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., and U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont. That committee received the House bill on Tuesday.

This week, the U.S. House brought in proposals from a Florida congressman to offer more opportunities for the private sector in space–namely expanding access to asteroids–and incorporated them into a bill from U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and U.S. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

Components of U.S. Rep. Bill Posey’s, R-Fla., and U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer’s, D-Wash., “Space Resource Exploration and Utilization Act of 2015” were included in Cruz’s and McCarthy’s legislation which cleared the House. Posey’s and Kilmer’s proposal aims to protect American companies’ rights to obtain property and gather resources from space and ensures the White House coordinates efforts as businesses plan to obtain resources from asteroids.

“I am pleased to see this bipartisan, bicameral legislation move forward as a part of this historic space legislation,” Posey said. “Asteroids and other celestial bodies are excellent potential sources of highly valuable resources and minerals. Space technology has advanced to the point that the private sector is now able to begin exploring and developing resources in space. Americans are willing to invest in asteroid mining, but they need legal certainty that they can keep the fruits of their labor.”

Posey’s proposal to cut down on regulations to encourage the private sector to explore opportunities in space was also included in the legislation from Cruz and McCarthy.

“By streamlining the regulatory process, the SPACE Act can cut costs to both the federal government and commercial companies, make U.S. companies more competitive in the global marketplace, and attract more commercial launches to Florida,” said Posey.

Posey and Kilmer had teamed up last year to push a proposal allowing companies access to asteroids.

“We may be many years away from successfully mining an asteroid, but the research to turn this from science fiction into reality is being done today,” said Kilmer last May when he and Posey first unveiled their proposal. “Businesses in Washington state and elsewhere are investing in this opportunity, but in order to grow and create more jobs they need greater certainty. Thats why I’m excited to introduce this bill with Rep. Posey so we can help the United States access new supplies of critical rare metals while serving as a launch pad for a growing industry.”

Cruz’s bill passed the Senate last week and the House passed McCarthy’s proposal on Monday.

WASHINGTON — Private companies gearing up to send humans into space would get several more years to develop their projects without having to meet stringent safety standards under a bill the House is expected to pass as early as next week.

The measure would significantly overhaul rules governing the still-maturing commercial space industry for the first time in more than a decade. It also would extend the life of the International Space Station to 2024 and establish legal ownership rights for U.S. citizens who mine asteroids.

Senate lawmakers approved the legislation unanimously on Tuesday. House passage would send it to President Obama, who is expected to sign it.

Supporters say the legislation, months in the works, would provide the kind of long-term security critical to the growth of a host of applications, including space tourism and research.

“This will help bolster an already-thriving U.S. commercial space industry,” said Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, a co-sponsor of the bill. NASA launched astronauts to the moon from Florida more than four decades ago and now sends private rockets to resupply the space station.

The bill merges several efforts designed to assist aerospace companies on risky ventures, while asserting the nation’s prominent presence in low-Earth orbit and beyond.

The provision to extend the life of the space station isn’t controversial. It would provide long-term certainty for scientific and commercial clients who use the orbiting lab.

“The provisions in this legislation will ensure a strong commercial space operating environment at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport, throughout the nation, and out into the solar system,” said Frank DiBello, president and CEO of Space Florida, a state-created organization to promote and coordinate Florida’s commercial space activity.

Other provisions in the bill would:

– Provide U.S. citizens who collect materials from asteroids the right to keep those samples. The issue has been pushed by Florida GOP Rep. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, who represents the Space Coast.

– Retain indemnity protection for commercial spaceflights through 2025. Having the government-backed insurance means U.S. companies can compete with foreign firms who already enjoy the same benefit from their countries. The protection for U.S. companies is set to expire at the end of 2016.

– Extend through Sept. 30, 2023 the “regulatory learning period” for the commercial space industry, now set to expire March 31. By pushing back the deadline to meet certain safety standards for human spaceflight, it gives companies valuable time to develop their technology and work through issues without potentially costly and burdensome rules.

The last two provisions are especially important to an industry that’s suffered setbacks over the past year or so.

An unmanned Orbital Sciences rocket carrying supplies for NASA to the space station exploded seconds after liftoff in Virginia Oct. 28, 2014. Three days later, a Virgin Galactic spaceship crashed during a test flight in California. Then in June, an unmanned SpaceX rocket carrying cargo to the space station exploded over Florida shortly after liftoff.

“This new legislation sets the stage for the continued growth and expansion of the space transportation industry, while enabling rapid advances in safety for spaceflight participants,” according to a statement from the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, a trade group. “It also promotes investments in new commercial space applications, promising future spaceflight capabilities that will benefit all Americans.”

“On this day, 228 years ago, the founders gathered in Philadelphia to sign a new framework for our American government, shaping the laws we make, and safeguarding the inalienable rights of the people,” Posey said. “Our Constitution is our great social contract – an agreement that defines the role of government and protects the rights and responsibilities we have as citizens of this great nation.”

“While constitutions are common throughout the world, and many even establish a republican form of government, our United States Constitution is still exceptional and unique in regard to our belief in the origin of rights and the purpose of government,” Posey continued. “As eloquently stated in the Declaration of Independence, people have rights by virtue of being human. Our rights are not conferred by government.”

“Constitution Day offers us the opportunity as American citizens to pause and reflect on the principles that have shaped the foundation of our country,” Posey concluded. “Because our rights are many, and we are all free to choose our own paths toward happiness, observation of this day may vary, but I believe its recognition is important. Let us not forget the daily sacrifices of our men and women in uniform, and their families, who defend our Constitution every day.”

U.S. Rep. Bill Posey has quietly become a central figure in the movement linking vaccines to autism, even though he says he supports immunizations for young children.

Posey, R-Rockledge, whose district includes eastern Orange County, has tried for years to maintain a low profile on that issue while working behind the scenes with parents and others who believe there is a link between childhood vaccines and the disorder.

Now he is emerging more broadly and speaking out more publicly. In July he gave an impassioned speech on the floor of the House calling for investigation into vaccine-safety research. He also is a key figure in a book being published next week in which anti-vaccine activists raise allegations of federal-research fraud.

“I am absolutely, resolutely pro-vaccine,” Posey said in an interview this week. “Advancements in immunization have saved countless lives and have greatly benefited public health.”

Yet Posey also expressed suspicions that there may be a link between vaccines and autism, and that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may have covered that up.

The alleged link has been widely denounced by much of the U.S. medical community, but Posey said he is influenced by the hundreds of parents he has talked with.

“They say, ‘My son was OK until we took him for an MMR [measles, mumps and rubella shot], and since then he didn’t say another word,'” he said. “And [the parents] are crying. I believe the mother knows more about a child than anyone else. So, anyway, my hearing from so many people made me think: It can’t be coincidental.”

Posey said he received encouraging colleague responses from his July 29 speech, including indication that U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chair of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, might hold hearings on the issue.

Much of Posey’s recent interest flows from a CDC scientist named William Thompson, who authored or co-authored several key CDC studies that found no connection between vaccines and autism, particularly a seminal 2004 study that all but closed the debate. Recently, however, Thompson alleged that 2004 study was corrupted and that the CDC discouraged follow-up study.

Last year Thompson sought job protection at the CDC under the federal whistle-blower law. Then, in August 2014, he turned over to Posey what he said were 100,000 CDC documents. Posey’s staff has since been reviewing them.

The upcoming book, “Vaccine Whistleblower: Exposing Autism Research Fraud at the CDC,” details more of Thompson’s allegations and quotes him as hoping Posey will get him subpoenaed to explain the documents.

The CDC responded by saying it is “reviewing these concerns.” But it also reiterated its basic tenet: “Multiple studies and a rigorous review by the Institute of Medicine have found that MMR vaccine does not increase the risk of autism.”

Posey said he thinks parents should vaccinate their children but should spread out separate measles, mumps and rubella shots over time.

He said he recently told a friend, “‘Tell your doctor, No. 1, you don’t want any mercury in your vaccines. Number two, you want to spread out your MMR. She went and told her doctor, and he said, ‘You’re crazy; find another doctor!’ Just like that.”

Matt Carey, a nationally known advocate on autism issues, questioned Posey’s self-description as “pro-vaccine” and his advice to mothers, because, he said, measles vaccines no longer are available outside the MMR shots.

“So what is a parent going to do? If you put fear into people like that, they will do neither, and they won’t vaccinate,” Carey said. “If you’re pro-vaccine, and you’re not really doing anything about it except carrying water for people who aren’t pro-vaccine, it’s a distinction without a difference.”

When Posey entered office in 2009, he inherited the issue from his predecessor Dave Weldon. Posey insisted he is uncomfortable being seen as the congressional leader of the movement. But he said he has too many questions about vaccine-safety research.

“It’s understandable that this may not be on a lot of people’s radars,” he said. “It would be nice if it wasn’t on mine. It takes up an enormous amount of time. And it brings such criticism … about what ‘an idiot’ I am, when they call me an ‘anti-vaxer’ and all kinds of derogatory names. But nobody answers the questions.”