AMERICA'S MISSION IN SPACE

Our investment in space exploration has had a positive impact on our nation and the world. Below are some important legislative victories to help boost our space program and make America more competitive.

Keeping America First in Space

Record Funding for Exploration Ground Systems: Florida’s Space Coast is the world’s premiere launch location, and our nation’s access to space requires the ongoing investments in Florida’s exploration ground systems to ensure safe and dependable launches for the next generation of space vehicles. That is why I have fought for and secured record funding increases for ground systems at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), and safeguarded these dollars from redirection to other states competing for these critical funds. Additionally, KSC secured Congressional backing for a second mobile launch platform, which allows for more launch opportunities for human and robotic missions.

Moving Forward with the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle: Year-after-year Congress takes decisive, bipartisan action to maintain vital funding for the Orion spacecraft. Orion’s successful flight demonstration in 2014 inspired many to look forward to Americans exploring deep space again. Exciting work on Orion is moving forward at KSC, and I will continue to lead the effort in the House to counter any future budget requests that would put this program, or its companion, the Space Launch System (SLS), at risk.

Commercial Crew: The return of American astronauts launching on an American vehicle from American soil are almost within reach. NASA has selected astronauts for upcoming launches with the Boeing Starliner and SpaceX Dragon capsules. In Congress, we have supplied the necessary resources to successfully launch these brave Americans into space on commercial space vehicles. This program is critical to restoring American access to low earth orbit. Additionally, my colleagues and I on the House Science Committee are examining options for extending the operations of the International Space Station (ISS).

Exploring the Moon and Mars: Throughout the current and former Administrations, I’ve advocated for our nation’s leadership in deep space exploration and introduced bipartisan legislation to return Americans to the Moon as a stepping-stone to Mars and other destinations in the solar system. The President has answered the call and challenges of human space flight by signing into law the 2017 NASA reauthorization and reestablishing the National Space Council.
As part of the next NASA reauthorization, I’ve authored language directing NASA and the National Space Council to give Congress a strategic plan to return our astronauts to the Moon and then to Mars. With such a plan, Members of Congress can advocate for the resources necessary to meet these important goals.

Space Support Vehicles: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) oversees the growth of the commercial space sector, however the FAA has not kept pace with innovative space vehicle designs or vehicles intended for training or research, including simulating launch, reentry, or space flight conditions. With strong bipartisan support, the House of Representatives passed my legislation to utilize these new vehicles. In an encouraging legislative move, the House passed this legislation twice, in two separate bills: the FAA reauthorization bill and another bill advanced by the House Science Committee. Doing this increases the odds of these common sense reforms passing the Senate and getting signed into law by the President.

Click here to learn more about NASA's current and future missions in space.

INDIAN RIVER LAGOON

Growing up around Cocoa Beach, raising my family along the Lagoon and working in local real estate for many years has helped me understand why it’s so important for us to work together to care for our environment. Our quality of life, economy and tourism, property values and the survival of many indigenous species of plant and wildlife depend on our efforts. Advancing common sense ideas that strengthen our economy, protect our Lagoon and preserve our natural beauty remains a top priority for me.

Funding the National Estuary Program and Fighting for More Resources

More Resources for Our Lagoon: The National Estuary Program (NEP) was created by Congress in 1987 to protect and restore the water quality and ecological integrity of estuaries of national significance. Currently, 28 estuaries throughout our nation have been designated as estuaries of national significance. Because the NEP is an important component in maintaining our nation’s environmental treasures like the Indian River Lagoon, I co-authored bipartisan legislation which was signed into law to reauthorize and improve this program. Included in this legislation was my bipartisan plan to reprioritize existing federal funds so more money is available through competitive grants for estuaries with critical needs like our Lagoon.

Last year I testified before both the House Budget Committee and the House Appropriations Committee to highlight the importance of the National Estuary Program and why it’s continued funding is so critical. I’m pleased to report that not only was the NEP kept intact but that our competitive grants program also received $1.5 million to be made available for worthy projects and activities that keep our estuaries strong and healthy.

Fighting Algal Blooms: Algae blooms, like the ones affecting the Indian River Lagoon, occur throughout the country and the world. Experts still have many questions about the root causes and how to fight them and related hypoxia events. I partnered with Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (OR) to get important algal bloom research legislation through the House and to the President’s desk. The bill reauthorized research grants to look at the prevention, causes, and mitigation of algal blooms like the ones in our Lagoon.

Bipartisan Caucus Gives Our Estuaries a Strong Voice in Congress

Educating Congress and Raising Awareness: Last year we worked to establish the first bipartisan Congressional Estuary Caucus to help educate Members of Congress and leaders at all levels of government about the importance of our nation’s estuaries, support the National Estuary Program and help give a strong voice in Congress to our Indian River Lagoon and other environmental treasures.

So far forty Members of Congress have joined Congressional Estuary Caucus, and the Caucus has held eleven successful briefings with national experts examining topics such as algal blooms, coastal resiliency and living shorelines. We’ve also heard presentations from local leaders such as Lynda Weatherman of the Space Coast EDC, Dr. Duane Defreese of the Indian River Lagoon Council, Dr. Tristan Fiedler and Dr. John Trefry from the Florida Institute of Technology, and Laurilee Thompson, co-owner of Dixie Crossroads and a member of the Brevard County Environmentally Endangered Lands Committee. You can find out more about the Congressional Estuary Caucus by visiting www.posey.house.gov/estuaries/.

Update on Dredging, Muck Removal and Everglades Restoration Efforts

Dredging and Muck Removal: Working with local leaders and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has led to a mutual understanding on the importance of timely removal of muck from the Indian River Lagoon. Originally, permits for dredging faced up to 18 months to gain approval by the NMFS, delaying efforts by Army Corps of Engineers. Working with NMFS helped them understand the importance of these projects paved the way for the County to expedite permits.

This past spring dredging began in Mims and is continuing. Dredging in Turkey Creek (Palm Bay) is coming to a close. Hurricane Irma caused additional muck deposition which required additional dredging. In total 200,000 cubic yards of muck or 11,000 dump trucks were removed and this dredged material is being taken to the western Brevard and tilled into agricultural land. The City of Cocoa Beach is dredging residential canals and parts of the Lagoon located near those canals. This project is partially funded by the state and the Save Our IR Lagoon half cent sales tax. Other dredging projects that have undergone the permitting process and are targeted to begin next year.

Everglades Restoration Projects: Over the long term redirecting Lake Okeechobee’s overflow away from the Indian River Lagoon will help improve the Lagoon’s health while also naturally filtering this water. In Congress I have been supportive of projects like repairing the Hoover Dike to help alleviate discharges of nutrient laden water into the St. Lucie River and the Lagoon, advancing the Ten Mile Creek Preserve Restoration which will treat storm water run-off before it reaches the Lagoon and funding the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.

Protecting our Beaches, Coastal Communities and Marine Life

Beach Re-Nourishment: While restoring our Lagoon is critical, there is more we can do to ensure our environmental treasures are protected. Maintaining our beaches and shores is necessary to promoting tourism and supporting marine life. Our beaches are also the first line of defense against threats posed by hurricanes and other major storms. That’s why my office worked with the Army Corps of Engineers to make Mid Reach Beach re-nourishment efforts a top priority in their FY2018 Work Plan. In total $28.375 million for the Brevard County Mid Reach beach. This project will help protect our coastal infrastructure and communities from severe damage caused by erosion and flooding.
 

Protecting Marine Life: To further protect our shores and marine life, I introduced bipartisan legislation with members of the Florida delegation to place a moratorium on seismic exploration off the coastline of Florida so we can study its effects on our sea life. There are strong concerns that these seismic activities may be harmful to undersea mammals like dolphins, disrupting their ability to communicate and navigate. The moratorium remains in place until science proves there is minimal impact on fish, sea turtles, and the various marine mammals that inhabit the waters off our coast.

We need to work together and collaborative efforts by individuals and local, state and federal governments are essential to safeguarding our environment. Some of these partnerships like the Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Program which receives partial funding through the EPA have been in jeopardy for many years. It’s common to read stories about stranded manatees and other wildlife in our waterways. Time is of the essence to rescue these creatures. That’s why every year I have successfully fought to restore proposed funding cuts for this program.

Addressing Water Quality: Because estuaries like our Lagoon are places where fresh water mixes with salt water from the oceans, preserving the delicate balance of nature is necessary but can also be challenging. I recently introduced bipartisan legislation to study and monitor the effects of coastal acidification and worked to get additional funding for the Indian River Lagoon to monitor and enhance water quality.

ACCOUNTABILITY

The public has a strong interest in government accountability and rightly so. There's always room for more sunshine and transparency in the halls and offices of our government. Whether we're talking about votes in Congress or wasteful government spending, accountability is important to the integrity of our system of self-government.

Leading By Example

Rep. Posey believes in leading by example and here's how he's doing it:

Voting Against Congressional Pay Increases: Rep. Posey has voted to block Congressional pay increases, returned the pay raise every year (that was approved before Rep. Posey came to Congress in 2009), and returned full pay for service during federal government shutdown. Furthermore, Rep. Posey proposed ending the Congressional death gratuity so that Members of Congress are required to purchase their own life insurance rather than getting a taxpayer handout when they die (H.R. 3127) and voted to cut Congressional pensions (H.R. 3630). Rep. Posey has cut his own office budget by more than $900,000 since coming to Congress.

A Transparent Legislative Process: One of Rep. Posey’s guiding principles has been “If I can’t read it, my vote is NO.” To help combat “Too Big to Read” bills, Rep. Posey introduced legislation requiring at least 72 hours for the public and Congress to review bills before a House floor vote can take place (Adopted as House Rule Reform, 2011). He also passed a House rule requiring legislation to be made more transparent and easier to read by moving the House to a continuous revision law system like the one we have in Florida.

Draining the Swamp

Rep. Posey has introduced several pieces of legislation as part of his "Drain the Swamp" initiative to close lobbyist loopholes and make Washington more efficient, accountable and transparent:

Extending the Lobbying Moratorium: H.R. 383 extends the lobbying moratorium on Members of Congress when they leave office to five years, and up to two years for senior staff and other employees of the legislative branch.

More Accountability for Lobbyists Representing Foreign Governments: H.R. 3505 prohibits former Members of Congress and senior staff who lobby on behalf of foreign governments from receiving any federal benefits resulting from their service in Congress.

Adding Transparency to the Federal Rulemaking Process: The Article I Restoration Act (H.R. 3506) requires all new regulations to sunset after 3 years and empowers Congress and gives the American people input in deciding which regulations should be enacted and reauthorized. Furthermore, additional legislation (H.R. 4003) was introduced to make federal agencies eliminate old and ineffective rules before instituting new regulations.

Stopping Out-of-Control Government Lawsuits: H.R. 4002 says that, when federal agencies sue individuals or businesses and are in turn sued by individuals, the agency must pay all settlements, judgments, and attorney fees of the prevailing party from its administrative budget.

Applying the Law to Everybody: Introduced H.R. 4004 to better ensure that Washington lives by the rules it creates by mandating White House staff sign up for Obamacare health plans.

Preventing Insider Trading: Cosponsored and voted for the STOCK Act to ensure that Members of Congress don’t trade stock based on insider information (P.L. 112-105). Rep. Posey also filed an amendment to stop sweetheart investment deals that enable Members of Congress to participate in Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) not available to the general public (H.R. 3606).

SECURING AMERICA'S BORDER

Our immigration system is broken and needs to be fixed. The first step in fixing our immigration system is to secure our borders and that must be Washington’s priority. Securing our borders, and having operational control over them, is critical to our national security, preventing crime and for public safety.

I toured our southern border near Nogales, Arizona, where Border Patrol Officer Brian Terry was murdered by foreign nationals involved in drug smuggling. I have seen firsthand how easy it is to enter our nation illegally. Border security means a stronger capability to stop potential terrorists, catch drug smugglers and gun runners, prevent gang violence and breakup human trafficking rings. 

The second step in fixing our immigration system is enforcing the laws we already have on the books. On average the United States welcomes over 1 million lawful permanent residents a year, 26,000 asylum seekers, 120,000 refugees, and about 700,000 people are naturalized as citizens. We must encourage people to follow existing law and use immigration system to come here legally.

JOBS & THE ECONOMY

Reforming Our Tax Code, Reducing Red Tape and Balancing the Budget

We need a common sense plan for growing our economy and that means creating an environment that allows businesses to expand so that the millions of Americans lacking work can find a good job. That means reforming our tax code and putting the brakes on new government regulations and red tape that stand in the way of job-creation.

Reforming and Simplifying our Tax Code: Congress passed and the President signed into law historic tax reform legislation which closes loopholes, lowers individual brackets and cuts taxes on businesses. According to the House Ways and Means Committee, a family of four in Brevard County with a household income of $77,359 will see a $2,189 Tax Cut. Single workers with no children with a house hold income of $50,752 will see a $1,214 Tax Cut. To further reform and simplify our tax code, Rep. Posey is an original cosponsor of H.R. 25, the Fair Tax Act.

The President signed into law Rep. Posey’s bipartisan bill, the Seniors' Tax Simplification Act of 2017, to simplify tax filing for seniors citizens. This legislation directs the IRS to create a new tax filing form for senior citizens (65+) who do not have complicated taxes -- including Social Security, distributions from retirement plans, annuities, interest and dividends, or capital gains or losses.

Eliminating Regulatory Barriers: Not all regulations are bad, and sometimes new regulations are necessary. But overregulation can have a chilling effect on economic growth. Increased costs from regulations put heavier burdens on businesses as business owners spend more to comply with government red tape and less on hiring/rewarding workers. According to a September 2010 Small Business Administration study, the annual regulatory compliance cost for small businesses is estimated to be over $10,000 per employee. American businesses cannot prosper and create jobs under the mountain of new regulations coming from the Administration.

Working with the President, Congress has made rolling back costly red-tape and regulatory reform a top priority. Using the Congressional Review Act, last year Congress voted to repeal 15 costly rules. With Rep. Posey’s support, the House passed the Regulatory Accountability Act (H.R. 5) to require agencies to choose the lowest-cost rulemaking alternative that meets statutory objectives and opens the rulemaking process up to more public scrutiny and input.

Also, the House passed Rep. Posey’s bipartisan legislation to make the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau more accountable and responsive by requiring it to provide written advisory opinions on how to conform to their rules. IRS, FTC, Dept. of Labor already requires this. In June the House passed Rep. Posey’s bipartisan legislation to protect credit union members by delaying a harmful new rule imposed on credit unions requiring large sums of capital to be set aside hindering their ability to loan money and provide other services. Also, in July, the House Financial Services Committee approved Rep. Posey’s legislation to provide mainly low and middle income home buyers with options for more competitive interest rates. My bill adds more clarity to a flawed rule issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Balancing the Budget: A balanced budget means our government is operating without a deficit, leading to a stronger currency and economy. It’s wrong to put America’s debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren. Rep. Posey has cosponsored and supported a Constitutional Balanced Budget Amendment and believes that today’s overspending will be our children and grandchildren’s burden to bear in life.

The Balanced Budget Amendment fell one vote of passing the U.S. Senate in 1997 when the national debt was $5 trillion. At the time Senate Democrats said that we did not need a BBA to balance the budget because Washington could do it on its own. How wrong they were. Today, the national debt stands at more than $17 trillion. Where would we be today had the BBA been passed into law requiring the federal government to do what nearly every state law requires: a balanced budget. Both parties are at fault and it is long past due that Congress passes a BBA Amendment and sends it to the state for consideration.

VETERANS & NATIONAL SECURITY

Keeping Our Nation’s Promise to Our Veterans: No words can express our nation’s sincere gratitude to our military service members, and their families, who have answered the call to serve our country. Since the Revolutionary War, which secured the independence of our great nation, over 1.3 million brave Americans have made the ultimate sacrifice to protect our freedom and ensure the survival of our nation. We must honor our commitment to our nation’s heroes and doing so is a priority for Rep. Posey. Recent legislation signed into law with Rep. Posey's support include:

Improving the GI Bill – Cosponsored the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act, which removed time restrictions enabling future eligible recipients to use their GI Bill benefits for their entire lives. (Became Public Law 115-48)

Modernizing the Veterans Appeals Process – Supported the Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act, which modernizes the appeals process at the Department of Veterans Affairs to allow for faster appeals decisions for veterans. (Became Public Law 115-55)

VA Accountability – Supported the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act, which establishes protections for whistleblowers and increases the authority to remove bad employees and reward good employees for outstanding performance. (Became Public Law 115-41)

VA ID Card – Cosponsored legislation signed into law enabling veterans to obtain identification cards from the Department of Veterans Affairs. (Became Public Law 114-31)

Transitioning to Civilian Jobs – Voted for passage of the Veterans Skills to Jobs Act, requiring federal agencies to accept military training as sufficient to satisfy training/certification requirements for federal licenses. (Became Public Law 112-147)

National Security: Our men and women who wear the uniform today deserve nothing less than the best, most advanced battlefield weaponry and technology. Anything less is unacceptable. I am committed to seeing that we have the advanced aircraft, warships, and battlefield hardware to guarantee our troops supremacy. That means making the investments needed to develop and purchase advanced equipment.

The president signed into law the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019, legislation that authorizes programs and spending levels for our military and national defense. The bill makes investments in modernizing our forces with new technology, replacing equipment for the Army and building up our Naval fleet. In total, $11.3 billion has been authorized for military construction efforts. Altogether the National Defense Authorization Act authorizes $717 billion which also includes bonuses for military service members who work in high-demand fields and the largest pay increase our troops have seen in nine years.

ACHIEVING ENERGY INDEPENDENCE

An "All of the Above" Approach to Energy

America needs a comprehensive “all of the above” approach to energy security to meet our nation’s long-term and a short-term plans for achieving energy independence. The way forward is to simultaneously develop our nation’s oil and natural gas resources along with renewable clean energy, nuclear power and important conservation initiatives. As a matter of national security, we must reduce our dependency on Middle East and other foreign sources of oil. Our economy needs inexpensive fuel in order to grow, add jobs and raise the capital to develop the new technologies that will power America in the future.

Renewable energy is an important part of the energy independence agenda. While we should strive to meet a larger portion of our energy needs with renewable resources, we must recognize that scaling up such projects is expensive and takes many years. It is an important priority that we should advance. Rep. Posey is a supporter of cost-effective solar, wind, biofuels, tidal and advanced battery technologies. Energy efficiency and conservation are an important part of our energy independence equation.

HEALTH CARE REFORM

At the outset of the health care reform discussion in 2009, Rep. Posey met with HHS Secretary Sebelius and suggested that there was broad agreement on addressing pre-existing conditions, letting young people stay on their parents insurance longer, and making sure that health insurers could not drop someone who gets sick. He proposed working together on those key issues.

The response was, NO, the President wants to do one comprehensive health care restructuring bill. Unfortunately, that was the path that was taken and it has led to a massive disruption of health insurance and significant increases in health care premiums for millions of Americans. Millions of Americans have lost the health care plans that they had and wanted to keep.

Each day Rep. Posey receives letters from constituents who have lost their coverage, cannot afford their new insurance or are losing access to their health care providers. He supports repeal of the law, and replacing it with a plan that restores individual freedom and choice and addresses the issues he outlined to the Secretary in 2009.

Posey Health Initiatives:

- Repealing and replacing the new health care law.

- Restoring greater health care choices for Americans, including:

- Making sure that individual are not excluded from health care coverage because of pre-existing conditions;
- Making sure that individuals are not dropped from coverage when they get sick;
- Enacting tax credits and tax deductions;
- Expanding Health Savings Accounts;
- Enhancing larger risk purchasing pools for small businesses and individuals through Association Health Plans;
- Providing health care consumers incentives to be wise consumers and chose healthy lifestyles; and
- Increased competition among health plans and providers.

- Improving breast cancer research. (H.R. 1830)

- Winning the battle against rare diseases. (Bipartisan letter to Congressional leaders 2013)

- Fighting childhood cancer. (H.R. 2607)

- Supporting funding for federal special diabetes programs.

- Focusing research on Gestational Diabetes. (H.R. 1915)

- Protecting seniors’ access to necessary treatments – repealing the President’s Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB).

- Ensuring safe vaccines (Introduced H.R. 1757)

"CAP & TRADE" - NATIONAL ENERGY TAX

The 111th Congress drafted legislation, which would have imposed a massive tax increase on every American family and business. But you wouldn’t have filed this with the IRS, it would have been hidden in the price of everything you bought and it would have been the most expensive tax placed on the American people since the income tax was imposed nearly 100 years ago (1913).

The 1400-page Waxman-Markey “Cap and Trade” National Energy Tax legislation would have imposed a massive energy tax on nearly every kilowatt of energy produced in America and these taxes would have been passed on to every consumer of electricity. It did so through taxing carbon emissions (85% of American energy production is carbon based). These taxes would have been imposed through a carbon emission cap placed on factories and energy producing companies; and it would have required that these businesses buy carbon emission permits if they wanted to exceed the emissions caps. It was estimated that it would have increased living costs for the average American family by between $1500 and $3500 a year. Every time you turned on a light switch, filled up your gas tank, turned on your television or even bought a loaf of bread, you would have paid a hidden “Cap and Trade” National Energy Tax. The extra costs of meeting the government’s mandates would simply be passed on to consumers – i.e. every American.

It was estimated that the Waxman-Markey “Cap and Trade” National Energy Tax bill (H.R. 2454) would have cost the U.S. economy two and a half million jobs and possibly drain as much as $9 Trillion dollars out of our economy.

Early backers of the “Cap and Trade” National Energy Tax plan were top officials at now defunct Enron. And who can forget the devastation that was brought on by the collapse of Enron. Enron officials saw the advantage of making money as the “middle man” and that is what would likely have happened under “Cap and Trade”, with the average American consumer picking up the tab. The middleman would make his money off of consumers and add virtually nothing to the process except higher costs.

While we were able to keep this bill from getting to President Obama’s desk, there are still many in the Congress who wants to enact a carbon emissions scheme. While we have been able to block their direct tax plan, the Administration is seeking to advance these initiatives through expensive regulatory schemes. Rep. Posey has voted to stop those plans and continues to work with like-minded colleagues in the Congress to stop the Administration’s costly regulations.

It is important to remember what the Cap and Trade Carbon Emissions National Energy Tax Plan is about.

1. Politicians in Washington pushing this plan know full well that “Cap and Trade” is really an elaborate plan to bring more money into the Federal government -- taking hundreds of billions of additional dollars out of the weekly paychecks of millions of families in order to create and fund lavish new unaffordable government programs. (Also, H.R. 2454 would have taken tens of billions of your tax dollars and put them in the coffers of politicians favored companies who get special carbon breaks in H.R. 2454.)

2. The net effect of this plan would be a negligible effect on the global environment since carbon emissions from the U.S. competitors in China, India and the rest of the developing world are exempt from these caps and far surpass those of the United States. In fact, carbon emissions in the U.S. have declined while those in China have continued to grow rapidly. China is the world’s #1 carbon emitter. Furthermore, “Cap and Trade” would put products made in the U.S. at a competitive disadvantage, the end result of which would be to move more American jobs to China and India where there are no costly emissions caps. Its no wonder China has essentially endorsed cap and trade carbon regulations.

Supporters admit “Cap and Trade” will be costly:

Senior Congressman John Dingell (D-MI) said during an Energy and Commerce Committee Hearing that “Nobody, nobody in this country realizes that cap-and-trade is a tax and it’s a great big one.” April 24, 2009 YouTube Video Link

Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) called cap-and-trade “the most significant revenue-generating proposal of our time”– Wash. Post – April 3, 2009

Then Senator Obama explained the impact of “Cap and Trade” to the San Francisco Chronicle in January of 2008: “When I was asked earlier about the issue of coal…under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket…even regardless of what I say about whether coal is good or bad, because I’m capping greenhouse gasses, coal power plants, natural gas…you name it…whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, they would have to retro-fit their operations. “That will cost money…they will pass that money on to the consumers.”