Mast and Roth at Stadium Grill
At the June meeting of the PBCTP, District 18 Congressman Brian Mast and District 85 Florida Representative Rick Roth updated a large and boisterous crowd of tea party enthusiasts on their work in their respective chambers.
Being in the minority party when Nancy Pelosi is speaker must be a frustrating experience, as most of what happens goes on with little or no Republican input. If the Republicans stick together though (not a usual occurrence), sometimes it is possible to slow things down. Lately, we are seeing more of a spine from the Congressional GOP, evidenced by Brian Mast’s pushback on the mask mandates on the floor of Congress.
Brian is in his third term, and running for re-election next year. His support of the Trump agenda is well known and gets him high marks from the various scorekeeping groups like Heritage Acton (98%).
His message to us on Monday was “there is hope”, as cracks are appearing in the Democrat caucus.
For example, as the Biden administration gives money to the Palestinian Authority that will likely be buying Hamas Rockets from Iran, the far left in Congress is trying to withhold arms sales to Israel – something that at least some Democrats reject.
As China, North Korea and Russia are behind hacking attacks on our infrastructure, there is bipartisan support for beefing up cybersecurity and going on the attack.
The democrats for the most part stick to their agenda though, and the chairman of every committee that he sits on has the same basic approach to legislation – put it in a framework of organized labor, climate change and social justice – nothing else matters.
On HR1 and the subversion of elections (which passed with zero Republican votes), the only thing holding it back is the preservation of the filibuster – something only a couple of Democrats in the Senate are supporting. Our best defense, in Brian’s view, is state and local action, such as the Florida election bill (SB90) that will protect elections. That and prayer are necessary to make sure 2022 does not result in another stolen election. We all need to back President Trump and Ron DeSantis, and the other leaders who are fighting for us.
Other areas of concern are the proposed budget with $6 trillion for “infrastructure” but zero of border security, and the fact that the Biden pentagon would prefer soldiers that are “woke” rather than aggressive and competent.
This year’s legislative session in Tallahassee should make us all proud. As the Biden Administration and their Progressive minions in Congress go about their business of compromising election integrity, mismanaging the pandemic, socializing the economy, promoting Marxist ideology in the schools and encouraging the muzzling of Conservative expression in Social Media, the state of Florida has said “Stop! Enough!” Many of the bills that were passed and signed into law directly counter the Progressive agenda in DC.
District 85 Representative Rick Roth was in the thick of it this year, and came to the PBCTP this week to highlight what a Republican Legislature and great Governor can do when the times demand it.
Rick ran through a list of the bills that he thinks will have the most impact, and reminded us that (if re-elected next year), he has three years to get a lot more done.
His “top bills” list included:
- The “anti-riot” act (HB1) – which allows citizens to sue local officials if they defund the police or fail to control rioting in their communities
- Police reform (HB7051) – that addresses “choke holds” and other practices
- Election integrity (SB90) – which eliminates ballot harvesting and sets ground rules for Vote-by-Mail
- Social Media Censorship (HB7013) – protecting candidates and citizens in Florida from arbitrary “canceling” by social media companies
- School Choice (HB7045) – expanding vouchers to 375% of the poverty line ($100K for a family of 4)
- Fairness in Women’s Sports (HB51) – limiting women’s sports competition to biological women
He also walked through some of the aspects of the Seminole Compact emerging from the recent special session, such as online sports betting and participation by thrid party venues like the PBC Kennel Club.
