Tag: Phillip Stucky

A U.S. representative from South Florida has been indicted on charges related to the alleged misuse of disaster funds, and Florida lawmakers remember former Vice President Dick Cheney.

The Trump administration announced on Thursday new oil drilling off the California and Florida coasts for the first time in decades, advancing a project that critics say could harm coastal communities and ecosystems, as President Donald Trump seeks to expand U.S. oil production.

The oil industry has been seeking access to new offshore areas, including Southern California and off the coast of Florida, as a way to boost U.S. energy security and jobs. The federal government has not allowed drilling in federal waters in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, which includes offshore Florida and part of offshore Alabama, since 1995, because of concerns about oil spills. California has some offshore oil rigs, but there has been no new leasing in federal waters since the mid-1980s.

Since taking office for a second time in January, Trump has systematically reversed former President Joe Biden’s focus on slowing climate change to pursue what the Republican calls U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market. Trump, who recently called climate change “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world,” created a National Energy Dominance Council and directed it to move quickly to drive up already record-high U.S. energy production, particularly fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas.

Meanwhile, Trump’s administration has blocked renewable energy sources such as offshore wind and canceled billions of dollars in grants that supported hundreds of clean energy projects across the country.

The offshore drilling proposal drew bipartisan pushback from lawmakers in Florida, where Republican Sen. Rick Scott said the state’s coasts “must remain off the table for oil drilling.” In California, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, a frequent Trump critic, called the administration’s plan “idiotic.”

Tourism and access to clean beaches are key parts of the economy in both states.

Sen. Scott, a Trump ally, helped persuade officials in Trump’s first term to drop a similar offshore plan in 2018 when Scott was governor. Scott and Florida Republican Sen. Ashley Moody introduced legislation this month to maintain the drilling moratorium from Trump’s first term.

Newsom, who often touts the state’s status as a global climate leader, said in response to Thursday’s announcement that California would “use every tool at our disposal to protect our coastline.”

California has been a leader in restricting offshore drilling since an infamous 1969 Santa Barbara spill helped spark the modern environmental movement. While no new federal leases have been offered since the mid-1980s, drilling from existing platforms continues.

Newsom expressed support for greater offshore controls after a 2021 spill off Huntington Beach and has backed a congressional effort to ban new offshore drilling on the West Coast.

A Texas-based company, with support from the Trump administration, is seeking to restart production in waters off Santa Barbara damaged by a 2015 oil spill. The administration has hailed the plan by Houston-based Sable Offshore Corp. as the kind of project Trump wants to increase U.S. energy production.

Trump signed an executive order on the first day of his second term to reverse Biden’s ban on future offshore oil drilling on the East and West coasts. A federal court later struck down Biden’s order to withdraw 625 million acres of federal waters from oil development.

Scott announces alternative health care plan

Sen. Rick Scott introduced a proposal to address rising health care costs as subsidies affiliated with the Affordable Care Act are set to end at the end of the year.

The plan would use HSA-style “Trump Health Freedom Accounts” that families could use to help pay for healthcare. The funds sent to these accounts can be applied to premiums for health insurance as long as they don’t fund abortions.

“Obamacare has failed to deliver on its promises: families didn’t get to keep their insurance plans, couldn’t keep their doctors, and didn’t save money – and neither did the federal government. Instead, Obamacare created a system that left American families with fewer choices, higher costs, and health care that doesn’t meet their needs. That’s obvious, and it’s why President Trump and the American people are demanding solutions to fix this broken system,” Scott said.

“My new bill makes simple fixes to Obamacare that will make a world of difference to American families by making Americans the consumer, not the government, while giving them options and transparency,” he said.

The deal to reopen the government signed by the president last week did not include a key demand from Democrats — an extension of Affordable Care Act enhanced subsidies.

Democrats like Rep. Morgan McGarvey, D-Louisville, have warned that without that extension, many families will face skyrocketing health insurance premiums in 2026.

Some Kentuckians, said McGarvey, are already dropping their health insurance because it’s too expensive.

“I had business owners just this week tell me that they’re watching their premiums for the two of them go from $625 per month to $2,501 per month,” McGarvey said Friday. “That’s a $2,000 increase. Nobody can afford that. We have to do something about this.”

This year alone, more than 125,000 Kentuckians have received coverage through kynect Qualified Health Plans, according to the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

Kynect is the state-based marketplace for the Affordable Care Act.

From Nov. 1, when the open enrollment period began, to Nov. 7, about 1,500 Kentuckians had changed those plans, about 1,200 canceled their 2026 coverage, and there were an estimated 800 new enrollees—a number that lags behind the pace of previous years, according to the cabinet.

It’s not clear from the data exactly why Kentuckians changed or canceled plans.

On Friday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told CNN that House Democrats have introduced legislation to extend the ACA tax credits for three years.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., addressed the possibility of a vote on the credits.

“Am I gonna guarantee a vote on ACA unreformed COVID-era subsidies that is just a boondoggle to insurance companies and robs the taxpayer? We got a lot of work to do on that. The Republicans would demand a lot of reforms before anything like that was ever possible.”

A U.S. representative from South Florida has been indicted on charges related to the alleged misuse of disaster funds, and Florida lawmakers remember former Vice President Dick Cheney.

U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida has been indicted on charges accusing her of stealing $5 million in federal disaster funds and using some of the money to aid her 2021 campaign, the Justice Department said Wednesday.

The Democrat is accused of stealing Federal Emergency Management Agency overpayments that her family health care company had received through a federally funded COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract, federal prosecutors said. A portion of the money was then allegedly funneled to support her campaign through candidate contributions, prosecutors allege.

“Using disaster relief funds for self-enrichment is a particularly selfish, cynical crime,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “No one is above the law, least of all powerful people who rob taxpayers for personal gain. We will follow the facts in this case and deliver justice.”

Cherfilus-McCormick released a statement, denying the allegations.

“This is an unjust, baseless, sham indictment — and I am innocent,” she said in the statement. “The timing alone is curious and clearly meant to distract from far more pressing national issues. From day one, I have cooperated with every lawful request, and I will continue to do so until this matter is resolved.”

Cherfilus-McCormick was first elected to Congress in 2022 in the 20th District, representing parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties, in a special election after Rep. Alcee Hastings died in 2021.

In December 2024, a Florida state agency sued a company owned by Cherfilus-McCormick’s family, saying it overcharged the state by nearly $5.8 million for work done during the pandemic and wouldn’t give the money back.

The Florida Division of Emergency Management said it made a series of overpayments to Trinity Healthcare Services after hiring it in 2021 to register people for COVID-19 vaccinations. The agency says it discovered the problem after a single $5 million overpayment drew attention.

Cherfilus-McCormick was the CEO of Trinity at the time.

The Office of Congressional Ethics said in a January report that Cherfilus-McCormick’s income in 2021 was more than $6 million higher than in 2020, driven by nearly $5.75 million in consulting and profit-sharing fees received from Trinity Healthcare Services.

In July, the House Ethics Committee unanimously voted to reauthorize an investigative subcommittee to examine allegations involving Cherfilus-McCormick.

Dignitaries and loved ones of former Vice President Dick Cheney assembled in Washington, D.C., on Thursday to pay tribute to the late conservative political leader at his funeral.

Cheney — who served as vice president for both of former President George W. Bush’s terms, as chief of staff to the late President Gerald Ford and as secretary of defense for the late President George H.W. Bush –– died Nov. 3 from complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease. He was 84.

“My dad’s devotion to America was deep and substantive,” Cheney’s daughter, former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, said in her eulogy for her father Thursday. “He spent his life studying the history of our great republic. He knew you couldn’t truly appreciate what it means to live in freedom if you didn’t understand the sacrifices of the generations who came before.”

George W. Bush also spoke about Dick Cheney, calling him “my vice president and my friend,” during the service at the Washington National Cathedral.

The historic Episcopal church in Washington D.C. has hosted state funerals for five U.S. presidents, including Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter.

Orlando resident and former U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez reflected on the life of Cheney, who officiated two swearing-in ceremonies for Martinez. The first was when Martinez was appointed HUD secretary under former President George W. Bush, and a few years later when he was elected as U.S. Senator for Florida.

“He was there for me during two of the most important days in my life,” Martinez said.

Martinez shared his perspective before getting on a plane to Washington to attend Cheney’s funeral.

Bear Warriors United protests Florida’s upcoming bear hunt, and a new report outlines the impact of ending ACA subsidies for Florida residents.

Local groups hold protest in Tallahassee against Florida’s upcoming bear hunt

Activists held a large demonstration on Monday in Tallahassee to protest Florida’s upcoming bear hunt.

They are urging state leaders to rethink the state’s upcoming bear hunt.

The bear hunt will last for 23 days, starting on Dec. 6 and ending Dec. 28. It’s been more than a decade since the last statewide bear hunt.

More than 100 people gathered outside the Florida Capitol to call the state’s upcoming hunt both unsound and unneeded.

“The FWC was entrusted to protect wildlife, to protect it, for the people to manage it,” Bear Warriors United Attorney Raquel Levy said. “And it’s destroying the very thing it’s entrusted to protect.”

Officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission argue the hunt will help manage the bear population and salvage the habitat, too.

“While we have enough suitable bear habitat to support our current bear population levels … we will not have enough habitat at some point in the future,” the agency said in a statement.

Under the rules of the hunt, 172 bears are planned to be taken across 31 Florida counties. Bows, guns and traps have all been approved in the hunt.

“Sierra Club isn’t against all hunting,” Sierra Club of Florida Senior Managing Organizer Cris Costello said. “We’re against hunting that isn’t part of a sane, science-based management policy.” 

The last hunt lasted only two days and hunters killed roughly 295 black bears.

Bear Warriors United has sued to stop the hunt, and a hearing on the matter is scheduled for next week.

New report outlines which Florida districts will be hardest hit after ACA subsidies end

Some congressional districts in Florida will be among those hardest by the expiration of the enhanced federal subsides to pay for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act.

Florida has the most Affordable Care Act enrollees in the country with an estimated 4.7 million enrollees.

A non-partisan research group, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, recently released an analysis of how the end of enhanced subsides to pay for ACA coverage will affect residents of each congressional district in the state.

Florida’s 3rd Congressional District, which includes Gainesville, and South Florida districts will be some of the hardest hit districts in the country. In the 3rd Congressional District, a 45-year-old making $32,000 per year would see a nearly $1,500 annual increase in premiums if the enhancements go away. One reason for the differences among congressional districts is that health care costs vary from community to community.

“It’s more just local health care costs vary a lot, just in small areas, even from hospital to hospital,” CBPP Senior Fellow Gideon Lukens said. “And, so, different districts, you’ll have greater, smaller health care costs, and you also have, like, local markets where insurers and providers are negotiating different rates.” 

The enhanced ACA tax credits will expire at the end of the year if Congress and the president do not extend them. Experts say their disappearance will likely make health insurance too expensive for some Americans.

“There’s five districts where over 30% of the population is enrolled in marketplace coverage, and in every district in Florida, over 10% is enrolled,” Lukens said. “So this is like, you know, a lot of people around you have marketplace coverage and are going to be looking at these big increases if the extensions, the enhancements are expected.”

According to Lukens, the higher premiums will hit small businesses and the self-employed especially hard.

“I think they make up about a quarter every year of  marketplace coverage,” he said. “So it’s particularly important for those groups.”

As part of the short-term government funding deal that passed last week, Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune committed to holding a vote next month on extending the subsidies, though it’s not clear if it has enough Republican support to pass. And in the House, Speaker Mike Johnson has not promised to take up the bill. 

The Florida State Board of Education has unanimously adopted the Heritage Foundation’s “Phoenix Declaration,” and newly released emails show that Jeffrey Epstein still had a complex network of wealthy and influential friends, even after he was convicted of soliciting prostitution from an underage girl in 2008.

Florida is now the first state in the nation to adopt the “Phoenix Declaration” — a set of education philosophies put forth by the Heritage Foundation, a high-profile conservative think tank.

The State Board of Education approved the declaration unanimously, setting it up to be the driving force for how public schools will instruct students.

“Every child should have access to a high-quality, content-rich education that fosters the pursuit of the good, the true, and the beautiful, so that they may achieve their full, God-given potential,” reads the declaration.

The declaration emphasizes seven principles — parental choice and responsibility; transparency and accountability; truth and goodness; cultural transmission; character formation; academic excellence; and citizenship. 

“I don’t know how anyone could disagree with parental choice and responsibility, curriculum transparency, academic excellence, and instruction on objective truth,” said Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas. “These principles are principles that everyone across the board on both sides of the aisles can agree with.”

The declaration says that students “should learn that there is objective truth and that it is knowable.”

“Science courses must be grounded in reality, not ideological fads,” it continues. “Students should learn that good and evil exist, and that human beings have the capacity and duty to choose good.”

The declaration goes on to decry “fads or experimental teaching methods” in favor of “core knowledge and tried-and-true pedagogy.”

As for educational policies governing how students learn about the history of the United States, the declaration insists that schools should “foster a healthy sense of patriotism and cultivate gratitude for and attachment to our country and all who serve its central institutions.”

“Students should develop a deep understanding of and respect for our nation’s founding documents and the ideas they contain about ordered liberty, justice, the rule of law, limited government, natural rights, and the equal dignity of all human beings,” the declaration says. “Students should learn the whole truth about America — its merits and failings — without obscuring that America is a great source of good in the world and that we have a tradition that is worth passing on.”

Critics, including the Florida Education Association, rebuked the declaration as a politicized document authored by a conservative organization, which, among other things, championed the controversial Project 2025.

“The Phoenix Declaration is the latest thinly veiled attempt by billionaire-backed special interests to dismantle and politicize Florida’s public education system,” the union said in a statement.

Supporters, however, say they believe the declaration’s philosophies will help improve teaching, learning and civic outcomes in Florida’s public schools.

“Many students are just being taught what to think,” said Orlando school board member Alicia Farrant. “And parents want their kids to learn how to think, how to think critically, and that gets us back to those foundations that made our nation great.”

Other states are considering adoption of the Phoenix Declaration — state leaders in South Carolina and Oklahoma have endorsed it.

By the time Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl, he had established an enormous network of wealthy and influential friends. Emails made public this week show the crime did little to diminish the desire of that network to stay connected to the billionaire financier.

Thousands of documents released by the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday offer a new glimpse into what Epstein’s relationships with business executives, reporters, academics and political players looked like over a decade.

They start with messages he sent and received around the time he finished serving his Florida sentence in 2009 and continue until the months before his arrest on federal sex trafficking charges in 2019.

During that time, Epstein’s network was eclectic, spanning the globe and political affiliations: from the liberal academic Noam Chomsky to Steve Bannon, the longtime ally of President Donald Trump.

Some reached out to support Epstein amid lawsuits and prosecutions, others sought introductions or advice on everything from dating to oil prices. One consulted him on how to respond to accusations of sexual harassment.

Epstein was charged with sex trafficking in 2019, and killed himself in jail a month later. Epstein’s crimes, high-profile connections and jailhouse suicide have made the case a magnet for conspiracy theorists and online sleuths seeking proof of a cover-up.

The emails do not implicate his contacts in those alleged crimes. They instead paint a picture of Epstein’s influence and connections over the years he was a registered sex offender.

The spending bill that ended the government shutdown has new restrictions on THC products, and the lone Republican representative to oppose the spending bill discusses what led to his vote.

Shutdown resolution has impacts for THC products

The longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history is officially over. The House passed a funding plan Wednesday, which was then quickly signed by President Donald Trump.

Furloughed federal employees returned to work and are eagerly awaiting back pay from the multiple paychecks they missed, though it’s currently unclear when the money might hit their accounts.

The bill Trump signed to reopen the government also includes a provision that significantly impacts THC products.

It criminalizes most THC-infused products on the market today. That includes hemp or synthetic products like Delta-8.

Any product containing more than .4 milligrams of total THC will be illegal.

Some local hemp shop owners say this could have a significant impact on their business. Proponents of the legislation say it will help keep kids safe.

It’s not the end of the road, though. There is a one-year delay in implementing the provisions, which means Congress could debate this further and come up with new regulations.

The Florida legislature passed a bill in 2024 that would have closed the farm bill loophole but ultimately Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed the proposal.

Lone GOP opponent to spending bill discusses his vote

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson says his chamber will vote next week to repeal a provision in the shutdown deal that allows senators to sue the Department of Justice if they seize or subpoena data without notifying them.

The bill is a unique advantage for eight Republican senators whose phone records were collected as part of former special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the January 6 attack.

When asked about the provision, which was tucked into the bill to reopen the government, Johnson said he knew nothing about it.

“I found out about it last night. I was surprised. I was shocked by it, and I was angry about it, to be honest,” Johnson said.

The bill entitles senators to $500,000 for each violation of the provision, and it prevents the government from invoking immunity in response to any claims.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham told reporters yesterday he plans to sue.

All Florida Democrats voted against the continuing resolution, and Rep. Greg Stuebe was the only Republican to vote against the proposal. He said that he voted that way because he is opposed to the late addition allowing senators to sue.

He shares his reasoning with Political Connections.